New City American Falls to Ramapo in Baseball Quarter-Finals

The New City American All Stars fell to Ramapo Wednesday night in a hard-fought Little League Baseball quarter-final game.

Though Ramapo gave them the lead early in the first on errors, New City was unable to maintain it after a difficult second inning.  Besides for some errors on both sides, the two teams played well overall to make it an exciting contest. The game went down to the wire in the top of the sixth, when New City nearly came back for the win.

The starting pitcher for New City, #2 Kyle Levy, put up a solid effort in the first and the second, striking out one and making a great play at the plate.  Unfortunately, he and his team allowed seven runs over the first two innings on multiple errors.  He was replaced in the third by #13 Steven Rosato, who had an excellent overall performance.  Rosato struck out three, walked two, and let up only one run in three innings pitched.  This allowed New City to fight back to within two, however they were unable to complete the comeback and grounded out to the pitcher to close the game.

Ramapo opened the game by allowing three runs to score for New City off errors.  Levy then let up a bunt to first, followed by an RBI double to put Ramapo on the board.  Though the next batter flew out, the runner on second tagged and slid in to score at home.  New City closed out the first in the lead, however they could not score in the top of the second and then allowed Ramapo to come back in the bottom of the inning.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Ramapo drove in a run with an RBI single.  New City then let up three runs off a double on an uncharacteristically error-ridden play.  When one scored, they tried to catch the next at the plate, but missed on an overthrow and he scored.  The trailing runner then rounded third and continued to home, however he was trapped in a well backed-up play by New City.  He faked back to third, however, at the last minute, he was able to spin round the trap to score at home.  Ramapo then scored one more off an RBI single through the shortstop's glove before they grounded out to third to end the inning.

Excellent defense then ruled the game until the top of the fifth, when #00 Austin Priesel hit a sacrifice fly to right field.  This brought home Rosato and closed the gap to three.  Their efforts to chip away at the lead were negated, however, in the bottom of the inning, when Ramapo scored another run off a pitch in the dirt.

With the score now 8-4, New City entered the top of the sixth determined to regain the lead.  #3 Kevin Meehan started them off with a hard-hit single past the diving shortstop, which #5 Jacob Tomenelli followed with a double off the center field fence.  #10 Brian Kay then loaded the bases with a grounder to the shortstop.  It was then Levy's turn at bat, which he made use of with a grounder up the first baseline.  The powerful shot skipped deep into right field for a double as two scored amidst roaring cheers.  Unfortunately, to the chagrin of New City and its fans, it was called foul and Levy then one-hopped it to the pitcher, who threw the runner out at home.

Rosato followed up Levy's heartbreaking play with another shot down the first baseline, which this time remained fair to bring home one run.  #1 David Schiff extended the effort with a hit deep to center field to bring the score to 8-6.  Unfortunately, they could not continue the comeback and grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.

Despite the loss, New City made a gallant attempt at recovering from their difficulties in the second.  Unfortunately, errors will happen more often when nerves begin to show in higher-stress games such as this one.  Happily, their season is not over as they only move down to the losers' bracket.  Though they have their work cut out for them now, they still have an attempt at the championship. 

The New City Americans play tonight against Suffern at 7:30pm in Suffern, where they look to continue their bid for the district championship.