On Wednesday, Aug. 8, the Mineola 9/10 Summer baseball team hosted a team from Merillon Little League of New Hyde Park at the Mineola Middle School on Emory Road Mineola edged out illothe victory with a 5-4 win, earning their fifth straight victory!
As has been the case all season, Mineola pitching was the story. Mineola utilized five pitchers to nail down the victory, Jimmy Tighe, Zach Buongiovanni, Steven Collica, Ryan Burke and Derek Lekhwani. Lekhwani was particularly impressive, striking out the sides with heat in the sixth inning to earn the save.
The defense was led by Dominic Ferreira, who made an unassisted double play on a line drive to third. Ferreira made the catch and tagged out a Merillon runner trying to advance.
In the same inning, Kieran O’Gara made a nice catch on a high pop-up to short right. O’Gara, playing second base made a great catch.
Thomas Tugander earned the “heads up” play of the game when he alertly backed up second base on a throw from left field to second base. The ball got away from the second baseman but Tugander threw out the runner trying to advance. Late in the game, Vincent Aidalia, playing third, threw a bullet to catcher Zach Buongiovanni thwarting a Merillon rally.
The offense we led by key hits from Tighe, Burke, Steven Collica, Buongiovanni, Tugander (triple), Mike Librandi and Vincent Aidalia.
The “hero of the game” belonged to Justin Tighe. Justin, brother of Jimmy Tighe was pressed into service and asked to “play up” because Mineola was short a player at the start of the game. Justin played excellent baseball, getting on base and playing a major part in the victory! Great job Justin!
The Mineola Summer baseball team is a developmental team that stresses fun and learning. Players are assigned to different positions and challenged to try pitching and catching. The team has weekly clinics with guest instructors that develop their pitching, hitting and fielding skills. The clinics have featured a unique, “catcher’s station” at which an older travel team catcher works with the boys on this unique position. They also feature “guest instructors” that focus on a particular aspect of the game.
