Baseball: Shrub Oak wins WPBA crown

When a pipe burst just outside the first-base line at Lakeland High School, it caused roughly a two-hour delay to the start of the 18-and-under Westchester Putnam Baseball Association championship game between Shrub Oak and Cortlandt A.

The two teams though were determined to play and waited patiently until the problem with the pipe could be resolved.

"The delay definitely affected us in the beginning, we didn't come out as hot as we should have," Shrub Oak shortstop Matt Phillips said. "But we picked it up as the game went on, which showed in the end."

After the delay, Cortlandt A jumped out to a 2-0 lead but Shrub Oak rallied in its last at bat for a thrilling 4-3 victory, in coach Bill Casey's last game for the host Saturday evening, August 14, at Lakeland High School.

Casey had coached the team for the last nine years.

"You couldn't end it in a better game," Casey said. "I feel great for the kids from Lakeland that our graduating this year. They hadn't won at this level (in the WPBA) so it feels pretty good."

Lakeland won the game when it loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. An infield single by Matt Pihota tied the game before a base hit to right field by Phillips won it.

"I was just thinking 'hit the ball'," Phillips said. "'Put the ball in play and get that run in,' that is all that I was thinking about."

Zach Tepper got Cortlandt A off on the right foot when he produced a one-out single and advanced to third when Dillon Conklin reached on a two-base error. Ronan Callagy followed with a two-run single that put the visitors up 2-0.

Shrub Oak pitcher Justin McCarthy tightened up after that, allowing just one run in the next six innings.

"Justin bore down, he did what he needed to do to keep us in the game," Phillips said.

Shrub Oak attempted to answer in the bottom of the inning when McCarthy reached base when he legged out an infield single. However two fly outs stopped any attempt at a Shrub Oak rally.

Shrub Oak made another attempt to get on the scoreboard in the second inning. With one out, Mike Nigro and Brad Stephens walked.

However, Cortlandt A pitcher James Grande induced a fly out and a groundout to end Shrub Oak's threat. The hosts looked like they were going to score in the fourth frame.

Pihota started the inning with a single. It appeared as if he was going to score when the next batter, Phillips, doubled to right field. His double bounced over the fence, making it a ground-rule double. That meant that Pihota had to stay at third base otherwise he would've scored easily.

That turned out to hurt Shrub Oak because Grande recorded a fly out and two strikeouts to get out of the jam.

Shrub Oak finally broke through in the fifth inning. Scott Fortune led off with a single before coming home on a triple to left-center field by Neil Reimo. Reimo later scored the tying run on an error.

Cortlandt A took the lead in the sixth inning when Nick Ritornato hit a moon shot over the right-center field fence for a home run and a 3-2 lead that Shrub Oak erased with its thrilling seventh-inning rally.

"It felt real good to win this game," Phillips said. "We fought the whole game. Justin pitched a heck of a game. We played our hearts out."