Somers Bats Fend off the Cold in 11-1 Win over Nanuet

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Off to a 1-3 start, Somers hosted Nanuet on Thursday April 10 and fell behind 1-0 in the top of the first. The biting cold didn’t help either. Still, a leadoff single by Tyler Venturini and a double by Jake Hopper certainly warmed the new field. So did a 3-0 count to Alex Hoffman, but the edge probably meant the right fielder would have to take a chill pill with the weather

Not quite, the green light was flashed, and Hoffman was happy to concur. “I was like, oh yeah. Let’s get that fastball,” Hoffman beamed, and when the number one came, his two run single sparked the Tuskers to a 11-1 victory.

Even so, Nanuet got out of the gate first when Gavin Kelly began the game by hitting Vincent Duffy. A passed ball sent the leadoff hitter to second, but Kelly dug in by getting the next two batters on strikes.

Kelly was not able to get out unscathed, though. Charlie Moustakakis singled to center, and Nanuet had their last lead.

Thanks again to Hoffman, the donuts started piling up for Kelly in the second. The starter opened with a strikeout, and after Nick Panzarella singled, Kelly put his defense to work. On a nubber just out of the batter box, Joe Dwyer threw Ryan Cangelosi out from his knees, and Lorenzo D’Ambrosio cleanly fielded Jack Kiely’s ground ball to first.

Onto the bottom of the second, Somers didn’t wait to get started. Andrew Kapica worked a walk, Dwyer singled to right and a missed cutoff was no help for Nanuet.

Runners on second and third resulting, Justin Thomas’ strikeout didn’t cool the bats. Venturini’s sacrifice fly to center drove in Kapica and Jake Hopper sent Dwyer home with his second hit to right.

4-1 now, Kelly got a couple of ground balls to second for the first two, and throwing a big hook for another strikeout reinforced Kelly in on the game plan. “Today, I used my curveball very effectively. They just couldn’t get a hold of it, so why not keep throwing it,” he said.

Kelly retired three straight in the fourth and the bottom had the bats break the game open. Kapica led off with a single, Dwyer walked, and after Thomas hit into a fielder’s choice, Venturini’s sac fly made it a 5-1 game.

Then the Nanuet gloves lent a hand. Hopper’s fly down the left field line was dropped, and with another run in, Hoffman smoked a liner into left. A couple of overthrows later, and Venturini and Hoffman rounded the bases for an 8-1 lead.

A nice cushion, Kelly kicked back with two more strikeouts, and Somers was three runs away from putting Nanuet out of their misery.

That had more help from Nanuet when D’Ambrosia hit a towering infield popup to the left side. The wind playing a big factor, the ball swirled and landed fair for a double.

Of course, the writing was on the wall, and a single and two walks gave Thomas the chance to provide the epitaph. “A 2-0 count, I knew I was going to get something to hit,” said the left fielder.

Making good contact, more throwing the ball around made for the ten run margin when his shot down third was too hot to handle. Fitting since the Tuskers refused to succumb to the elements. “We fought through the cold and did what we needed to do,” concluded Hopper.

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