The New Hyde Park Bluedevils (14U) team had quite a dilemma on Friday night.
With summer vacations and players getting sick with the heat, the Bluedevils were only able to fill eight spots on the field. The ninth spot in the order resulted in an automatic out.
The eight players took the field and behind the brilliant pitching of Doug Obidienzo ( five innings pitched, three hits and seven strikeouts), the Bluedevils held a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
The Massapequa Cyclones rallied for two runs in the seventh to force extra innings.
In the eight, John Hayes started the rally with a single, then stole second base, Niko Rullo laid down a perfect sac bunt to put the go ahead run on third. Kyle Cajigas and Brandon LaFroscia followed with walks to load the bases.
Doug Obidienzo drilled a single to right to put the Bluedevils ahead. Zack Reifschneider had a bases loaded walk for an RBI and Luke Iandoli followed with an infield hit to score the third run of the inning.
With the lead at 6-3, the Bluedevils turned to Cajigas to shut the door. After giving up a hit and a walk, Cajigas settled down to record the final three outs and the win 6-3.
All the players had an assist in the victory. Cajigas shut them down in the eight for the win, Obidienzo pitched great for five innings! Hayes scored the winning run, Rullo was all over the field and Brandon scored two big runs, Vinny Balletta made a big catch and had a huge RBI in the sixth, Iandoli played solid at first and drove in an insurance run, Reifschneider played well at second base and had a big bases loaded walk in the eighth.
