The playoffs are a time when the excitement is taken to another level. There was no better example of that then No. 3 Sleepy Hollow's contest against No. 6 Haverstraw in the opening round of the 16-and-under Westchester Putnam Baseball Association playoffs.
Trailing 7-6 in their last at bat, Mustang Armando Cabrera hit a two-out, two-strike, two-run homer to dead center field, his second homer of the game, to give Sleepy Hollow (20-5) a thrilling 8-7 triumph Tuesday evening at Sleepy Hollow High School.
"Armando just came through in the end," Sleepy Hollow coach Mike King said.
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The win puts Sleepy Hollow in the semifinal round at No. 2 Beekman Thursday evening. The winner will play the winner of the matchup between No. 5 Shrub Oak-No. 1 Bedford Pound-Ridge in the WPBA championship game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Lakeland High School.
At the start of its game against Haverstraw, things seemed bleak for the host as the visitors scored two runs in the first inning and three runs in the second inning to go up 5-1 and knock out Mustang starter Inmer Rosado, who was replaced by Gio Nunez.
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Nunez came in after that and pitched effectively the rest of the game for the Mustangs.
"It looked like it was going to be one of those games," King said. "In the beginning, we just didn't have it and they were hitting. Gio then came in, for the most part held them, which helped us get back in the game. Gio's fastball, most of the Haverstraw hitters, they just couldn't catch up with it. He didn't get many strikeouts but most of their hitters were just popping it up."
The one run Sleepy Hollow got during that stretch was a solo home run by Cabrera in the bottom of the first.
Sleepy Hollow began to climb back in the game in the bottom of the fourth when Nunez helped his own cause with a two-run homer. Peter Pena tied the game later in the inning with a two-run single that knotted the contest at 5-5.
The Mustangs continued their clutch hitting in that frame when Ronnie Rodgriguez registered an RBI single which put the host up 6-5.
The two teams then exchanged scoreless at bats in both the fifth and sixth innings to set up a thrilling finish in the seventh.
Haverstraw rallied to take the lead in its half of the seventh. The visitors started their rally with an opposite field triple down the right-field line before Nunez recorded a fly out and a strike out.
King then told Nunez to intentionally walked Haverstraw's No. 3 batter to face the No. 4 hitter, who hit a two-run double that put Haverstraw up 7-6.
"The No. 4 hitter is a good hitter, as he showed, but the No. 3 hitter is a better hitter, that's why we walked him," King said.
Sleepy Hollow though, like it has done all year, continued to fight back. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Rodriguez hit a bloop single to keep the Mustangs' hopes alive, which allowed Cabrera to come up and hit the game-winning home run.
"Our team didn't give up, they never do" King said. "This is a good hitting team. From 1 to 10, we can hit up and down the lineup. I'm satsified that the kids didn't give up and fought back."
