The Mineola Athletic Association fall 10U intramural baseball team hosted the East Williston 10U team on Sunday, Oct. 9 at the Willis Ave. field complex in Mineola, earning a 17-5 win.
After two weeks of cancellations due to rain, the boys turned in another very strong performance both on offense and defense.
“I thought with the two week break due to rain, the players might come out flat” remarked coach Ken Solosky, “but they picked up right where they left off the last game, playing sound fundamental baseball.”
Mineola pitching stifled the East Williston offense all game, spreading out five hits over the six innings.
Starting pitcher Kevin Roach earned the win and had strong support from Robert Egan and Nick Librandi in relief.
The Mineola defense once again came up with big plays. The Mineola team almost turned a 6-4-3 double play when Joey Boshans knocked down a hot grounder at third. Boshans scrambled to his feet and fired a throw to second for the first out. Derek Lekwani rifled the relay to first but the East Williston player beat it out by half a step.
In the fourth inning, East Williston bunted down the third base line, the throw to first was wide and the East Williston player had thoughts of going to second. An alert Solosky backing up the play nicely came up throwing behind the runner and nailed him taking too wide a turn and trying to dive back to first.
Another defensive gem saw Egan throwing out an East Williston batter from short right field. Egan turned a sure single into a very rare outfield to first base out!
On offense, Mineola had numerous stars. Patrick Solosky scored three runs and had three stolen bases. Egan was 2-4 with two RBI’s and three runs scored. Derek Lekhwani was 3-3, with two doubles and four RBI’s. Other players with RBIs included Tommy Curry, Nick Librandi (3), Kevin Roach, Kenny Solosky, Patrick Lanigan and Kieran O’Gara. Andrew Geagher had two runs scored and two stolen bases.
“The players are having fun and learning the great game of baseball. Intramural baseball is all about having fun and learning new and different positions” commented manager Ken Solosky. “These are a great group of kids and it shows in their on-field performance”.
