Shrub Oak Defeats Peekskill for WPBA Title

Shrub Oak shortstop Andrew Mitgang wasn’t having the best postseason leading up to his team’s 16-and-under Westchester Putnam Baseball Association championship game against No. 5 Peekskill (11-11).

However, he made up for it and then some. Mitgang went 4 for 4, had three RBI and scored three times in No. 2 Shrub Oak’s 11-3 win against Peekskill on Saturday at Lakeland High School to help lead his squad to a title.

“The first two games of the playoffs he might have went 0 for 6 with a couple of walks,” Shrub Oak coach Bill Casey said. “He is the sparkplug. If he gets on, he hits the ball and he is stealing. Today he hit two triples. The reason we bat him first is because he is the one that starts it for our team, without a doubt.”

Despite the loss, Peekskill coach Doug Glickert was proud of his team’s efforts in making it to the championship game. He was also happy to see Peekskill come away with a 6-5 win against Beekman in the 18-and-under championship game that preceded his.

“It meant a lot because we have seen these guys grow up together,” Glickert said. “A lot of these guys have played in our little-league program and our little league has been struggling right now getting players. So seeing our 18-and-under team win a championship and our 16-and-under team come in second place is a real emotional boost for the city of Peekskill and for the young guys that are going to be following them.”

Shrub Oak (19-6) got a quick boost by jumping out to a three-run lead in the top of the first. Mitgang led off and got hit with a pitch.

After a strikeout, Josh Kale singled and stole second base. On the play, Mitgang scored from third.

Kale then scored on a single by Matt de Marte. Following another strikeout thrown by Peekskill starting pitcher Collin Hedley, John Costanzo came through with a single that drove in de Marte to put Shrub Oak up 3-0.

Peekskill cut that lead to two, 3-1, when it scored in the bottom of the second. Kevin Slocum started the inning by getting hit by the pitch, stole second, advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on an error.

It was a Peekskill error though that Shrub Oak capitalized on in the top of the fourth, where it broke the game open. Winning pitcher Chris DiDomizio recorded a one-out double and advanced to third on an error.

That opened the flood gates for Shrub Oak as it scored four times to extend its lead to 7-1. Those runs came in on a two-run double by Andrew Flannery, a triple by Mitgang, and a single by Steve Harten.

“We were only up 3-1 at the time so it was big,” Casey said. “When the other team makes an error, in baseball you have to capitalize on it and we did.”