The 11 year-old Whitestone Wanderers baseball team advanced to the NCYAA championship game with three straight wins in the playoffs last Thursday.
Before the playoff, the Wanderers closed out the regular season with an impressive 15-3 win over the Franklin Square Seminoles . The teams banged out a season high 17 hits last Thursday.
Joey Depperman and Vincent Florido led the attack with three hits each, Nick Lamonaca, Anthony Polito and Greg Polkowski had two hits a piece and Mike Dinoto, Johnny Liquori, Mike Lowery, John Massa and Brandon Rosenthal chipped in with a hit each.
The Wanderers started the playoffs by scalping the Long Island Indians, 14-0, Saturday. Florido pitched a no-hitter and cracked a three-run home run. Lamonaca, Lowery and Massa had two hits each, and Dinoto, Polito, Polkowski and Rosenthal each had a single.
The Wanderers then faced the Long Island Storm in round two of the playoffs Sunday. The team got off to a quick start courtesy of Zavattieri’s three-run home run in the first inning, but the Storm battled back and took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the sixth. With one on and one out, Dinoto got to live out every ballplayer’s dream by hitting a walk-off home run to win the game, 6-5.
Florido then pitched had another three-hit game as the Wanderers beat the Franklin Square Seminoles, 4-1, in the semifinals. Lowery had two hits and Depperman, Massa, Rosenthal and Zavattieri each had a hit. Polkowski pitched the first three innings and got his second win of the day. Zavattieri pitched the final three innings retiring nine of the 10 batters he faced to pick up the save.
In other Whitestone Wanderers action, the 10 year-old team are off to a 6-0 start after a 13-1 win over the Astoria Cobras. Anthony Andreani pitched another strong game, striking out eight hitters in five innings. Mike Formato closed with a scoreless sixth. Andreani and Shane Lowery each had three of the Wanderers’ 16 hits. Vinny Depperman, Peter Forgione, Mike Gallagher and Tommy Regan collected two hits each, while Formato and Zavattieri contributed with a hit a piece.
