Fourth-seeded OC Smash captured the 15U Super Top 25 Showcase championship.
By Rich Bevensee
Desperate for pitching and just minutes away from starting the championship game, OC Smash 15U coach Dylan Hoy heard from his players that Frank Frontino could throw.
Frontino, a guest player from Rockland Elite Gold of New City, N.Y., had caught the team’s prior three games in the 15U Super Top 25 Showcase at Diamond Nation in Flemington. Hoy wasted no time putting this resource to use.
Shortly after OC Smash survived an eight-inning semifinal against top-seeded Grit, Hoy walked Frontino to the mound and gave him a short tryout.
“He’d been back there behind the plate dogging it out and we didn’t have any pitching so I wanted to see him throw,” Hoy said. “I’m not a pitching coach, but I saw the athleticism on the mound and I told him if you can be athletic and tough through some hardships and relax, you’re gonna get us through this.”
Frontino, a 5-7 righty from Stony Point, N.Y., came through in the clutch more than Hoy could have imagined. He led fourth-seeded OC Smash to the 15U Top 25 Showcase championship after pitching a gritty complete-game five-hitter in a 10-2 victory in six innings over second-seeded Wladykla Baseball Continental on Wednesday evening at ‘The Nation.’
Behind Frontino, named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, OC (Orange County) Smash secured its first Diamond Nation title of any kind for the program.
Frontino, a rising 5-7 junior at North Rockland High in Thiells, N.Y., was probably wondering why Hoy hadn’t approached him sooner. In addition to being the starting catcher last spring for the Black Panthers, he was a regular on the mound in championship game appearances.
“Between games I told him (Hoy) that I can pitch and that he should start me,” Frontino said. “He said, ‘All right let me see a couple pitches.’ I threw a couple and he said, ‘Okay let’s do it.’ I was definitely excited.”
Prior to Wednesday night, the last time Frontino pitched was three weeks ago for Rockland Elite at a college showcase in Charlestown, S.C. Rust was definitely a factor in Frontino’s performance, as he pitched around traffic on the bases in every inning. He yielded five hits and six walks.
Frontino was also faced with throwing from a wet turf mound. A heavy rainstorm pounded ‘The Nation’ and caused a three-hour delay in the start of the championship game.
But Frontino was, if nothing else, resilient. While using his fastball and knuckle-curve, he struck out eight and stranded five runners in scoring position.
“He went out there and filled the zone with all his pitches,” Hoy said. “He was phenomenal.”
One of the offensive leaders for O.C Smash was first baseman Joey Bauer, a rising sophomore at Monroe Woodbury in Central Valley, N.Y., who went 2-for-4 with an RBI double.
Bauer, who drove in the game’s first run in the top of the first inning with a double to left, said the team had come together recently and began playing for each other instead of playing for individual stats.
The OC Smash schedule bears out that theory. The team went 3-6-1 in July and entered August with a .500 record. But after finishing their season with a Diamond Nation title, OC Smash closed the book by going 5-0-1 in August.
Frank Frontino of OC Smash earned MVP honors for the 15U Super Top 25 Showcase.
“I don’t know how it clicked,” Bauer said. “We just got loud, started hitting, played great defense, and just pounded the zone while pitching. We became more of a team. Instead of putting each other down we started picking each other up. The team morale overall just got higher and higher.”
Hoy believes the reason for his team’s sudden turnaround in performance comes down to defense.
“There’s always a learning curve, especially when you’re younger,” Hoy said. “I told them, ‘You guys can hit but if you don’t play defense you don’t win games.’ We were here at Diamond Nation last weekend and still gave up a little too much, still had four or five outs in an inning. I thought we played good defense in this tournament. There were a lot of plays that needed to be made that were made, and that was the ballgame.”
In the championship game, Smash and Wladyka traded single runs for two innings and were tied, 2-2, before Smash forced the issue by running wild on the bases in the third.
With runners on first and third with no outs, Brian Sorce (2-for-3, walk, RBI, two runs) broke for second with Josh Alvarez on third. Sorce evaded a rundown and made it back to first safely but not before Alvarez darted home for a 3-2 Smash lead.
One batter later, Aaron Drucker walked with Sorce on third. Smash executed the same play with Drucker breaking for second and Sorce scoring for a 4-2 lead.
Bauer then singled and Drucker rounded second and drew a throw to third while reaching safely. Bauer headed for second and an errant throw into the outfield allowed Drucker to score for a 5-2 lead.
The rally was capped by a Finn Gandolfini RBI single for a 6-2 Smash lead.
“That’s what you have to do, you have to see if they can make plays,” Hoy said. “You have to force it on them. If they can make the plays then we’ll find another way to beat you. If you can’t make a play we’re going to force the issue.”
OC Smash tacked on four more runs in the sixth to cement the verdict. Alvarez walked with the bases loaded, Sorce had an RBI single, Drucker drove in a run with a fielder’s choice, and Frontino capped his big night with an RBI double.
The fact that Frontino even had an opportunity to pitch in a championship game is testament to the resolve of the OC Smash players.
On Tuesday, OC Smash began the Showcase with a 3-3 tie against Epic Sports Biomechanics, meaning the team had to win its second pool play game to have a chance at earning a berth in the four-team playoff. The next day OC Smash slipped past Wladkya National, 5-4, but only reached the fifth rung in the standings. When one team backed out of the playoffs, OC Smash was awarded the fourth seed.
OC Smash then engaged in a semifinal battle with Grit which went to eight innings and proceeded under the international tiebreaker rule that starts extra innings with the bases loaded and one out. Smash scored two runs in the top of the eighth and then held Grit scoreless in the bottom of the inning to earn a berth in the championship game, the club’s third game of the day.
“We were the underdogs today,” Bauer said. “We were originally fifth but got our chance and took it. This was our last tournament together, our last game together. We made sure we made the best of it.”
On the other side of ‘The Nation’s’ scout tower, second-seeded Wladyka Baseball Continental was engaged in a similar semifinal drama with third-seeded 3Up3Down. Wladyka scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5 when the game clock expired.
After two tiebreaker innings in which both teams managed one run, Wladyka held 3Up3Down scoreless in the top of the eighth and then won the game in the bottom of the frame when Will Ardito walked with the bases loaded. Yes, the teams played through three tiebreaker innings.
Pitching for Wladyka in the final, righty Matthew Palmieri went the first two innings and gave up five runs (three earned) on two hits and five walks. Ryan Bossbaly surrendered one run on three hits and four walks in three innings. And Mateo Cuevas allowed four runs on three hits, three walks and a hit batsman in the final inning.