Rob Pinto got really nervous when the ball was in the air, as did the rest of the home crowd. Cleanup hitter, Mark Rossini was already 3-for-3 on the afternoon and the fans had already endured the emotional rollercoaster of the past eight-and-a-half innings.
The ball was caught just shy of the fence and he retired the final two batters including a strikeout of Pete Schimmel to put an end to a thrilling 7-6 comeback victory for Plainedge over Bethpage.
Final: Plainedge 7, Bethpage 6
WP: Rob Pinto pic.twitter.com/fnXpbNoDR1— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2017
“I shook his hand when he was running in and said ‘good hit, you scared the hell outta me,” he added.
Pinto fired two shutout innings of relief to record the victory in a nine-inning game on a unseasonably-cold May afternoon.
The game began with Bethpage plating two runs in the first inning on an RBI double by Rossini to score Carmine Szynal, and a wild pitch to score Mike Narbutt.
Plainedge got a run back in the third on an RBI infield single by Robert Paul to score Jason Bottari, who led off with a walk.
Bethpage opened the game up with a three-spot in the fifth inning thanks to some clutch hits. After Szynal roped a one-out hit and stole second, Narbutt walked to bring up Rossini who ripped an RBI single to make it 3-1. Gannon Kenney-McGowan followed with a two-run double to make it 5-1.
It looked like the game was in hand at that point, but the drama unfolded in the late innings.
Plainedge snuck one across in the sixth on a fielder’s choice, so they came up in the seventh inning down by three runs against reliever Gianni Sozio.
A leadoff error on a routine grounder to third and a walk made things interesting. After a strikeout, another error brought in a run to make it 5-3. Nick DiMicco roped an RBI single to make it 5-4. After a walk to load the bases, Brian Bornkamp grounded what appeared to be the game-ending 4-6-3 double play but the throw to first was well off the mark and allowed two runs to score and put Plainedge up 6-5.
A potential game-ending DP is thrown away and Plainedge takes a 6-5 lead in the seventh with two outs pic.twitter.com/m5qAohXwDl
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2017
In the bottom of the seventh, Bethpage mounted a rally .
Rossini led off with a single, and then a routine chopper to second was booted to put runners on 1st & 2nd. After a fielder’s choice and a walk, Alex Ludewig popped one to shallow right field which was caught, and the runner at second would’ve been doubled off but the throw went into left field to score the tying run.
Both teams went quietly in the eighth, but in the ninth, an error was followed with a single and a walk to bring up Cottone with the bases loaded and none out and hit a parachute down the left field line that dropped in for the eventual game-winning run.
“I had swung at a bad pitch over my head and I knew he was gonna have to come right at me, I got jammed but I still got it out there–muscled it out to left field–and it dropped,” said Joe Cottone.
RBI single Joe Cottone and its 7-6 Plainedge in the ninth pic.twitter.com/H7pcI4stTC
— aXcess Baseball (@axcessbaseball) May 4, 2017
Pinto put an exclamation point on the victory, and Plainedge improved to 15-4 on the season while Bethpage dropped to 8-10.