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Kings Park Captures Second County Title in Three Years With Walk-off Win Over Sayville

by Trevor Dugan

Kings Park High School earned one of the wildest victories of the season Saturday, defeating reigning Long Island champion Sayville High School on a walk-off error in extra innings to win the Suffolk County Class A Championship at Middle Country Park, their second county title in three years. 

“The last time we were on this field, it was another walkoff in the 2024 Long Island Championship,” Kings Park head coach Andrew Abreu said. “So we’ve made some good memories here, that’s for sure.”

UCONN-commit Everett Zarzicki got the start for Kings Park Sunday and turned in a Herculean effort. The junior right-hander pitched 8.0 strong innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits while striking out ten, and retiring the side in order five times.  

Junior righty Joe Strining started the game for Sayville, but pitched just one inning before being relieved by sophomore Aidan Devane, who would finish the game for Kings Park.

After a 1-2-3 top of the first by Zarzicki, the Kingsmen struck for three runs in the bottom of the inning to grab an early lead for their ace. Junior second baseman Ryan Landau was hit by a pitch to begin the inning, then scored two batters later when Rutgers commit Dylan Frers bunted and reached on a throwing error, allowing Landau to score easily. 

WIth runners now on second and third, Sayville elected to intentionally walk Frankie Buffolino, bringing senior catcher Nicola Cespe to the plate with the bases loaded. Cespe made Sayville regret that decision, roping a double into center field to score two runners and put Kings Park up 3-0 heading into the second. This scenario is becoming familiar to the Kingsmen. 

“Last week against Sayville, someone was intentionally walked to bring Frankie to the plate, and he got the job done,” Cespe recalled. “So when I saw Frankie get put on first, I knew it was my turn to keep it going and pass the bat off to the next guy.”

Now trailing 3-0, Devane took the mound for Sayville in relief of Strining and settled in nicely, keeping Kings Park off the board until the eighth inning. The sophomore finished with 6.2 innings pitched, allowing one run on six hits.

Sayville finally got themselves on the board in the top of the fourth. The rally began when Devane broke up Zarzicki’s perfect game with a one out single to right field. Next to bat was senior catcher Shane Meehan, who dropped a bloop single into right field that allowed Devane to show off his wheels and score from first base, cutting the Kings Park lead to 3-1. 

Meehan scored one batter later on a series of miscues by the Kings Park defense. Sayville second baseman Brody Tellier struck out, but the ball bounced to the backstop, then the catcher’s throw to first sailed into right field, letting Meehan cut the lead down to just 3-2. 

Following Sayville’s successful fourth inning, Devane and Zarzicki would trade scoreless frames until the top of the seventh. With Sayville needing one run to stave off elimination, Tellier led the inning off with a single, then advanced to second base on a walk by first baseman Jack Lankowicz. A groundout moved them both into scoring position before an intentional walk loaded the bases for junior third baseman Aidan Merritt, who drew a game-tying walk to keep Sayville’s hopes alive.

Zarzicki struck out the next two batters, but the damage had been done. Devane would pitch a shutdown bottom of the seventh to send the championship to extra innings. 

After Sayville failed to score in their half of the eighth, Kings Park put together a title winning rally in the bottom of the inning. Zarzicki led the inning off with a single, and advanced to third base on a wild pitch that bounced around for quite a while behind home plate while Sayville scrambled to secure it. 

With one out and a runner on third, Sayville chose to intentionally walk two straight batters, loading the bases for senior first baseman Joe Rossi. Sayville got what they were looking for as Rossi sent a chopper back to Devane on the mound, who fired home to the catcher Meehan for one out. Meehan, looking to turn a double play, fired to first base, but his throw was wide. As a second runner broke for home plate, the first baseman Lankowicz sent a throw back home to Meehan, which was mishandled, allowing the winning run to score. 

A broad spectrum of emotion was visible on the field at Middle Country Park following the walk-off error. From the Kingsmen, joy, relief, and excitement as they spilled from their dugout for a dogpile in front of the mound. From Sayville, horror, confusion, and frustration as their title hopes slipped away in uncharacteristically sloppy fashion. 

“Sayville’s a really good team, they know how to compete and play good baseball,” Zaricki said after the win. “It feels very good to beat them, it was great competition on both ends, and I’m glad we came out on top.”

Kings Park is moving on to the Long Island Championship, where they will face the formidable, 26-0 Nassau County champion Plainedge High School. The game will be played at Farmingdale State University Saturday, June 6, at 7:00 P.M.