Carey sweeps into baseball finals

It’s on to the finals for the Carey nine.

Senior Anthony Zeppieri’s clutch two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Carey its first lead, and pitcher Jesse Montalto ended the game with his seventh strikeout with the tying run on second base as No. 4 Carey (18-6) held on for a 6-5 come-from-behind win over No. 1 Calhoun, and a sweep of the semifinal round of the Nassau County Class AA playoffs.

Carey will meet MacArthur in the best-of-three championship series.

Carey coach Marc Hedquist was pleased with his team’s intestinal fortitude after falling behind early in the game. “Obviously a 4-0 deficit in the first inning, with the hitters they have, it was looking like it would be one of those 10-8 games,” Hedquist said. “But something changed. I could see that Jesse was settling in and keeping them off balance. He gave us time to chip away until we finally got the big hit. We kept battling.”

After being shut down by John Daddino in the series opener a day earlier, the Colts got off to a terrific start against Montalto. Zach Goldstein and John Eyerman both singled up the middle to get things started. With one out, Thomas Viverito lined a double to right center to score both Goldstein and Eyerman.

The inning wasn’t over. Before the Colts were through celebrating Viverito’s double, junior second baseman Robbie Rosen (3-for-4, a homer and two doubles) crushed a fastball over the centerfield fence to give Calhoun an early 4-0 lead.

Back came Carey. Three straight singles by Tom Rydzewski, Eddie Eymold, and Kyle DeMeo got the Seahawks on the board. A sacrifice fly by Harry Smith cut the Calhoun lead to 4-2 after one inning of play. A solo homer by Smith in the fourth inning got Carey within a run.

The Seahawks still trailed 4-3 in the sixth when Smith reached on an error. With two down Anthony Licata hit a ground rule double to set the stage for Zeppieri’s dramatics. Zeppieri, grounded a 2-2 curveball over the bag and down the left field line. He later scored on an error to give the Seahawks a 6-4 lead. 

A home run by Viverito got the Colts, who finished with a record of 20-3, within a run. With two outs and the tying run on second, Montalto reared back and blew a fastball past Alex Rodriguez for the final out.

In the series opener, Daddino went the distance striking out 13, allowing just two seventh inning runs as the Seahawks took the game 6-2. Ron Licciardi, Smith, and Zeppieri all had a pair of hits for Carey. DeMeo was 5-for-6 in the series.

The steely Montalto was calm after pitching his team to the finals. “The first inning is always tough for me, but I knew I would bear down from there,” Montalto said. “I knew we’d hit and make the plays in the field. I never lost my confidence.”