By Steven Zaitz
Think of your favorite baseball movie. Everybody has one. If it’s Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, or even Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars, it won’t have as dramatic an ending as the deciding game of the Suffolk County Class AAA title between Commack and Sachem North this past Sunday.
The tying and championship-winning runs were on base in the bottom of the seventh for Sachem North against Commack ace right-hander and reigning Suffolk County Pitcher of the Year, Evan Kay.
Entering the final frame, Commack built what seemed like an impregnable 2-0 lead with Kay having thrown six scoreless innings and looking as dominant as ever. He had scattered four hits, struck out seven, and walked no one entering the seventh.
But after two infield hits and a clean RBI single by Sachem third baseman John Ferrante, not only was the shutout gone, but the game – and the championship – was in serious jeopardy for the Cats. The tying run was 90 feet away, and the potential winning run at first with only one out.
Kay, known for his fiery demeanor and over-the-top competitiveness, was in quite a sticky situation – somewhat uncharted waters for him. Kay pitched in four games last year in the postseason and allowed exactly zero runs in 28 innings on the way to the Cougars’ third straight county title and the 2023 Long Island championship. Sachem North was looking to put an end to Commack’s burgeoning dynasty.
But first a meeting at the mound.
Kay had thrown close to 90 pitches in the 80-degree heat. Could the unthinkable be happening, and Cougar head coach Matt Salmon be coming out to take Kay out of the game?
“No,” Kay said. “This was my game to win or lose.”
After about 45 seconds, Salmon patted Kay on the backside and told him to get the next two guys out.
“Evan wasn’t coming out,” Salmon said. “He is the best competitor I’ve ever coached and was gonna finish the inning if they tied it up, or we were gonna lose the game right there. I just told him that getting this done was what he was born to do – to get these next two outs.”
After the meeting broke up, Kay walked to the back of the mound, his back to home plate, and played patty-cake with his resin bag before slamming it down to the turf. He was ready to face this challenge.
A safety squeeze attempt to get the runner in from third by Flaming Arrow catcher Matt Podesta went foul, and Kay fanned Podesta on the next pitch. It was Kay’s ninth strikeout of the day, and the Cougars were one out away from a Suffolk County four-peat.
Sachem second baseman and leadoff hitter Jack Pitman, who had a single off of Kay to start the game, was now in the batter’s box.
Pitman, a lefty, hit a bouncer to Cougar first baseman Brady Cascone, who bobbled it momentarily. Cascone managed to shovel the ball over to Kay, who scrambled to cover the bag, in time to nip Pitman at first. Kay and Commack had done it again. They were Suffolk County champions for the fourth straight year; and for Kay, this 2-1 nail-biter might have bested them all.
“When I stepped on first base and saw the umpire give the out signal, it might have been the best feeling after a win that I’ve ever had,” said Kay, who holds the record in Suffolk County for consecutive scoreless innings with a remarkable 60. “The past few years, we were just better than everybody else. But we lost a lot of guys this year, and we had to fight for almost everything we got, and I think we’re the better team for that.”
One of the new guys in the lineup in 2024 is catcher Robbie Mascia, who is in only eighth grade. Mascia was struck by a bat in Saturday’s loss to Sachem North, and after a postgame visit to Urgent Care, there was some doubt as to his availability for the deciding game. But come Sunday, Mascia was behind the plate.
“It’s not broken, so I wanted to be out there,” said Mascia, who, until the swelling subsided, had a golf ball-sized lump on his wrist the night before. “I love catching Evan, and today his stuff was as good as it’s ever been. His change-up was dialed in, and it was falling off and moving late. That’s his out pitch.”
Both starters were getting outs, as the game was scoreless through five. Anthony Vino, the Sachem North starter, showed signs of fatigue in the sixth and lost command of the strike zone. He gave up a hit and two walks, the second of which to pinch hitter Matt Shovelson with the bases loaded, As he came in to score on Shovelson’s walk, Commack right fielder Dean Vincent demonstratively jumped on home plate with his arms flapping in the air like a giant crane, much to the delight of the always-boisterous Commack bleacher cats. Commack had finally broken through.
Cougar fans would get even louder when Kay doubled down the line in the seventh to drive in center fielder Ryan Krzemienski for a 2-0 Commack lead. Krzemienski reached on a walk, one of seven that Vino allowed, in addition to five hits over seven innings. Commack had itself a vital insurance run that would end up being the difference in the game.
“I wish we would have been up 15-0 nothing because I would have sweated a lot less,” said Salmon, who has been the head coach of the Cougars for three years and has won the county championship in every one of them. “It was a great game, and this win means so much to the Commack community that supports us and each other and rallies around in times like this. It’s a great thing to be a part of.”
Next week, Salmon and his team will try to give the people of Commack something even greater when they take on Nassau champ Farmingdale. Kay will be on the mound as the Cougars seek their second Long Island championship in three years and despite this game’s exciting climax, the drama of the 2024 Commack varsity baseball team still has not played its final act.
