By: Tyler Stephan

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. -- — On Sunday, July 30, Legends Baseball defeated Sportika 3-2 in game two of the best-of-three Championship Series. Sportika took game one on Saturday, July 29 in a back-and-forth affair, winning 13-9. This put the pressure on the Legends heading into game two, as a loss would send them home and make Sportika the 2023 ABCCL Champions. Game two was a pitching duel with Alfonso Lombardi going the distance for the Legends following a magnificent outing against the CGI Monsoons in the Legends semi-finals matchup on Tuesday, July 25. 

Lombardi had good command early, pumping in strikes. Sportika, however, had two hits in the first inning, including a leadoff infield single up the middle by Hunter Rivera and a double into the left-center field gap by Reece Maroney. Lombardi was able to escape the inning unscathed with the help of catcher Karson Harcourt, who threw Rivera out at second base before Maroney’s double.

In the bottom of the first inning, Karson Harcourt provided an offensive spark off Sportika’s pitcher Christopher DiMaggio with a line drive to the left-center field wall for a two-out double. Joey Pagano came up next, hitting a hard grounder down the first base line, but Sportika first baseman Hunter Del Guercio made a nice stop to end the inning.

Both teams recorded a double in the second inning, but Lombardi and DiMaggio settled in to strand the runners. DiMaggio had his changeup working as he recorded three straight swings and misses against Giovanni Aresta and then struck Aidan Baglino out on a changeup.

Outs on the basepaths harmed Sportika again in the top of the third inning. After Sportika center fielder Liam Sweeney beat out a ground ball to first base for an infield single, he was picked off trying to steal second by the lefty pitcher, Alfonso Lombardi. The play resulted in a run-down, and a bad throw by Giovanni Aresta almost allowed Sweeney to reach second, but second baseman Ty Fredo backed the throw-up and quickly got the ball to Nick Bergamotto at second base to retire Sweeney. Similar to the first inning, the next batter following the putout, Hunter Rivera, doubled for Sportika, but Lombardi retired Reece Moroney for out number three. 

The Legends threatened in the bottom of the third inning. Sportika turned a key double play on a Collin Feeney ground ball up the middle to erase a leadoff single by Brian Lovaglio. Three straight Legends’ base runners then reached with Bergamotto and Harcourt singling to left field and Pagano reaching on a walk. This brought Justin Ford to the plate with bases loaded. Ford hit a fly ball to left that looked to be trouble off the bat, but Torin McKenzie settled under the ball to end the threat and keep the game scoreless.

The Legends loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fourth inning, this time on three walks as DiMaggio struggled with his control. Nick Bergamotto came to the plate and smoked the ball right at the shortstop, who caught the line drive for out number three. 

The story of the game was the runners left on base by each team, as neither offense was able to take advantage of base runners to this point.

This changed in the top of the fifth inning. A leadoff single by Anthony Matteis, followed by a line drive into left field by Torin McKenzie, gave Sportika runners at the corners with no outs. Hunter Del Guercio came up next, and he wasted no time, hitting a hard ground ball through the left side for an RBI single. While Sportika took the lead, Lombardi limited the damage, getting Eliot Germanson to ground one towards second base for a 6-3 double play and then recording a strikeout to hold the Sportika lead to one run.

The Legends offense came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ty Fredo led the inning off with a line drive to center field past the diving attempt of Reece Moroney at shortstop. Giovanni Aresta then lined one to left that Torin McKenzie was unable to handle, giving the Legends runners at first and second with no outs. This ended DiMaggio’s day on the mound. He went five innings, giving up seven hits, four walks, and two earned runs while striking out four. Jack Ruditzky replaced DiMaggio. He struggled with command right away, walking the bases loaded before giving up an RBI fielder's choice to Brian Lovaglio. Ruditzky walked the next batter, Collin Feeney to load the bases again and later walked Karson Harcourt to plate another run, giving the Legends their first lead of the game.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Sportika’s third baseman, Brett Hilsheimer, made a great play on a chopper down the line, gathering the ball and throwing on the run to retire Justin Ford to lead off the inning. Hilsheimer made multiple great plays at third in this game, snagging a few rockets down the line as well. Ty Fredo followed up this great play by Hilsheimer with an opposite-field shot over the right-field fence. Fredo was on fire in this one, hitting a single, double, and homerun while recording a walk.

Sportika answered back in the top of the eighth inning as Hunter Del Guercio sent the first pitch he saw into orbit. The ball went well over the center field fence and closed the deficit to just one. Later in the inning, Liam Sweeney roped one into right field, but right fielder Noah Stennett made a leaping play at the wall to take away what would have been a key extra-base hit.

Alfonso Lombardi came back out in the ninth inning, aiming to finish what he started. He breezed through the inning, getting a weak groundout to first base and a groundout to shortstop. He ended the game on a called strike three on a fastball in the upper quadrant of the strike zone. Lombardi was pumped up following his 114-pitch complete game. He gave up 10 hits, one walk, two earned runs, and recorded seven strikeouts over his nine innings pitched.

The Legends’ win will force a game three on Tuesday, August 1, with the winner becoming the 2023 ABCCL Championships. The game will be played at 7:00 PM at Mercer County Park.