Baseball: Sleepy Hollow Falls Just Short

The Sleepy Hollow Mustangs played against the Bedford-Pound Ridge Foxes like they had all season – giving their all, right to the very end.

Unfortunately, the Mustangs outstanding season ended Aug. 14 at Lakeland High School with a 5-4 loss to the Foxes in the 16-and-under Westchester Putnam Baseball Association championship game.

With Armando Cabrera on second base as the potential tying run in the bottom of the seventh, Gio Nunez hit the daylights out of the ball, giving it a ride to deep center-field but it was caught for the final out of the game.

"Gio hit the ball good," Sleepy Hollow coach Mike King said. "It just hung up there."

Sleepy Hollow got on the board first with a run in the opening inning when lead-off hitter Ronnie Rodriguez walked and stole second. He eventually came home on an RBI ground out to second by John Brabazon.

"Ronnie is a pretty good base runner, he's very fast," King said. "He played a great shortstop for us this year. Our leadoff hitter, Chris Lopez, wasn't here today, so Ronnie stepped up, became the leadoff hitter without any problems."

The Foxes took the lead with four runs in the third, highlighted by a three-run double from Richard Slenker.

Sleepy Hollow though has been a come-back team all year and showed why when it retaliated with three runs in its half of the third to tie the game at 4-4. Joe Martello started the Mustangs rally when he was hit by a pitch before stealing second.

Martello came home on an error during Ronnie Rodriguez's at bat. Rodriguez got forced out at second when Cabrera hit into a fielder's choice.

Cabrera stole second before John Brabazon walked. Nunez then cut the Foxes lead to one with an RBI single.

"As I have said all year, one through ten these kids can hit," King said. "A lot of teams don't have that. So no matter where we are in the lineup, we get a bloop here or there, we're back in the game. These kids just don't give up. They are walking away now looking sad but they will be back."

Inmer Rosado then walked before Ronniel Munoz struck out, which should've ended the inning. However, a passed ball on the play allowed Brabazon to score the tying run.

That was the last run that Sleepy Hollow would score though. Fox Lane re-took the lead in the fourth inning when Matt Roos reached base on a two-base error. He advanced to third on a passed ball and scored what turned out to be the winning run when Jake McGrath reached base safely on an infield error.

While the season ended one run short of a championship, the fact that the Mustangs made it as far as they did shows that Sleepy Hollow's future on the diamond is very bright.

"These guys are putting Sleepy Hollow back on the baseball map," King said. "That's good for these kids. When they go back to school in September, they will realize that they are getting back on the map. It's good to see that."