If you want to win in the sectional tournament, you need your ace pitcher to come through, and that’s exactly what Yorktown senior Swaraaj Pujari did in the third-seeded Huskers’ 2-0 victory over No. 6 Fox Lane in the Section 1 Class AA quarterfinals May 19 at Granite Knolls Park.
“He was awesome,” Yorktown coach C.J. Riefenhauser said of Pujari. “He threw a ton of strikes, was ahead of hitters, challenged everyone he faced and trusted our defense.”
Pujari threw a complete-game gem against the Foxes, allowing just 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out 9 for a Yorktown squad that entered the game ranked as the No. 20 Class AA team in the state.
“The thing that allowed me to pitch as well as I did was just knowing that my defense has my back,” Pujari said. “I attacked hitters a lot and had full confidence in my team and their abilities to get outs for me and that’s exactly what they did.”
Pujari said to pitch as well as he did in a sectional game meant a lot.
“It’s me and a lot of kids on my team’s senior year and we want to go far and not stop,” Pujari said. “It was also an elimination game so playing with that win or go home mentality just made this win mean even more special.”
Yorktown catcher Lirim Biberaj said Pujari pitched as well as he did because he went out there and didn’t try to do too much.
“He stepped out there inning after inning and did what he’s been doing all year,” Biberaj said.
Pujari’s masterpiece gave the red-hot Huskers (15-7) their 10th win in a row and 14th in their last 15 games.
“We’ve really come together as a team and we’ve all gotten closer to each other,” Biberaj said. “We’re all there for each other and we’re all rooting for one another.”
Yorktown’s Tyler Galante said it felt great to win a sectional game, especially to be able to do it as a team.
“The [morale] is high and the team is excited to compete,” Galante said.
An RBI double by Galante (1-2) in the second inning, that drove in Luke Ciamei (1-2, double, walk), put the Huskers up 1-0.
“All I was thinking about was to stay relaxed and don’t do too much,” Galante said. “It felt great to get a hit to score a run in for the team to put us up.”
Biberaj (2-3) increased the Huskers’ lead to 2-0 when he homered in the fifth inning.
“During the at-bat I was just focused on doing what we do in practice, and that’s hitting the ball hard on a line,” Biberaj said. “I was just trying to get on base for my teammates behind me. It felt great to hit that ball and extend my team’s lead going into the later part of the game.”
Brandon Manchess (2-3, stolen base), Xavier Guzman (1-2, stolen base) and Chris Lanza (walk) also contributed to the Huskers’ effort at the plate.
“The energy was great, everyone was pulling for each other, they all communicated after every pitch and no one took anything negative to the field or at-bat, everyone played pitch by pitch,” Riefenhauser said.
Yorktown’s next game is a double-elimination semifinal contest at rival second-seeded Mahopac, the No. 18 ranked Class AA team in the state, at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 22. The two squads, which shared the league title, split their regular-season contests.
The Huskers won at Mahopac 1-0 on April 21 with the Wolf Pac prevailing 12-2 on the road at Granite Knolls Park two days later. The two teams also met last season in the double-elimination semis, with fourth-seeded Mahopac winning at top-seeded Yorktown 7-1, ending the Huskers’ season.
“The team is hyped and everyone wants to win,” Galante said. “The key to win these rivalry games is to stay within ourselves and do the little things right.”
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