SOMERS, N.Y. - Going into the top of the seventh inning on Monday, Aug. 11, Perillo Tours trailed Goodfellas 4-0 and were down to their final out when Tyler Carr came to the plate with the tying run on first.
It was hit or go home, and the second baseman was certain about his chances. “No,” Carr didn’t hold back — and with a two-strike count, the odds looked even worse. But fortunately for Perillo, Carr proved that actions speak louder than words.
He ripped a triple down the left field line to tie the game, and with the three-bagger still in the air, Chris Boncardo launched one to deep center in the top of the eighth to secure a thrilling 5-4 win.
The game began as a showcase of pitching and defense. Anthony Mery and Jay Ritacco fielded a pair of Greg Antash ground balls to close the first, while Anthony DeCoro and Ryan Cameron handled a fly ball and a grounder respectively to end the inning in a 0-0 tie.
In the second, Antash nearly handled things himself. He opened the frame with a called strike three, Cameron registered another assist at short, and Antash snared a comebacker to retire the side.
After three scoreless innings, Goodfellas broke through in the bottom of the third. Ritacco singled to left with one out, Jimmy Geyer doubled over the left fielder’s head, and Nick Mayo drove Ritacco home with a long sacrifice fly to right. They nearly doubled the lead on Christian Russo’s humpback liner to third, but Boncardo made a leaping grab to end the threat.
Goodfellas returned the favor defensively in the top of the inning. With two runners on, Geyer turned Boncardo’s grounder into a tag play at third, and Mery made a backhanded stop at short to record a force at second.
In the bottom half, Perillo’s defense shined. With the bases loaded and no one out, Chris Mayer lined a shot to the left-center gap that looked destined to clear the bases — but DeCoro made a diving grab and doubled up the runner at second. “It’s just instinct. Whenever I see the ball in the air, I call it out,” he said. “It brings me back to my glory days.”
Goodfellas extended the lead in the fourth. Viet Dang, Ritacco, and Geyer all singled, and with one run in, Mayo’s second sacrifice fly made it 3-0. Russo followed with an infield hit to make it 4-0. But leaving two runners on proved costly.
In the sixth, Goodfellas had runners on first and third with one out, but Boncardo’s quick thinking at third and a subsequent pop out kept the score the same. That set the stage for Perillo’s comeback. “They put our backs to the wall, we always fight back,” said Nick Fiore, who started the rally with a single.
After Boncardo flied out, Matias Morales reached on an error, and singles by Cameron and Oliver cut the deficit to two. That brought Carr to the plate. “I’ve never been in a spot like that,” he admitted. Drawing on his teammates’ belief, he delivered the game-tying triple.
In the eighth, DeCoro singled with one out, but Fiore’s fly out left Boncardo needing to come through. “I was 0-4, I knew I had to put the ball in play,” he said — and did, with a deep drive that turned the center fielder around.
In the bottom of the inning, with runners on first and second and one out, DeCoro caught a fly ball and noticed the runner at second breaking for third. “I was going to flip the ball to the shortstop. But I saw him running and made the throw,” he said. Boncardo took the hop, and the tag ended the game.
The win improved Perillo to 5-12, and Carr hopes it’s a turning point. “Every step is a building block for the future, and next year is looking better than ever,” he concluded.
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