2020 North Shore Yankees Outlast Pirates and Indians for 54+ Title in Long Island MSBL
Long Island MSBL, 54+ Division
North Shore Yankees 9, Long Island Indians 6
Submitted by Pete Munda, #26 – Manager, North Shore Yankees
This is the North Shore Yankees second season in the 54+ division of the Long Island MSBL. The guys started indoor practice as an entire team in January and because of the pandemic, did not hold outdoor practices until springtime. Each team member participated in the winter/spring practices and worked out weekly until the start of the 2020 season in early July.
The 2020 54+ LI MSBL Finals Series was a good one. The Yankees earned a rematch of the 2019 finals with the Long Island Indians 53+ by sweeping the Massapequa Pirates in the semifinal round.
Game one of the Finals was unusual and ended with both a walk off win for the Yankees and a protest win for the Indians. The Yankees trailed by two runs in the ninth inning, when Paul Rosenberg hit a bases loaded, two-out, 3-RBI double to win the game. The Indians ultimately filed a protest, forcing a third game be played the following weekend.
In game two, Drew Lanzetta took the ball for the Yankees and faced off with Indians crafty southpaw, Bob Seroski. The Yanks batted around and jumped out to a 5-run lead in the first inning, led the entire game, and won 7 to 3. Drew pitched a complete game and held the Indians to seven hits.
For game three, Yankees Manager Pete Munda made the decision to start Drew Lanzetta again. After two scoreless innings, Drew injured his leg running the bases and Pete signaled to the bullpen for righty Will Grant. Will yielded a leadoff home run to Ronny Weiss of the Indians and then proceeded to hold the Indians to five more runs in seven innings of relief.
The Indians led 3-1 after 5 ½ innings. The Yankees chipped away in the bottom of the sixth and tied the game up at three with productive at bats from Joe Marello and Freddie Peralta and a sac fly from Carmine Infante.
After a scoreless seventh inning by both teams, and with the score still tied at three in the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees started a rally against Indians starter Pat Mancini. The righthander loaded the bases before Indians manager Tony Ferraro brought in lefty Bob Seroski to face Ricky Weiss. With two outs, Ricky connected on an 0-1 pitch for a clean single up the middle to break the tie and give the Yankees the lead. Will Grantfollowed with a 2-RBI base hit to right center scoring Ricky. The Yanks added some insurance runs and went on to win the third and decisive game of the 2020 54+ Championship, 9-6.
Congratulations to the North Shore Yankees, who have worked relentlessly since January and earned this victory on the field and with integrity.