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West Islip Wins First League Title Since 2019 With Victory Over East Islip

by Trevor Dugan

These teams were on a crash course all season leading to this series.

The reigning Class AA Suffolk Champs, East Islip, and the perennial powerhouse West Islip finishing the regular season with a 3-game series to determine the League IV Champion. The Lions took Game 1, and just needed one of the last two games to clinch. And they did just that.

West Islip defeated rival East Islip by a score of 7-2 Wednesday to clinch the Suffolk League IV regular season championship, their first league title since 2019.  

Two college-bound arms faced off as Ramapo College-commit Conor Kenefick got the start for West Islip, while College of Staten Island-commit and Axcess Baseball’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year, Lucas Patton, took the mound for East Islip.

Kenefick led the way for West Islip on both sides of the ball, earning a complete game victory with eight strikeouts on the mound and finishing 4-4 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. 

“Not making the playoffs last year, and getting swept by East Islip, it really left a sour taste in our mouths, so we knew we had to bounce back this year,” Kenefick said after the win.

The dynamic two-way player is now 5-1 with 2 saves on the mound this season with a 0.86 ERA, with an equally impressive .508 batting average and 1.209 OPS from the leadoff spot.

After Kenefick started the game by pitching a 1-2-3 top of the first, West Islip took an early 1-0 lead on an RBI groundout by catcher Vance Kane during their half of the first inning

West Islip extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the second with a solo home run by center fielder Will Delanoy, followed by a line drive RBI single through the left side by Kenefick.  

After six straight outs to begin the game, East Islip trimmed the deficit with a productive top of the third inning. Sophomore catcher Ryan Haburay led the inning off with a single. A walk and HBP loaded the bases for starting pitcher Patton, who came through with a single down the right field line to plate two runners and cut West Islip’s lead to 3-2.

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West Islip was able to breathe a bit after a three-run fifth inning stretched their lead to 6-2. Kenefick led the inning off with a base hit up the middle, and scored from first on a long RBI single to the right field wall by Brian Brower. Two more runs came across when Delanoy chopped a ball to third base with two runners in scoring position, and the East Islip third baseman’s throw home sailed over the catcher’s head, ricocheting off the backstop and allowing both runners to score.

Junior right fielder Ryan Gaffney gave West Islip one more insurance run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI groundout to push their lead to 7-2.

Kenefick finished off his complete game by retiring the side in order for the fourth straight inning. After allowing two runs in the third, Kenefick recorded 13 straight outs, a stretch of utter dominance that allowed Wet Islip to cruise to a comfortable victory and league title. 

“Conor has allowed maybe two earned runs the whole season, and played shortstop as well as any high school kid I’ve seen, I’m not sure we’re a .500 team without him,” West Islip head coach Kevin Osburn said. “We also had Brain Brower and Vance Kane come back to our district this year, I can’t discount them either, they’ve been huge.” 

“Last year we missed the playoffs, that was an anomaly,” coach Osburn continued. “Year in, year out, Coach Rush had a program where you basically expected to make the playoffs. So I think missing it last year kind of lit a fire under them.”

West Islip will wrap up regular season play Friday, May 15, at East Islip High School, before both teams begin postseason play.