Softball: Fuelco Wins Championship

Trailing 16-11 in the bottom of the sixth inning in the Yorktown's Men's Softball American League Championship game against The Firm, Fuelco catcher Sal Ficarrotta gathered his teammates.

He had a message for them.

"I told them to play their game, like they have all year long," Ficarrotta said. "That was the motto, 'Play your game.'"

Fuelco did just that, rallying for five runs to tie the game in the sixth before scoring the game-winning run in the seventh for an exhilarating 17-16 triumph Aug. 12 at the Route 202 No.2 lighted field in Yorktown.

"I'm getting older and not being able to play pretty much longer, it meant a lot to win the championship," Ficarrotta said. "I don't know how much longer I will be able to play."

Fuelco coach Dave Rubenfeld is very happy that Ficarrotta is still playing.

"We have a lot of hustle on this team and our catcher is a very important guy on our team," Rubenfeld said. "He gets everyone motivated."

The Firm was motivated in the opening inning to get out to a big lead and did just that, jumping out to a 6-0 advantage. Two of the runs came on a homer by Zach Reynolds, who went 3 for 4 with three RBI.

Fuelco wasted no time getting back in the game as it scored two runs in its half of the first and five in the second to take a 7-6 lead. Two of those runs in the second inning came home on a two-run triple by Ficarrotta.

"The pitch was outside and I went that way," Ficarrotta said. "I was just thinking put the ball in play."

The see-saw affair continued in the third inning when The Firm re-took the lead 8-7 on a two-run double by Tommy Perkins. The Firm increased its lead to 14-7 when it exploded for six runs in the fourth.

That explosion included singles from Dave Kurtz, George DeSimone, Frank Panebianco, Chris DiClerico and Reynolds and a double from Joe Kesselmark.

Fuelco though cut The Firm's advantage to three with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, two of them coming home on a triple by Ryan Murphy. The Firm went up 16-11 by scoring two runs in the fifth but Fuelco was far from done.

"We were down three different times, down five runs, six runs, seven runs," Rubenfeld said. "We just kept coming back. I'm very proud of my team for being able to do that."

The final comeback started with five runs in the sixth. Contributing to that effort were hits from pitcher Mike Schwartz, Richie Silver, Chris Murphy, Eric Senno, Ryan Murphy and Eric Bender.

Schwartz also came up clutch at the plate in the seventh when he singled in Mike Rubenfeld, Dave's son, for the winning run in the seventh.

"That was the greatest," Dave Rubenfeld said. "That was really exciting to see my son score the winning run. He usually stops at third base, he doesn't go for the extra base but he took a chance and made it home. It was really nice."

What was also nice to see from Fuelco's perspective was the effort from Schwartz.

"You know who gets a lot of credit, our guy Mike Schwartz, he pitched every single game," Ficarrotta said. "He might not be your fastest pitcher in the league but he gets the ball up, down and all-around every single game. He keeps us in games, he really does. He frustrates hitters."