SOMERS, N.Y. - When Somers quickly fell behind Panas by two runs on Wednesday, April 29, the sense of being behind the eight ball was familiar to coach JT Genovese.
“We started off the first half pretty rough,” he said.
After regrouping and talking things through, the response was unmistakable.
“They really flipped a switch,” Genovese added, as Somers surged to a 13-4 home victory.
The Tuskers first had to weather a shaky opening inning. A walk and a single to left gave Panas runners on first and second with one out, but Kelly struck out Matt Garcia to settle things momentarily.
A passed ball and a wild pitch soon brought in the game’s first run, and swirling winds contributed to the second. Ryan McAuley initially called off a ball drifting toward his side, but the wind carried it toward shortstop Jake Hopper, where it dropped in.
Unfazed, Kelly moved forward. He struck out Sam Lange to end the inning, and Somers looked to respond. A one-out walk to Tyler Venturini showed promise, but Hopper grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Kelly regained his rhythm in the second. Despite hitting the first of what would be four batters, the senior recorded two strikeouts and induced a pop-up to second baseman Henry Barbagallo.
Somers got on the board in the bottom of the inning. Lorenzo D’Ambrosio, who focused on using the opposite field during the offseason, doubled to left.
“This offseason I worked on hitting the other way to have a more consistent approach,” he said.
Kelly followed with an opposite-field single to right, cutting the deficit in half. However, the rally stalled when Justin Thomas was called for batter’s interference as Kelly attempted to steal second, resulting in a double play. Chris Azimi then struck out to end the inning.
Back on the mound, Kelly worked around an error by Hopper, recording two groundouts and a fly ball to center to keep the deficit at one.
Somers broke through in the third. Shawn Bottali led off with an infield single to deep short, and after an out, McAuley stepped in with a plan.
“The first at-bat, he threw me two fastballs—one ball and one strike that I missed,” McAuley said. “I knew if he threw it again, I was going to make him pay.”
He did just that, launching a two-run homer over the left-field fence to give Somers a 3-2 lead.
The Tuskers kept rolling. Venturini drew his second walk, and another run scored on Hopper’s groundout. An error at second and a walk to D’Ambrosio set up a double steal, and Kelly followed with another single to drive in two more runs. Thomas capped the inning with a double down the left-field line, extending the lead to 7-2.
With breathing room, Kelly stayed in control. Aside from another hit batter, Panas managed only a pop-up to short while Kelly added two more strikeouts.
Somers didn’t score in the fourth, but the hit batters continued to pile up. Kelly hit two more, something Genovese acknowledged while emphasizing the importance of pitching inside.
“We want to establish the inside part of the plate,” he said, noting he was glad no one was injured.
In the fifth, a walk and two wild pitches allowed Panas to inch closer, and with James Radding warming in the bullpen, the visitors hoped to chase Kelly. Instead, he induced a groundout to Hopper to end his outing.
Somers added insurance against the Panas bullpen, which struggled with command. Thomas, Bottali and McAuley all walked, and Barbagallo was hit by a pitch to make it 9-3.
A wild pitch pushed the lead to 10-3, and Venturini added an RBI single to make it 11-3. Hopper’s sacrifice fly brought home another run, and Somers was in full control.
“We’ve been gearing up and getting ready for whatever comes our way,” Venturini said.
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