Hudson Valley Bone & Joint Plays Spoiler in Last Game of Season

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AIM/HVBJ Video

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Tompkins Bank vs A-AMP Video

On Wednesday August 21, AIM Construction was hoping to add to their one game C-Division lead over Tompkins Community Bank. On the other side, Hudson Valley Bone & Joint could only face the facts of a slow start. “Once we got our group together,” said Pitcher Kevin Kenney, “It was too little too late.” So at 6-11 and stuck in fifth place, spoilers it would have to be.

And the home team did just that. On the strength of a Cole Adams three run homer in the bottom of the first, HVBJ went onto a 7-5 victory, and the cleanup hitter was forced to settle for some bitter sweetness. “I wish we had a shot at the playoffs,” he said. “We don’t, but it’s good to give them one last kick before we were done.”

The visitors did threaten in the first, though. Mike Hirsch and Mike Napolitano hit consecutive one out singles, but Kenney was up to the task and the middle. He got a fly ball to center and snared a comebacker to retire the side.

On the turnover, Lucas Fecci appeared and disappeared in a flash. He stretched a line drive single into double. But when the infield fumbled the throw into second, the speedy centerfielder broke for third and ended up biting off more than he could chew. Out at third, he didn’t agree. “I was safe,” Fecci assured.

Obviously the leadoff hitter didn’t have the last word so his team picked him up. Jack Maher doubled, Brandon LaSpina got an infield hit, and after missing a month, Adams wasn’t really thinking big. “I was just trying to make contact,” he said.

A fly ball to center, the trajectory looked like warning track power. “I thought it was going to be caught,” Adams conceded.

The ball kept carrying, and three runs came across. Onto the second, Kenney didn’t let an error get in the way of his vision - even if keeping his eyes closed worked out just fine. “I didn’t even see it,” he said of Jake Graham’s line drive back at him.

Into Kenney’s glove, the bats didn’t carry over in the bottom half. So AIM took the cue. Mike Hirsch stroked a two out RBI single, and it was a 3-1 game.

Not for long, Adams went the distance again. LaSpina reached on an error with two out, and this time Adams didn’t leave any doubt. “I knew right off the bat that it was gone,” he asserted.

Now 5-1, Kenney kept AIM from answering back. A ground out, a line out and a fly out, and his team readied to single in another run. Nick Maestri and John Rena led off with the first two, and with one out, Rob Zattola knocked in run number six.

Still, a double play would end the inning, and the AIM bats were awakened. Graham, Chris Stellwagen and Richie Frommelt singled to lead off the inning, and Anthony Scapanelli singled in the first run. Matt Hirsch then cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly, and after Napolitano singled, Chris Sconia’s sacrifice fly brought in run number four. Matt Hirsch followed with a RBI single, and it was a one run game.

HVBJ didn’t answer in the bottom of the fifth, and neither did AIM on the top of the sixth. So up stepped Adams in the bottom, and AIM had seen enough. An intentional lead off walk had the bench teammates dismayed, but the big bat knew the score. “It was a good baseball move,” Adams admitted.

And his teammates followed with more of the same. Maestri singled with one out, and Bryce Shore got an insurance run with a single up the middle.

Three outs to go, the first place team looked like they wouldn’t go quietly. After Mike Hirsch singled with one out, Napolitano lifted a little bloop behind second, and runners on the corners was clearly on the docket.

Instead, Fecci’s young legs swooped in, and his body wasn’t worried about the bruises. “We love laying ourselves out there,” said the centerfielder. “We’re still young enough where it doesn’t really hurt us.”

The diving catch made, the old guy on the mound reigned in the great play by pointing out that age and wisdom always comes before beauty. “It wouldn’t have mattered so much had he not been thrown out at third the first play of the game,” Kenney playfully ribbed his young teammate.

Fecci pulled in the last out too and had the last word on the season. “Last week we knocked one team out of the playoffs, and this time, we knocked these guys out of first. So we did our work,” he concluded.