Hackley Edges Out Sleepy Hollow in Baseball, Softball

It's not often that Hackley comes down from the hill to face off against Sleepy Hollow High School, but yesterday's double match-up pitted both the private school's softball and baseball teams against their public school counterparts.

The setting was Tarrytown's Losee Park, right on the Hudson with the Tappan Zee Bridge as the backdrop. It was a perfect night for playing ball, and a perfect night for Hackley as both teams shut down Sleepy Hollow.

In baseball, Hackley began pulling away early, while the last inning proved to be a heart breaker for Sleepy Hollow's softball team.

Hackley Baseball beats Sleepy Hollow 7-2

Despite losing two key players to pulled hamstrings, Hackley, playing as the visiting team, soundly defeated Sleepy Hollow yesterday 7-2.

Hackley notched on three runs early in the first inning and held the lead for the rest of the evening. Despite Horsemen's efforts to get their bats going, the couldn't penetrate Hackley's defense and solid pitching from Steve Delmoro.

"The biggest thing was our defense, they let us down in the first inning and we couldn't bounce back" said Sleepy Hollow Assistant Coach Rob Spirelli. "We did alright defensively the rest of the game, but we just couldn't back up our pitcher with the bats."

Dan Kaplan was on the mound for Sleepy Hollow, and pitched almost the entire game before being relieved in the seventh. Hackley effectively put the game away in that inning with an additional three runs. Conor McDermott had three hits for Hackley and an RBI and had a solid game behind the plate.

The game was relatively quiet from the second to the fifth inning, Hackley Head Coach Steve Frolo said that mostly had to do with the position of the sun as it set.

"When the sun went down we started hitting again," he said. "In the middle innings, no one could see the ball."

Sleepy Hollow scored it's first run in the second inning, and had one more in the bottom of the seventh off an RBI shot by Chris Lopez, but it wasn't enough to spark a rally.

The game leaves Sleepy Hollow with a record of 6-7 on the season and Hackley with a record of 9-6.

Sleepy Hollow plays on Monday against Solomon Schechter. Hackley is playing today, if the weather holds out, at Poly Prep Country Day. Frolo said that injuries could severely impact Hackley going forward in the season – last night Daniel Colon re-injured his hamstring, and Eric Notari, who was to pitch today, injured his hamstring as well.

Major Upset in Sleepy Hollow Softball Defeat 6-4

Sleepy Hollow looked amazing in their first few innings against Hackley's softball team.

The Lady Horsemen had solid hits, were stealing bases and were shutting down Hackley's offense. Even Hornet's Head Coach Krystal Forsyth said that Sleepy looked impressive.

"Sleepy Hollow played an absolutely amazing game," she said. "They were really strong hitting team, even if we lost it would have been a great game."

However, a three run lead going into the sixth inning was soon flipped into Hackley's favor after the Hornets rallied back and capitalized on a few mental mistakes made by Sleepy Hollow – they would hold on for the 6-4 win over Sleepy Hollow.

"That was a game we should have won. We would have won 3-2, instead it turned into a 6-4 loss," Sleepy Hollow Coach Tony Milewski said. "I know we could beat them eight out of ten times, it just wasn't one of those eight times."

Sleepy Hollow slowly notched up a 3-0 lead by the fourth inning. Jamie Bucci scored in the first after stealing two bases and getting hit in. Jennifer Onwe had a solid triple in the third and later scored. Sleepy Hollow also managed to steal home off a throwing error by Hackley's catcher.

However, Hackley started coming back in the top of the sixth inning. Mary Medure walked for Hackley and was hit in by a double from Kat Budlong. Budlong was later hit in to make the score 3-2. Hackley then held Hollow in the bottom of the sixth. Heading into the seventh, Hackley started to wear out ace Hollow pitcher Jamie Bucci, Milewski said.

Hackley had an exciting rally in the top of the seventh. With the score 3-2 Sleepy Hollow, Hackley had the bases loaded and one out. Mary Medure hit the ball back to the pitcher and Hollow failed to convert the double play that could have ended the inning. Instead, with the top of the order coming up, Kat Budlong doubled to score two runs, and Katie Philpott also had two RBIs, hitting in Anna Knox and Sandy Mattei.

When Sleepy Hollow returned to the plate to try and take back the lead, Bucci had a triple and scored off a Hackley error. However, Hackley easily retired the rest of the Lady Horsemen to end the game.

"We tend to come out a little low sometimes, but then the girls have an amazing ability to boost each other up and they are able to pull out a win," Forsyth said. "This is the second or third time we've come back from a deficit to win."

Sleepy Hollow plays Monday in Ossining. Hackley is in Brooklyn this afternoon playing Poly Prep, if the weather holds out.