Sleepy Hollow's 16-and-under Westchester Putnam Baseball squad is still stinging from its 5-4 loss in the summer league championship game to Bedford-Pound Ridge.
Pitcher Armando Cabrera said that loss has been a motivating factor in his squad's 2-0 start during the fall season. Sleepy Hollow got off to that start with home wins against visiting Haverstraw, 8-0 and Shrub Oak Lou, 12-0.
"The guys came out hungrier because of that 5-4 loss against Bedford-Pound Ridge in that last game, the championship game, in the summer," Cabrera said. "They gave everything they had that last game. It was disappointing that we lost but it also gave us motivation to come out strong and hopefully win it all this fall. I know how much this would mean to the guys. The baseball program at Sleepy Hollow is just going up from here."
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One reason why is Cabrera, who threw a one-hitter while striking out nine and walking just two in a complete-game victory against Haverstraw. Through five innings, Cabrera was pitching a no-hitter.
"Armando's breaking ball really impressed me," Sleepy Hollow coach Mike King said. "He had a crisp breaking ball. One of his better ones that I have seen, he broke it over really nice so he kept them off stride that way."
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Cabrera said that the rapport he developed with his teammates over the summer was a major factor in his performance against Haverstraw.
"During the summer, we really gained trust in each other so I wasn't scared of throwing any pitches because I know if they made contact, my defense would make some nice plays like they did," Cabrera said.
Offensively, Sleepy Hollow tallied single runs in the second and fourth innings, two runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth against its Rockland County rivals. Joe Martello, Ronnie Rodriguez and John Brabazon all had two hits apiece against Haverstraw.
"The one thing is we have four pitchers and we are only going to play two games a week so I really don't want to have guys pitching complete games," King said. "I'd rather have Armando pitch four innings and have another guy pitch three innings just so they all get to pitch because you don't play as many games in the fall. But when a guy has stuff like that going on, you leave him in."
Sleepy Hollow also had a great pitching performance in its victory against Shrub Oak-Lou. That's where Gio Nunez overpowered the visitors on the mound in pitching a five-inning no-hitter.
"Gio is a strike machine," King said. "He was just a little bit wild but his fastball was really moving fast. They just couldn't catch up to him, they couldn't touch him."
Since Shrub Oak couldn't touch him, it gave King an opportunity to see something he may have never witnessed before.
"There was no batted ball for an out," King said. "I probably have never seen that before. He had 13 strikeouts and the other two outs were on stolen base attempts, where the catcher threw the runner out."
Nunez also contributed to the win at the plate with two hits. Jason Martinez also tallied two singles for Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow scored a single run in the single, five in the third and six runs in the fourth frame.
Sleepy Hollow will look to build on its 2-0 start when it hosts Cortlandt George 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at Losee Park before traveling to Ossining at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 19 at Ann Dorner Middle School.
"It's extremely important to play in the fall," Cabrera said. "It helps us gain confidence in one another and build chemistry. It makes us come together even more as a family."
