Amity Defeats West Haven 3-1

Pitching, defense, and offense are the 3 basic aspects of baseball. Amity had all 3 of those aspects working to near perfection on Wednesday afternoon when it defeated 13th ranked West Haven 3-1 in the second round of the CIAC Class LL tournament at Janenda Field in Woodbridge.

With the victory over the 14-9 Blue Devils, the 17-6 Spartans move on to Saturday’s quarter-final contest against Cheshire in a 7 PM clash at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury. It will be the fourth meeting of the strong between the 4th ranked Spartans and their Southern Connecticut Conference—Housatonic Division rivals. Cheshire, ranked 5th in Class LL, goes into that contest with a 20-5 record and having outscored their last 4 opponents (Amity 6-2, Fairfield Prep 14-0, Norwich Free Academy 9-1 and East Hartford 10-0) by a combined score of 39-3.

As far as pitching went, the Spartans’ hard-throwing sophomore  right hander Mike Concato limited the Westies to only 1 run on 7 hits. He also struck out 8 and walked 2 as he went the distance and improved his record to 4-2.

“I pitched well—but I’ve pitched better. I pitched well enough to win,” Concato said. “I had my fastball and my curve both working and I hit my spots.”

Winning Coach Sal Coppola insisted that Concato had “pitched a great game—maybe not an A+ game, but I’d still give him an A. He was throwing hard in the early innings—probably in the upper 80’s. He might have lost a little toward the end of the game, but he made big pitches when he had to. He also showed a lot of poise for a sophomore. Mike has pitched big in big games for us throughout the season.”

After Concato struck out the side in the top of the first inning, the Spartans wasted no time in attacking West Haven hurler Cameron Stone (now 2-1). With one out in Amity’s first at bat, Keith Klebart reached base safely on a throwing error by Blue Devil shortstop Matt Gagne. Stone then nicked Vin Siena with a pitch. With 2 outs, Brian Speer stepped up and rapped the game’s biggest hit, a double to dead centerfield that drove in both teammates.

According to Speer, “The count was 0-2 and I thought their pitcher would come back with a change, so I held back my hands and then went out to get it. As soon as I hit the ball, I knew I had hit it good.”

Trailing 2-0, the Westies answered in the top  of the second inning with base hits by Bob Moretti and Stone but but Concato left both runners stranded.

The Spartans followed with 3 base hits in the bottom of the second inning but came up empty as Paul Gusmano, who lewd off with a single was picked off by Stone. That base running mistake costs Amity a sure run as Grayson Amoroso and Nick Baviello followed with back-to-back base hits.

Eric Stone  led off the top of the fourth with a free pass. Mike Bukowski singled him over to third base and he scored on a fielder’s choice by Moretti. Concato then issued a 2-out free pass to Cameron Stone but left both Blue Devils stranded on base as he got J.P. Withington to wave at and miss an inning-ending third strike. He also survived Alex Palmieri’s lead-off single in the top of the fifth and a lead-off double by Bukowski in the top of the sixth.

The Spartans tacked on an all-important insurance score in the bottom of the sixth inning that extended their advantage to 3-1. Aaron Kyasky reached base safely on another throwing error by Gagne. After moving up a base on Gusmano’s sacrifice bunt and then over to third base on a wild pitch, Kyasky scored on a pinch hit single from Sean Butler. While Butler was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double, he successfully drove in Kyasky.

“That was a huge pitch hit under pressure by Sean. He came up cold off the bench and delivered for us. That’s asking a lot of a kid,” Coppola said.

Trailing by 2 runs (3-1) after Butler’s RBI single, West Haven gave it one more shot in the top of the seventh as he served up 2-out singles to Gagne and Wes Gambardella, but then got Bukowski to rap into a game-ending force play at second base.

While Concato did serve up 7 hits, he also stranded 8 base runners.

Download the movie

Download the movie