Dragons Elite went 5-0 to claim the 17/18U August Showdown championship.
By Rich Bevensee
Dillon Cass and Tyler Wein are no different than most teenage ballplayers at this time of the summer season in that they’re battling through aches and pains as best they can to reach the end of a grueling travel schedule.
But the bonding time they’ve spent with teammates makes their resolve that much stronger, aches and pains be damned.
That resolve was evident in how Cass and Wein conducted themselves as the starting battery for Dragons Elite NY 17U Black, which was making the August Showdown Powered By Victus at Diamond Nation in Flemington their summer swan song.
Wein caught every inning of all five games and drove in a run in the final, and Cass, a rarely used pitcher this summer due to lingering injuries, threw 3⅔ solid innings. Their efforts spearheaded the Dragons’ 10-5 victory over Brooklyn Bonnies 16U Avanzino in the August Showdown championship game of the 17/18U Wood Bat division on Sunday afternoon.
“At the end of the day the one goal is to come here and win, and that’s what we did,” Wein said. “It was a great team effort.”
Wein was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player for catching all 31 innings in the Dragons’ 5-0 run through the August Showdown. At the plate this weekend he went 4-for-10 with a double, three walks and seven RBI.
Wein admitted feeling pretty weary Sunday, saying he experienced leg cramps as he was catching Cass in the bullpen before the final. It was the team’s second game of the day, as the Dragons eliminated Hudson Baseball Center 17U/2027, 4-3, in the semifinals.
“To be completely honest it’s pretty tough to catch five games in two days,” said Wein, a rising 6-foot, 215-pound senior at Albertus Magnus, a Catholic co-ed high school in Bardonia, N.Y.
“I caught a couple cramps today but my team is a community and family, so when I was catching they were picking me up no matter what. I definitely try to be a team leader. It’s kind of my motto and you can see it in the way I play. I try to lead the team in every way possible.”
Dragons coach Joe Farina can relate.
“Tyler is the glue that has kept us together,” Farina said. “The last three weekends have been draining on him. I’m a former catcher so I know what it takes.”
“He’s a dog behind the plate,” Cass said of Wein. “He just takes control of the game. He’s a workhorse. He takes no days off. He even asks me if I want to take batting practice with him on our off days.”
Cass is no slouch either, answering the call to pitch in the final despite battling lingering elbow and shoulder issues. Farina said Cass hasn’t really been used as a pitcher since early June because he plays the corner infield spots very well and the team has some talented designated pitchers-only.
Cass, a 6-foot, 200-pound righty and recent graduate of Clarkstown North High School in New City, N.Y., is about to begin his freshman year at SUNY New Paltz.
“Honestly I’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries and working through that,” Cass said. “I’ve had elbow issues for three years, on and off, and this summer it progressed to the shoulder and a little bit in the wrist. Today was about just pushing through it, and honestly the adrenaline takes over. I felt awesome today. This is the last tournament of the summer so I wanted to give it my all.”
Cass, who used a fastball and curveball exclusively, pitched into the fourth inning and left with a 5-4 lead after surrendering four earned runs on five hits and three walks with one strikeout.
“Dillon pounded the zone, he got ahead early and competed,” Farina said. “What’s impressive about what he did today is he didn’t get a lot of innings for us this summer. He pitched the first weekend of the year and hasn’t pitched much since. The kid’s a great all-around player so he takes the ball whenever necessary.”
Led by Cass and Wein, the Rockland County, N.Y.-based club entered the August Showdown on a hot streak and nothing at ‘The Nation’ slowed them down in their season finale. The Dragons won their fifth straight and 14 of their last 15 games.
The Dragons went 19-4-2 since their early July trip to the Boston Classic, a 142-team tournament in which they made the playoffs.
“We bonded as a team in Boston,” Dragons coach Joe Farina said. “That tournament alone is a week together, hanging out on and off the field, which is old school baseball. Ever since then we’ve been on fire and today we went out on top.”
It was a bittersweet celebration on the infield after the game since the Dragons were playing their last game together. Four players who have been with Farina since their 11U season are twin brothers Andrew and Chris Demersky, Luke Viviano and Aidan Bigelow.
“This is emotional for all of us,” Farina said. “I call it our last dance together. We’ve been together for six or seven years and probably 300-400 games.”
The Demersky brothers played a vital role in vaulting the Dragons past Brooklyn in the final. Chris fueled a five-run first inning rally with a first-pitch RBI single, and Andrew roped a triple into the left-center gap to spark a four-run surge in the fifth.
“They are incredible athletes and they’re still developing,” Farina said. “They can play any position on the field. It’s been fun watching them compete. I’m a little hard on them because I know what they’re capable of.”
Bonnies-Avanzino, from the Bonnie Youth Club in Brooklyn founded by John Avanzino, began the scoring with a run in the first when Steven Frias led off with a double and scored on a Junior Vasquez two-out single.
The Dragons took the lead for good in their first at bat. Luke Viviano walked and soon scored on a wild pitch, Chris Demersky made it 2-0 with an RBI single, the lefty-hitting Cass helped his own cause with a two-run single into the right field corner, and Shea Montgomery added an RBI groundout for a 5-0 lead.
Tyler Wein caught all five games and went 4-for-10 at the plate to earn MVP honors for the Dragons.
Bonnies No. 9 hitter Charlie Rattenbury made it a one-run game in the second with his three-run home run to left.
The Dragons added an insurance run in the fourth when Montgomery reached on an infield error and later scored on another infield miscue.
The Rockland County crew put the game out of reach in their next at bat. Andrew Demersky tripled and scored on a balk. Christian Trochia singled, Viviano walked and Wein slapped an RBI single to right to score Trochia for an 8-4 lead.
Chris Demersky drove a ball into right which fell short of the diving attempt of Bonnies’ right fielder Vasquez. The ball rolled to the fence while Demersky rounded third for a two-run triple. Demersky was ultimately thrown out at home on an excellent relay from Vasquez to first baseman Dylan Jenkinson to catcher Rattenbury.
Bonnies added a single run in the sixth when Jenkinson reached on an error and soon scored on an Aiden Porter bases-loaded, infield single.
For the Dragons, Sean Robledo pitched two innings and allowed one unearned run on one hit and two walks with three strikeouts. Alex Macias retired the final batter with a groundout.
For the Bonnies, Frias pitched the first inning and surrendered five runs on three hits and two walks. Ramel Gonzalez took over for three innings and allowed one unearned run. He gave up no hits and one walk and struck out two. Samil Garcia pitched an inning and yielded four runs on four hits and one walk.