By John Malone
In 2011, Pearl River’s 10-years won a Section 4 championship and advanced to the state tournament. To get there, they needed an 11-run miracle rally in the sixth inning to beat Harrison in the “if” game.
Two years later, Pearl River needed another one.
Trailing New Rochelle Central 13-4 in the sixth inning of the Section 4 championship, Pearl River rallied once again and stunned New Ro with 10 runs. Sean Flaherty blasted an opposite field walk-off grand slam with two outs to win the game.
The rally started with a walk to Sean Byman and a pair of New Rochelle errors. Then, the hit parade began. Jonathon Farley, Antonio Rinaldi, Brendan Tarsnane, Jack McKee, and Matt Russo had consecutive singles to cut the lead to 13-9 with no outs. With one out, Byman walked again this time bringing in a run. Finally, with two outs and the bases loaded Flaherty’s big moment came.
New Rochelle jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning started by a leadoff home run from Jayson Rodopoulus. Pearl River answered with a pair of runs spearheaded by an RBI double from Farley and an RBI groundout from Tarsnane.
New Rochelle’s bats kept the pressure on. Jayson Rodopoulus deposited another home run over the wall, his ninth of the tournament. His twin brother, Johnnie Rodopoulus added another four-bagger, his sixth of the tournament.
Pearl River starter Jack McKee settled down and shut the big bats of New Rochelle down in the third and fourth innings as PRLL slowly made its way back cutting the deficit to 7-4 on an RBI single from Flaherty and a solo home run by McKee.
New Rochelle exploded for five more runs in the fifth on home runs from Jack Bruckner and Ryan Diaz. In the sixth inning, New Rochelle hit its sixth home run of the game off the bat of Ceasar Choflet. It was the 16th home run in the last three games for the sluggers from the Queen City.
It wasn’t enough to knock out the resilient boys from Pearl River.
Pearl River now travels to Lockport, NY for the state tournament. As the Section 4 champions, Pearl River receives a first-round bye in the double elimination tournament and will face the winner of Auburn and Horseheads on Wednesday. Burnt Hills from the Capital region, the New York City champion, and the Long Island champion will round out the field.
The Pearl River All-Stars will be LIVE on the air for the first-ever edition of Little League Insider Radio broadcast on AM 1230 WFAS at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The show will be broadcast from Emmett’s Castle in Pearl River. You can listen online at www.wfasam.com.
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John Malone manages the Little League Insider Blog, a news and information blog on everything Little League baseball. You can read his updates daily at www.llworldseries.blogspot.com. You can find Little League Insider on Facebook at www.facebook.com/littleleagueinsider and follow him on Twitter: @LittleLeaguePro.
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