WESTFIELD – Much like the late day storms swirling about Bullens Field, ITI took a roundabout road to get to the ultimate prize in the Babe Ruth Baseball Amanti Cup championship.
Joey Caldarella, a 13-year-old pitcher, delivered a stellar performance on the mound and Camfour battered previously unbeaten ITI in a 16-5 shellacking Sunday to force a second finals game. In Game 2 though, ITI put forth a highly emotional effort to win 8-4 and capture the crown.
GAME ONE
Camfour 16, ITI 5
Camfour seized control and all the momentum early.
In the first inning, Nate Goodwin singled with one out. Luis Enchautegui walked. Mason Barnachez followed with an RBI single on a line drive to center field. An errant throw on a pickoff attempt resulted in their second run.
ITI bounced back quickly.
Tobey Barlow slides into home plate ahead of the ball, scoring a run for ITI in the Babe Ruth Baseball Amanti Cup championship Sunday at Bullens Field. (Photo by Bill Deren)
In the bottom half of the first, Tobey Barlow reached on an error, stole second and third bases, and scored on Clay Bradley’s sac-fly. Troy Hevey reached on a hard hit ball that smacked the third baseman and dropped to the ground. With two outs, Joey Dekarski hit a chopper through the left side that scored the tying run. ITI went ahead when a bloop single to shallow right field fell in for an RBI hit.
Camfour responded.
With two outs in the third, Camfour rallied. Enchautegui provided the key hit, a two-run single to left field. With the aid of an error-plagued ITI inning, Camfour pulled ahead 6-3.
Camfour would not let up, blowing it open in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the fourth, Caldarella drew a bases-loaded walk, Raphie Morganelli delivered a sac-fly RBI, and Enchautgeui belted a three-run triple (he scored on an errant throw to third base). In the fifth, Adam Tremblay tacked on an RBI double, Dylan Arooth and Jake Jachym collected RBI hits, and a wild pitch made it 16-4.
Dekarski had an RBI double in the fourth inning for ITI. A heads-up steal of home on an infield fly rule in the fifth made it 16-5.
A bright spot went unnoticed for ITI in the seventh, a beautiful, bare-handed grab on a roller that shortstop Hevey collected and threw sidearm to first base for an out.
Caldarella scattered seven hits, struck out two batters, walked two, and allowed just two earned runs (three unearned) on the mound for Camfour. Reliever Kyle Dionne retired three of the five batters he faced for a scoreless seventh to end it.
“We ran into a truck,” ITI manager Matt Medeiros said. “(Camfour) came to play. After a couple of missteps, we felt it starting to slip away. Joey Caldarella shut us down. He may be 13, but he was good as anyone we faced.”
GAME TWO
ITI 8, Camfour 4
Both teams began the penultimate game aggressively, but each ran themselves out of the first two innings. The opportunistic offensive approach finally paid off though.
Carlos Rodriguez led off the third for ITI with a single, and advanced on a balk. Ryan LaPoint followed with a bunt base hit. After a pitching change, LaPoint stole second base. Two batters later, a run scored on a dropped third strike. Another run scored on a wild pitch. Cole Davignon walked to keep the inning going. Another wild pitch and a booming RBI triple from Derek O’Dea made it 3-0.
Camfour tied it 3-all in the third inning, scoring when two of their batters were plunked by pitches with the bases loaded. Mason Barnachez’s bases-loaded walk tied it. A towering shot from Fred Murray was hauled in by center fielder Owen Jurczyk with a sliding catch to preserve the tie.
Clay Bradley manufactured a go-ahead run for ITI in the fourth, walking, stealing second base, advancing and scoring on a dropped third strike and error by the catcher.
Camfour tied it again in the bottom half of the inning with the help of two infield errors. Jurczyk put ITI ahead again by walking, moving to second on a balk, and stealing third base. An infield error made it 5-4. A wild pitch, and it was 6-4.
ITI reliever Joey Dekarski rose up to record the first 1-2-3, three-strikeout inning for either side at one of the biggest moments, retiring Camfour’s top three hitters in the top of the fifth.
ITI tacked on an insurance run in the sixth when Tobey Barlow drew a two-out walk, stole second, and scored on a Bradley RBI single.
Dekarski came up big again in the sixth. After walking three of the first four batters he faced in the inning, the ITI pitcher came back to force a fly out and ground out to end the threat.
ITI scored one more in the seventh when Dekarski singled, stole second and third bases, and scored on a ground out from Connor Medeiros.
Dekarski retired three out of the four batters he faced in the seventh to secure the title.
“The kids had gut and grit to win this game,” manager Medeiros said.
For ITI, it was a bit of payback.
“It feels good after losing last year to this team,” said Dekarski, whose team fell to Camfour in the finals one year ago.
2017 BABE RUTH BASEBALL AMANTI CUP CHAMPION
ITI
