Laneco Construction (Pope John Paul II) first baseman Alex Ramirez ended Tuesday’s American Legion game in dramatic fashion.

Leading off the bottom of the seventh in a 5-5 game and facing an 0-1 count, he hit a walk-off home run to left field, helping his team capture a 6-5 victory over Anytime Fitness (Pearl River High).

“It was a hanging curveball. I just recognized it and I pulled it into left field,” Ramirez said.

Pictured is Laneco Construction’s Andre Damiens preparing to release a pitch during Tuesday’s game against Anytime Fitness. Damiens pitched around seven errors and got a no decision, but kept his team in the game and they pulled off a 6-5 victory. (Staff Photo by Chris Kinkaid)

He said he felt like he had enough of it as he was running to first base. Ramirez, who will be a sophomore next school year, said he wasn’t thinking about going deep when he got up to the plate.

“I was thinking, ‘get a base hit, maybe a double in the gap,’ but I wasn’t thinking home run,” he said.

It was Ramirez’s second high-school home run and his first walk-off hit.

Laneco Construction coach Mark Homburg was happy for Ramirez.

“He deserves it,” Homburg said. “He works hard. He plays on a young metro team, plays on the legion team, he gets private instruction and the kid always works in the cage. He never says a word. The only time he talks is when he has a question. Otherwise, he’s working. I can see the improvements since January. It’s light years.”

Laneco Construction was 5-4 overall and 3-3 in legion play at Tuesday’s press time. Anytime Fitness was 2-4.

Laneco Construction starting pitcher Andre Damiens threw an excellent ballgame as his defense let him down throughout the contest, committing seven errors. Damiens, who got a tough no-decision, threw six and two-thirds inning. He gave up no earned runs (five overall) on four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. Damiens credited his catcher Timmy Turner for calling a good game.

“I threw a lot of my fastballs for strikes,” Damiens said. “Me and Timmy decided not to fool around with them and we were throwing straight fastballs. They had a few errors, but it was easy to pitch around it. Until the last inning, we weren’t in that much trouble.”

In the seventh, Anytime Fitness trailed 5-2, but they fought back and mounted a two-out rally, scoring three runs on one hit with three errors.

Damiens got the first two batters to pop out to him. Michael Beloso got inning started in a positive way for Anytime Fitness by tripling down the right-field line. He scored when Alex Foil reached on an error, making it 5-3. Beau Crawford walked. Brad Huff then hit a hard grounder past Laneco Construction’s second baseman and into centerfield, but Laneco’s centerfielder booted it. Both runs scored and the game was tied at 5-5. Bobby Mayfield relieved Damiens and struck out the only batter he faced on three pitches, sending the game to the bottom of the seventh tied. Ramirez came through with the heroics, making Mayfield the winning pitcher.

The beginning of the game was a pitcher’s duel as the starters were on their game. Huff started for Anytime Fitness and threw four-plus innings of no-hit ball. He walked four batters and hit one.

His team scored twice in the third inning to go up 2-0. Cory Funel led off and reached on an error. Andro Cutura followed with a single. Jordan Piniero put down a sacrifice bunt, but the throw was wide of first and by Ramirez, Funel scored, making it 1-0. Doug Conravey was next and he hit an RBI single to center field to give his team a 2-0 advantage. In the fifth, Laneco Construction put up three runs on two hits and two errors. With two outs and nobody on, Laneco Construction was being no hit. Zack Pohto broke it up with a slow roller to shortstop that just got by the pitcher. Bobby Mayfield then doubled down the left-field line. Damiens then hit a grounder to the shortstop, but the throw was high and into Laneco Construction’s first-base dugout, allowing both runners to score and knotted the game at 2-2. The next batter Ramirez also hit a grounder to short, but again, the throw was over first and courtesy runner Connor Olivier crossed the plate and now Laneco Construction led 3-2 after five innings.

In the sixth, Laneco Construction added two insurance runs to make it 5-2 as Ross Macaluso singled and stole second.

Blake Bonnaffons drove him in with a single, but an error allowed Bonnaffons to take second base. Mayfield posted an RBI single to centerfield to cap the sixth-inning scoring. Anytime Fitness came back to tie the score at 5-5, but Ramirez ended it with a homer on the second pitch of the bottom of the seventh.