Hustle Baseball catcher Logan Clough tags runner for second putout of a first-inning double play.
By Sean Reilly
When the NY Dynasty 10U travels from its Staten Island home to compete at Diamond Nation, success usually follows.
Competing as a 9U team in 2022, the Dynasty traveled three times to Flemington during the spring season, where it finished in second place once and then posted a winning pool play record in another tournament before capturing the Memorial Day Blast championship.
The Dynasty came back during the fall campaign in their first 10U event, and rolled to the Slugfest tournament title.
This spring, the Dynasty debuted at ‘The Nation’ last month by winning the April Fool’s Tournament, and last week were finalists in the Williams Harley Davidson Tournament, only to have the championship game rained out.
The Staten Island crew is back this weekend to compete in the Spring Classic Powered By Victus, and after one day of play, are once again in position to return home with championship hardware.
The Dynasty opened play on Saturday with a 10-3 victory over Grit 10U Silver, and then beat Hustle Baseball Academy, 12-0, to clinch a first-place finish in its pool and a spot in the championship on Sunday night.
“I like playing here,” said Sean Hachmeister, who pitched a four-inning no-hitter in the game against Hustle Baseball Academy and added a double and a walk at the plate. “I like the turf, and the dugouts, and how there are teams from everywhere here and the competition is good. It’s fun when you get to do well against those teams.”
After going the six-inning distance in its first game on Saturday, the Dynasty needed to play just four frames in its second game against Essex County-based Hustle Baseball Academy.
Still, it wasn’t totally easy. The Dynasty loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning, but a double play (with Hustle catcher Logan Clough recording both putouts at the plate) followed by a ground out kept the game scoreless.
The second inning was much different, as the Dynasty sent 13 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs. Hachmeister started the inning with a leadoff double.
Key hits during the uprising included an RBI single to right field from Jason Rocchio, a three-run triple to center field by Dean Scarangello and a two-run single to right field courtesy of Nicky Romano.
The other runs scored in the third, on bases-loaded walks to Joe Barone and Gavin Snell.
Romano finished the game 2-for-2 with two runs scored.
Dynasty players with an impressive day overall were leadoff man John Iacono, who was 2-for-3 with a walk against the Grit, and 2-for-2 with a walk against Hustle, as well as Scarangello, who was 2-for-3 in the opener and 1-for-2 with a walk in the nightcap.
Hachmeister finished his no-hitter with three strikeouts and six ground ball outs. He walked two and hit two batters. No balls were hit beyond the infield.
“My fastball was really getting by them, so I just kept throwing it,” he said. “They were too late, and then once they got forward, I threw the off-speed.”
“They’re progressing nicely,” said Dynasty coach Anthony Vigliotti. “We had no real changes from last year. It’s their fourth year together and second with me. We like coming here. The competition is good, the place is great and it’s not far from home. We have a deep pitching staff, we get timely hits when we need them and play good defense.”