By Rich Bevensee
The last time the New York Dynasty 10U baseball club brought its relentless offensive show to Diamond Nation, it ran roughshod through the competition en route to a Memorial Day weekend championship.
Well, the boys from Dynasty are back in Flemington, and they’re up to their old tricks.
Coming off a 16-run performance in their first game of the weekend, NY Dynasty kept the bulldozer moving against Baseball U PA Pocono. Jake Romero and Joe Barone cranked two-run triples, Dean Scarangello knocked in runs just about every which way he could, and Dynasty rolled to a 17-1, three-inning triumph to remain undefeated in the Slugfest Tournament on Saturday.
All 11 batters in the Dynasty lineup collected at least one hit, and eight of them drove in at least one run as the New York squad improved to 2-0.
Dynasty’s last pool play game was Sunday at 8 a.m. against DTA (2-1) and the New York squad prevailed, 11-10, to earn a berth in the title game. Dynasty then closed the deal, defeating the Bobcats, 13-5, to secure the 10U Slugfest championship.
Dynasty scored four runs in the first inning, six in the second and seven in the third to bring about the 15-run mercy rule victory against Baseball U.
“We added a couple players over the summer but we already had a solid hitting team,” Dynasty coach Anthony Vigliotti said. “There’s no secret, they just make good contact.”
Scarangello was the first of three batters to drive in a run in the first inning (he also scored on an error) for a 4-0 Dynasty lead. In the second inning he plated another run with a ground out, and he collected his third RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third.
Scarangello said he gets his batting help at home with his father, John, and 12-year-old brother Luke.
“I really just think about getting contact, getting on base and driving in some runs,” Scarangello said. “When everyone is hitting, it’s like if you’re the on-deck batter and the person in front of you gets a hit, you just want to smoke one.”
Both Romero and Barone cranked two-run triples in the second inning as Dynasty scored six runs on three hits and two walks. Romero’s triple to left center gave Dynasty a 6-0 lead, Scarangello had an RBI groundout, Barone blasted a triple to right center and Sean Hachemeister made it 10-0 with a sacrifice fly.
“Over the weekends we picked up some new players and they’re very good,” Barone said. “Sean (Hachemeister), Zach (Althoff), (Rob) Woodhouse…They made us better.
“I’m going out to hit almost all the time,” Barone said. “I practice almost every day for an hour with my father Tito and (former Staten Island Yankee) Juan Camacho (who played five years in the New York Yankees organization and one in the Chicago White Sox system).”
Dynasty threw down the gauntlet in the third inning, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batsman.
Woodhouse and Althoff began the carnage with consecutive RBI singles, Scarangello was hit by a pitch to force home a run, and John Iacono drove in his first run with a bases-loaded walk for a 14-0 lead.
Barone continued the steamrolling with a fielder’s choice RBI, Scarangello scored on a wild pitch and Hachemeister added an RBI single.
Vigliotto, whose team won the Memorial Day Blast 9U title by defeating five teams by a combined 68-6, was not surprised at all to see the offensive fireworks carry over from summer to fall.
“I have a lot of them in rec and coach a lot of them, but most of the parents go above and beyond, so these kids go to hitting instructors,” Vigliotti said. “They’re only 9-10 years old but they’re probably two, three years into going to that once a week.”
Nick Romano pitched two shutout innings for Dynasty and allowed one hit (a Blake Gilland single) and struck out three. Rob Woodhouse pitched the third inning, and, after surrendering a double to Owen Breners and an RBI double to Jason Knat, shut the door with a strikeout and pop fly.
Woodhouse received a huge defensive lift on the heels of that Knat double, which reached the left field wall. Dynasty left fielder A.J. Sipas threw to shortstop Althoff, who fired to third baseman Scarangello to cut down Knat at third.