by Jacob Infald
Anthony Ricchetti (Newfield 2027) “walks it off”. The Mudcats win the 16U championship, defeating LI Strong 9-1 in 5 innings. pic.twitter.com/X0JoQVB8xu
— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 3, 2025
It was the bottom of the first and there were already two outs. The Long Island Mudcats were facing off against the LI Strong in the 16U Diamond Domination Wood Bat Showcase Championship and it looked like they were going to go quiet in the bottom of the first inning. The next hitter Ben Lamberson (Newfield 2027) barrelled a ball up that went off the glove of the Strong’s third baseman. It was scored a hit, but it was a play that could have been made.
From here the flood gates opened up for the Mudcats. They compiled three more hits in the inning, scoring a total of five runs including two RBI single by Cayden Nikodem (Newfield 2026), a line drive RBI up the middle by Anthony Genao (Newfield 2027) and a long single to left-center that scored two off the bat of Travis Amato (Comsewogue 2026). It was that type of weekend for the Mudcats, going 3-0-1, out scoring their opponents 25-1, culminating in a 9-1 run rule victory over the LI Strong in the championship game.
Anthony Ricchetti (Newfield 2027) was named tournament MVP by his coaches. He pitched a one hitter in pool play and got the rally started in the first inning recording a one out base hit by lining a ball up the middle and later on scoring the first run of the inning.
“Early starts makes us have fun and play as a team,” Ricchetti said when asked about the importance of starting off fast in the first inning.
They didn’t just start off quickly at the plate. Tyler Churillo (Newfield 2027) set the tone in the top of the inning on the mound. He retired the side in order with two knee buckling strikeouts, painting breaking balls on the inside corner to retire the first two batters of the game.
It was more of the same for Churillo in the second. He walked the first batter of the inning, but was immediately picked up by his catcher Ryan Autino (Comsewogue 2026). The two of them executed a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to get the first two outs of the inning. Churillo promptly struck out the following hitter to end the inning, recording four strikeouts through the first two innings.
LI Strong was able to stay in the game for a little bit thanks to Thomas Farrish (Sachem North 2026). After a rough outing by Shane Beatrice that saw him allow a few hard hit balls, Farrish and his crafty style slowed things down. He relied on his off speed pitches and the Mudcats had a difficult time adjusting at first, going scoreless for the next three innings.
Momentum was slowly building for LI Strong. They scraped one run across in the top of the third inning. CJ Volper (Sachem North 2026) demonstrated a professional two strike approach to lead the inning off. Churillo threw another breaking ball after getting ahead in the count, it broke away from the plate, Volper recognized it and was able to reach the ball, getting enough contact to poke it through to the outfield on the right side for his squad’s first hit of the game.
Two batters later and a wild pitch and a ground out to the right side by RJ Peek got Volper 90 feet away from home. It ended up being the number 10 batter in the order Alex Matalevich (Sachem East 2027) who came through, barrelling up a second pitch fastball that found grass in right field. Volper smiled and pumped his fast when he came around to score. After scoring 0 runs against the Mudcats in pool play and the first two innings of this contest, this was their first run against them this tournament, it was clearly a relief to Volper to get the 0 off the scoreboard.
Despite the momentum building in their favor, it essentially came to a halt after this play. Churillo only allowed one more base runner and recorded two more strikeouts over the next two innings to bring his total to seven on the game. In the bottom of the fifth, the Mudcats lineup got going once again and it was all over.
Nikodem doubled to start it off, his second hit of the game. Two batters later, with runners on second and third, Churillo singled to left, bringing the lead to 6-1. Next up was Amato who hit a deep fly ball to right center field. Nick Fair made a nice running catch, but Genao was able to tag up from third. Back to back walks and a wild pitch made it 8-1, the run limit was looming.
Farrish had clearly run out of steam so Jared Liepa (Sachem North 2026) was called upon to prolong the game for LI Strong. Unfortunately, he ran into a red hot Ricchetti who hit a hard grounder that the shallow playing shortstop had no chance of knocking down. Joe Sowden (Ward Melville 2027) came home to score the winning run and the Mudcats had their championship.
With some of the players heading into their senior year of high school, this is the last summer of travel baseball for many of the Mudcat’s players. Ricchetti said this made this weekend’s victory extra special as Long Island Mudcats 16U went out on top.
