by Jacob Infald
Heading into Saturday’s matchup against B1 Ghost Iadevaio, Top Tier Aviators 14U had labored in the LI Boys of Summer 14U American Division. They had dropped their last four contests, scoring only six runs across the four losses. However, on this sunny morning at Middle Country Park, they looked like a new ballclub getting contributions up and down the batting order en route to a 7-2 victory and an exhilarating comeback that resulted in an 8-8 tie.
Mason Scortichini is today’s player of the game. He talked about his two-way dominance this morning and his team’s scrappy bounce back win. pic.twitter.com/WzMRaeKOkj
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 5, 2025
Game 1
Game one was all about Mason Scortichini. The rising freshman for Comsewogue High School started the game on the mound for Top Tier and was electric, racking up five strikeouts across two innings of work. Scortichini, who normally plays behind the plate for Top Tier, filled up the zone with his fastball and the Ghost hitters could not catch up.
Scortichini and Top Tier were able to play with a lead early as they were able to get one run across early on against B1 Ghost starting pitcher Nick Davino (Kellenberg 2028). Davino was efficient this morning, sporting a 7:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had a lot of success with his breaking ball which resulted in multiple knee buckling strikeouts.
Peter Gillen would get the best of Davino in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded and nobody out he jumped on the first pitch he saw and sent it to center field for a base hit. Andrew Oliveri came around to score, but Henry Boccagno (Westhampton 2028) who reached earlier in the inning with a base hit would be out at the plate as he attempted to score from second.
This Gillen RBI would be the only run scored until the top of the fourth where B1 Ghost worked the counts, and made Boccagno, who was now pitching for Top Tier work for every out. They got started with a leadoff single from Ryan Atlas (Farmingdale 2028) before a couple of seven-pitch walks loaded up the bases with one out.
They were on the brink of breaking through and when rising Division High School sophomore Aidan Shearin stepped into the batters box he sensed the importance of the moment and on the second pitch of the at-bat he roped one into right field, bringing Atlas in for their first run of the game. They would get another run this inning courtesy of walks to take a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of fourth.
In the bottom of the inning, Top Tier seemed unphased by the prior half inning, immediately getting the run right back. They caught a break when Gillen hit a high popup on the left side of the infield that was lost in the sun, it dropped and he reached base. Next up was Scortichini who had already left his impact on this game on the rubber, now he was ready to do the same with his bat. After fouling off the first pitch he crushed a ball over the left fielder’s head that rolled all the way to the wall. Gillen came around to score and Scortichini had his squad fired up with a game-tying stand up double.
Davino would actually show some great poise after this double. With the go-ahead run in scoring position, he retired the following three batters, including two strikeouts to end the inning.
After a shutdown top of the fifth from Boccagno, Top Tier was ready to finally break through and snap their losing streak and it started with two huge hits from the bottom of the batting order. Jordan Lukart and Eli Mills were the final two batters in the order for Top Tier. They came up in a crucial situation and both delivered for their team, hitting two solid line drives to the outfield that both resulted in base hits and Top Tier was set up for a huge inning as the top of their order came up.
Hoyle grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice that scored Lukart to give Top Tier the lead. From there, they smelled blood in the water and began to pile on. Oliveri hit a ball in the hole on the left side for a single. This would be the end of Davino’s outing and Ghost called on Atlas to take over. Unfortunately, Atlas struggled to find the zone and after a couple of walks and an error the score was now 6-2. The final dagger came on an RBI single by Kyle Valasek (Ward Melville 2028) to make the score 7-2. The game had now reached time limit and Top Tier was victorious and looked to carry the momentum into the second game.
Game 2
The player of the game is of course Garrett Ferlin. Huge strikeout to end the game on the mound and kept his team alive. He spoke about his huge inning and Top Tier’s rally to get the tie. pic.twitter.com/F2AnsabPDZ
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 5, 2025
After a crisp start to the morning, the second game dragged early on. The first full inning saw eight total runs and lasted nearly 30 minutes. Top Tier was up first and they kept their offensive momentum rolling from the first game and it was none other than Scortichini who cleared the bases with a two-out double to right-center to give Top Tier an early 3-0 lead.
The tide would turn in the bottom of the inning. With Mills on the mound, Top Tier seemingly lost their focus. With the score now 3-1, B1 Ghost had the bases loaded up with two men out. Andrew Torre (Chaminade 2028) was able to put a ball in play, it looked like it could be caught, but it fell into no man’s land in shallow left field and the score was now 3-2.
Later in the inning, with the score now 3-3 and the bases loaded, B1 Ghost was able to get another two-out hit as James Dillon putt a ball into left-center. Shearin scored and a sloppy throw from the outfield that looked like it was thrown to nobody in particular resulted in everyone else advancing, the score now being 5-3 B1 Ghost with two more runners in scoring position. Mills would bear down and get out the inning, retiring the next hitter, but B1 Ghost had garnered a lot of momentum and would go on to control the majority of the game.
Torre was on the mound for B1 Ghost and he pitched the first 3.2 innings of the game. He kept Top Tier off the board in the second. Despite walking the first two batters he would pick off Judah Holohan at first for out number one before striking out the following two hitters to end the inning, sloppy play from Top Tier continued.
It would end up being Torre who committed the game’s next mistake. He surrendered a run in the third after a failed pickoff attempt. With the ball going into right field Oliveri hustled home from third to cut into the lead.
Despite the sloppy start Top Tier was able to stay in game with some great pitching from Garrett Ferlin (Bay Shore 2029). In five innings he allowed three runs, only one being earned.
Ferlin, who did not hit in game one, seemed like he would be a non-factor at the plate for Top Tier. The number 11 hitter in the order had an untimely strikeout in the top of the fourth. He came up with runners on second and third, two outs with the score at 7-5. Dillon had just relieved Torre and the short southpaw was able to record a massive strikeout to keep his team in front.
After Top Tier’s top of the order failed to capitalize in the fifth despite singles from Hoyle and Boccagno, it looked like this doubleheader would be split. B1 Ghost even added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning on another single from Atlas that would score Brendan Rosmarin who had led the inning off with a single. Atlas had a strong day at the plate, recording three hits plus a walk across the two games.
In the top of the sixth, B1 Ghost would inch closer to securing the win and Ferlin found himself in a position that most little kids dream about when playing wiffle ball in the backyard. Bases loaded, two outs, full count.
Dillon, knowing he had nowhere to put Ferlin, threw one down the middle and Ferlin timed it perfectly, hitting a line drive to left center and despite the team still trailing it felt like a weight had been lifted from both Ferlin and Top Tier. The dugout and coaches were louder than they had been all morning and they now trailed 8-7.
Tie game!! What a two out rally for Top Tier. pic.twitter.com/yMM5zSx2yR
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) July 5, 2025
Next up was Hoyle who hit a line drive up the middle, Robert Monjeau scored from third and as Top Tier’s dugout went crazy with excitement, it was obvious that despite their record being under 500, this is a team that cares about one another and believes in each other.
“Everyone’s really good,” Ferlin said. “There’s really not a weak link on this team, everyone [does] their part and shows up when they need to.”
With the game now tied going into the bottom of the sixth Ferlin reset himself and got the three biggest outs of the day. He got Marc Perez looking on a beautiful breaking ball on the outside corner. Despite the score being a tie, Top Tier was able to walk away with all of the momentum.
The Top Tier Aviators will look to keep their momentum going on Wednesday when they take on the Half Hollow Hills Hawks, a team they lost to during their four game losing streak. B1 Ghost Iadevaio is now 3-8-1 on the season and looks to right the ship against CPD 14U on Wednesday in a midweek doubleheader.
