Sports

Local teams suffer early PSAL exits

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There was not a lot of cheers on the diamond for area baseball and softball teams as the Public School Athletic League playoffs commenced last week. But the Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy baseball team almost pulled off a huge upset.

The 23rd-seeded Tigers went blow-for-blow with 10th-seeded A. P. Randolph High School in a first-round baseball game that ultimately went 10 innings before an errant throw home on a grounder to first ended the Tigers’ season in a 5-4 loss.

RKA was up 4-2 after five innings, but Randolph tied things at 4 in the sixth on a bloop single from Luis Pujols that plated a pair of runs.    

“We were one strike away from getting out of the inning, but (starting pitcher) Lardho (Richardson) left one a little over the plate, and they hit one of those little seeing-eye hits and both runners scored,” RKA coach John Reingold said. 

It remained that way until the 10th inning when Randolph allowed the game-winner on a wild throw home.

“I’ve been coaching a long time, and I’ve never gone to 10 innings, not in a playoff game,” Reingold said. “In the 10th Jake (Auerbach) walked their best player, Tyler Paulino, and he steals second and moves to third on a passed ball. So I intentionally walked the next two batters to set up the force. 

“But when we got a ground ball to first, my first baseman Frankie Mejia overthrew the catcher on a throw home, and they won it.”

Despite the defeat, Reingold was proud of the way his Tigers met the challenge of almost toppling a top 10 seed in the playoffs.

“The boys played exceptionally well,” Reingold said. 

“We gave the 10-seed everything they could handle.

PSAL AAA Baseball

Beacon 4, Bronx Science 2

Beacon jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first two innings and the Blue Demons never looked back. The Wolverines got a pair of RBI-base hits by Adrian Lopez, but that was all the offense Science could muster.

Bayside 6, Clinton 2

After Clinton tied the game at 2 in the third inning, Bayside used a four-run, fourth-inning rally to put the game away and end the Governors season.

Midwood 10, Kennedy 0

Midwood’s Nicholas Cardieri had two hits and knocked in four runs as the Hornets shut out the Knights to put a wrap on their season.

PSAL A Softball

Hunter 14, Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy 7 

Tenth-seeded Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy saw its season end in a loss to the 23rd-seeded Hawks. Hunter scored five runs in the first inning, two more in both the second and third frames, and five more in the fourth to take a commanding 14-3 lead. 

And RKA could not recover.

PSAL B Softball

Kennedy 23, Archimedes Academy 3

JFK wasted little time jumping on Archimedes as the Knights scored seven times in the first inning and nine more times in the second. 

The quartet of Johanna Li Duran, Kimberly Zapata, Nathalie Leon and Skye Muniz drove in three runs apiece, while Crystal Rodriguez and Sophia Paulino each knocked in a pair. 

The top-seeded Knights (14-0) move on to the quarterfinals where they will host South Bronx Prep.

PSAL A Baseball

Brooklyn Tech 5,

American Studies 1

The Senators were forced to play their game with Tech without four starters as Casey Press, Jack Friedman, Nicholas Bliss and Ari Wigder were on a school-mandated trip on game day. 

It proved too much of a loss for the Senators to overcome, and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs.

Sports, PSAL, playoffs, baseball, softball, Sean Brennan

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