Baseball/Softball: Section 1 Class B Playoff Recap

Baseball

After coming within one strike of winning the Section 1 Class B championship a year ago, No. 4 Briarcliff (15-6) was anxious to get the postseason started and did so with two victories.

The most recent of those wins came in a 12-0 triumph against No. 12 Westlake in a Section 1 Class B quarterfinal game on Friday at home.

Briarcliff’s Brendan Weinstein went 2 for 4 with four RBI. Teammate Ryan Huegel went 3 for 4 with two doubles and three RBI.

“Ryan Huegel doubled two in when it was 3-0 and then Brendan knocked in Ryan and the runner at third because it was a ground-rule double, so we got four runs in that inning, the fourth, to break the game open [making it 7-0],” Briarcliff Coach John Consorti said.

Winning the game on the mound was Paul Henshaw (6-1), who threw a two-hitter for the Bears with one strike out.

“Paul located very well and kept them off stride,” Consorti said. “That’s how he pitches. He changes speeds and location. He did a real nice job today.”

Josh Miller pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts in the Bears’ 8-1 victory against No. 13 Croton-Harmon on Thursday in the opening round. Zac Ship had two hits, including a double and two RBI against Croton-Harmon with Colin Orr contributing two hits for the Bears.

“Josh was hitting his spots, he was on top of his game,” Consorti said. “He really set the tone early on, he struck out two in the first inning. We got some early runs off their pitcher who we struggled against this year. It was good to get those runs early for us and we went from there.”

In Tuesday’s semifinal the Bears will host Albertus Magnus, who knocked off No. 1 Keio 10-9 in the quarterfinals.

“Hopefully we can continue to play with the level of confidence we are playing with now,” Consorti said. “We have to keep doing those little things and making plays. We have to get the key hits when we need them. Hopefully we can maintain our level of play. Obviously, the further you go, the harder it gets. We’re just trying to continue what we have been doing and hopefully that will be enough.”

Softball

No. 8 Pleasantville started the postseason off flying high with a 17-4 triumph against No. 9 Hastings in the first round of the Section 1 Class B tournament on Friday.

Liz Manley went 3 for 4 with two RBI while Pleasantville teammate Alicia Marino went 3 for 3 with an RBI.

“They are good in pressure situations,” Coach Gina Perino said. “They rise to the occasion as all clutch hitters do. With [Taylor] Forte and [Nicole] Gagliardi setting the table and having clutch hitting by the both of them, it’s really been the way we have rocked all year, that’s how we’ve moved.”

After the first inning, Pleasantville was up 2-1 before breaking it open with seven runs in the third.

Forte singled, Gagliardi singled, Marino attempted a sacrifice but no one on Hastings could get the ball so it turned into a hit. Manley then walked to knock Forte in and the Panthers rolled from there.

“In the sectionals, you really have to manufacture runs,” Perino said. “I normally don’t like to take the bat out of Alicia’s hands, she is just a great hitter but she bunted a beautiful bunt down the first-base line and they had no play on her and the flood gates opened a little bit.”

Gagliardi improved to 9-6 on the mound, with a complete game.

“Her changeup was really working nicely, which is big when she has that going,” Perino said. “She got ahead of most batters. Maybe not in the first couple of innings, but she settled in in the third to the seventh inning where she really got ahead of the batters and got the first batter out. Her pitches were working and again, especially the changeup.”

The Panthers will now play at No. 1 Rye Neck in the quarterfinals at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 31.

“They are a tough club," Perino said. "They have a great pitcher, a nice catcher, their coaches are very experienced. We didn’t have a great outing at the beginning of the year with them and we are looking forward at getting another shot with them. We are going to have to play at our best to win.”

Pleasantville High School Baseball

Matt Cecchetelli and Kyle Cohen led the No. 11 Panthers (9-11) with two hits apiece but it wasn’t enough to overcome No. 6 Irvington, which shutout the Panthers 1-0 on Thursday in the opening round of the Section 1 Class B tournament.

“I thought their approach was good,” Pleasantville Coach Bob Jordon said. “They were going after the pitcher early in the count.”

The game was played at Hackley, even though Irvington was the higher seed.

“Irvington just has various different ground rules,” Jordon explained. “They have a tree that kind of hangs over left field. So for sectional games, they don’t play there.”

Pitcher Joe Chaisson allowed three hits, five strikeouts and one run for the Panthers, which came in the third inning.

“He kept them off-balance, he threw well,” Jordon said. “The biggest part was he was getting the first out every inning.”

Jordon summed up his team’s postseason game.

“I thought we did very well pitching and defensively,” Jordon said. “At times we had guys on base but we just didn’t the big two-out hit which Irvington was able to do to score its one run.”