Gabe Almonte slides across the plate to score after an overthrow to home on his three-run triple. 

By Sean Reilly

The easy part of Gabe Almonte’s first-inning at-bat on Tuesday afternoon at Diamond Nation was knowing what was coming. 

Making something happen out of the situation was a more difficult proposition, but the Game on 13 Fury Elite cleanup man delivered. 

Almonte wound up hitting a three-run triple, and also dashed home after an overthrow to the plate on the play to score an additional run. 

As early as it was, coming with nobody out in the top of the first, it wound up as the most important play of a game full of action as the Fury Elite went on to win, 5-4, over the US9 Prospects 15U at the 15U Super Top 25 Showcase, Powered by Construction Risk Partners, in Flemington.

Almonte knew what was coming because the first three batters – Max Fredman, Jackson Carroll and Tyler Venturini – all walked. 

So stepping into the box, he was fully waiting for a fast ball down the middle. The only problem was that the first two pitches were balls. 

But on the third pitch, it came. And Almonte responded for his team from Westchester County, N.Y. 

Almonte sent a triple to right field that cleared the bases. After the overthrow to the plate, in a bid to get Venturini scoring the third run, Almonte dashed home to also score for a 4-0 lead. 

“Mainly it was just staying on time,” he said. “I knew his speed. He was throwing a lot of balls, so it was pretty clear what he had to do, just get the ball over the plate, so I took advantage of it.” 

Even with that early lead, along with the fact that the Fury Elite turned three double plays through the first six innings, the outcome wasn’t decided until the final play of the game.

 The Massachusetts-based US9 Prospects were within a run with two out in the bottom of the seventh, with a man on third base.

Neil MacKinnon hit a very hard grounder to third that was handled by third baseman Lou Vernagallo several feet behind the base. He rifled a throw to first baseman Brandon Manchess just in time for the out that ended the game. 

As for the double plays, the first came in the second inning. With runners on first and second and nobody out, shortstop Carroll caught a line drive and stepped on second. The next batter grounded out on another fine play by Jackson.

The Fury Elite lead was 5-1 in the third when the Prospects used a wild pitch on a strikeout and two walks to load the bases with nobody out. Mike Fiorello hit a sacrifice fly to center fielder Sal Kunz. The throw by Kunz to the infield was caught by first baseman Manchess, who threw to Vernagallo at third in time to get a tagging trail runner for a double play. The next batter also flew out to Kunz.

The score was still 5-2 when the US9 Prospects began the fifth with singles by Jack Carney and Cole Michelson. A grounder to Almonte at shortstop  resulted in a 6-4-3 double play, and the next batter popped to shortstop.

Game On 13 Fury Elite third baseman Lou Vernagallo completes team’s second of three double plays. 

Each double play supported a different pitcher – Leans Scarano started, Lucas Ralph was on the mound in the third, and Carroll was pitching in the fifth. 

“It’s a very mental game as well,” Almonte said. “It was about staying aware in the game. Our defense was huge. It was a team effort, the entire game. We made some errors, but we made adjustments and kept them out of our heads, which is a key to winning these games.” 

US9 Prospects scored on an error in the bottom of the first, before Fury Elite scored on a wild pitch in the second. 

After getting to within 5-2 on the sac fly/double play in the third, US9 Prospects scored again when Chuck Hamer led off the sixth with a double to right-center before scoring on a two-out error.

In the bottom of the seventh, Fiorello led off with a single to center. Courtesy runner Will Aylward advanced to second on a ground out before moving to third when Harry Regan singled to second base. A wild pitch scored the Aylward and sent Regan to second. A pitcher-to-first ground out moved Regan to third before the game ending Vernagallo-to-Manchess ground out. 

Kunz finished 2-for-2 for the Fury Elite. Seven players had one hit apiece for US9 Prospects.