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Sports

Coast Little League Advances to District Semifinals Over Wantagh

The 12-year old team completed a comeback in extra innings.

The Massapequa Coast Little League team continued their quest to repeat as Long Island champions in the 12-year old Williamsport Division. Coast edged out a 5-4 win in extra innings over Wantagh at Seaman’s Neck Park in Seaford on Wednesday afternoon.

“Our ace [Austin Torres] did his job and kept us in the game, and our closer, Mark [Rodriguez], closed it out on top of getting the game-winning hit,” said Massapequa Coast head coach Brian Schirmacher. “Our base running hurt us a little, so we will work on that for the next game.”

Wantagh fell into some early trouble in the first inning, walking in a run to give Coast a 1-0 lead. However, in the bottom of the second, Steven Sammartino hit a solo home run to tie the score for Wantagh.

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In the third, Albie Fanera hit a fielder’s choice to score Austin Torres, giving the Massapequa side their second lead of the game. Wantagh took the lead right back following a two-run single in the bottom half of the inning.

Dylan Nealis started the Coast comeback with a solo shot to left field to tie the score at 3-3. Torres continued to retire Wantagh batters with his overpowering pitching on the mound. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out 10 in the process.

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Mark Rodriguez came in to pitch in the bottom of the sixth with the score remaining at a 3-3 tie. After getting out of the inning, Rodriguez knocked in two runs on a single up the middle in the first extra inning to give Coast a 5-3 lead. Nick Pierce hit an RBI single for Wantagh in the bottom of the seventh, but a fly ball to right field soon after secured the win and secured a spot for Coast into the District semifinals.

“We were right there the whole game. If we could get the tough first inning back, then we would have been right there in the end,” said Wantagh head coach Michael Hutt. “Whichever team makes the fewest errors will win. These are all good teams playing here.”

Wantagh will be entered into the Losers half of the bracket, where they must win the remainder of their games to have a chance at the championship. They will match up against Merrick on Thursday at 8:00 p.m. at Burns Park in an elimination game.

With the win, Massapequa Coast will play the winner of Seaford and Massapequa International on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Merrick TP.

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