Laneco Construction (9-5 overall) finished regular season district play at 7-3, while Capital One Bank (12-4) suffered its first district loss of the summer at 7-1. The two clubs met back on June 10th with Capital One Bank taking a 5-2 victory in a game played at the Bone Yard.
In Tuesday’s game, Laneco Construction with a never-say-die attitude fought back from a 6-1 deficit to claim the victory with a run in their last at bat. Laneco Construction’s Matt Navarro drew a leadoff walk on a 3-1 pitch to open the inning off of reliever Anthony LaGuardia (3-1). Ross Macaluso also earned a walk after going down in the count at 0-2. Blake Bonnaffons put down a nicely executed sacrifice bunt, advancing both runners. Alex Ramirez was then intentionally walked to load the bases, setting up a potential force play at any base or a possible double play ball. With designated hitter Bobby Mayfield batting on a 1-1 pitch, a wild pitch was uncorked, allowing Navarro to scamper home from third with the game winner.
 Laneco Construction (PJP II) base runner Matt Navarro slides in safely at home as Capital One Bank (Fontainebleau High) catcher Will Ward grabs the wide throw during the sixth inning of Tuesday's American Legion game played at PJP. Laneco Construction took a 7-6 victory. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel) |
Laneco’s Damiens started on the mound and after shutting down Capital One in the first two innings ran into trouble in the third when he struggled with his control. Will Ward drew a leadoff walk and was replaced by courtesy runner Henry Hines. Dalton LaFrance sacrificed Hines to second. LaGuardia beat out an infield single to second and David Fiegel loaded the bases being hit by a pitch. The next batter lined out to shortstop, but Andrew Patin earned an RBI when he walked on a 3-1 pitch, forcing in Hines to tie the game. Facing a 1-1 pitch, former Pope John Paul II player James Cousin, ripped a two-run double to left, scoring LaGuardia and Fiegel for a 3-1 lead. Damiens got the next hitter to ground out to strand Cousin.
Capital One Bank increased the lead to 6-1 with three runs in the fourth. LaGuardia produced an RBI single to left and Patin delivered a clutch two-out, two-run double to left field, which appeared to put Capital One in the driver’s seat.
Damiens, who went four innings, said he was glad his teammates were able to come back like they did.
“I didn ‘t have my best stuff today, four walks and one hit batter, but it was a good thing the team was able to come back. This was a really good win to come back the way we did. They (Capital One) are the No. one seed in our district,” Damiens said.
Capital One reliever Addison Melancon replaced Little in the bottom of the fourth. Despite walking the bases full, he was able to record a ground out and two strikeouts to get out of the inning unscathed, stranding the three runners.
Laneco’s Olivier replaced Damiens to open the top of the fifth. Olivier turned in a strong relief effort in two-innings of work, retiring six of the seven batters he faced. He only gave up a single to Melancon to open the sixth inning before retiring the next three hitters.
Laneco Construction coach Mark Homburg said he got a nice relief effort from Olivier.
“Trailing 6-1, we asked Connor (Olivier) to keep us there for two innings. He didn’t give up any runs and that kind of stopped the bleeding. We just hoped we could get a couple hits along with some walks to mix it up to score some runs. He was able to do that for us,” Homburg said.
Homburg said he was pleased the way his club was able to turn things around during the second half of the summer season.
“I measure our success by improvement. In the first round of legion, we were 2-3 and in the second round we went 5-0. Any way you slice it, that’s three more wins than you had previous.”
Homburg said that is something his team can build on for next year regardless of what happens the rest of the summer.
“You can see progress from most of our younger guys and that is encouraging,” Homburg added.
Laneco touched Melancon for a run in the fifth to cut the lead to 6-2. Mayfield blasted a double to left center field. Olivier connected for a sacrifice fly advancing Mayfield to third. Turner stepped to the plate and contributed an RBI sacrifice fly to right, scoring a hustling Mayfield, who tagged up from third to cut the lead to 6-2. Dampier followed with a single, but Melancon struck out the next batter to end the inning with what appeared to be a safe four-run cushion.
Olivier retired Capital One in order in the sixth. Laneco Construction sent nine batters to the plate in sixth, tallying four runs to tie the game at 6-6. Navarro walked and Macaluso reached after being hit by a pitch.
Bonnaffons ripped a single to load the bases. Ramirez reached on a fielder’s choice when the third baseman made an errant throw to home trying to force Navarro. Melancon struck out the next batter for the first out, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Melancon tossed a wild pitch, scoring Macaluso to make it 6-4. Damiens singled to right, plating Bonnaffons to cut the margin to one. Turner blooped a single to right, scoring Ramirez to tie the game at 6-6. Melancon struck out the next two hitters to end any further damage.
Turner said he was happy he was able to contribute late and was excited about the come-from-behind victory.
“I was glad my hit (RBI single in the sixth) was able to drop in there to get a big run. I got a fastball and went the other way. We got some timely hitting. We just did our jobs and never gave up,” Turner said.
Turner said once they started getting guys on base in the late innings they thought they could win it.
Laneco’s Mayfield (5-1) took over to start the seventh inning in relief of Olivier, who kept it close. Mayfield retired the side in order, posting a strikeout to gain the victory, facing Capital One’s number four, five and six hitters.
Laneco Construction will host Anytime Fitness (Pearl River High), the third place team, in a seeding playoff game Monday night, beginning at 6 o’clock.
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