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Teddy Karalis Fires Shutout to Open Hot Stove Father’s Day Bash for LI Elite Diez

by Nicholas DiLapi

The Long Island Hot Stove Father’s Day Bash Tournament began on June 19th, with Long Island Elite (Diez) and B1 Ghost (Meija) kicking off the 15u National bracket. The Long Island Elite, led by Teddy Karalis, shutout the B1 Ghost 4-0.

Karalis usually plays 1st base, but was used as the pitcher today, and his fielding skills showed in his outing.

Karalis started off hot, retiring 8 of the first 9 batters he faced, punching out 4 of them. Then to give him some help, the Elite’s bats came alive in the bottom of the 3rd.

A one out single by Austin Barley got the action started. Then following a stolen base by Barley, Lamp rocketed a ball into deep right field that brought him all the way to third base, to make it a 1-0 ball game. Then Kevin notched the Elite’s third base hit in a row, to make it 2-0 heading into the 4th inning. 

Karalis’s dominance continued into the 5th inning, where he seemed to be headed for trouble after loading the bases with just 1 out and 2 HBPs. But with Coach Diez believing in him, he got out of trouble without allowing any runs.

Heading into the bottom of the 5th, the Elite were looking for insurance with the game inching closer to 2 hours of game time, and the Ghost were already on their 3rd pitcher.

Lamp again had a 1-out single and advanced to second due to an error, then stole third base. Hopkins reached on a 2-out walk and stole 2nd base, putting 2 runners in scoring position for Josh, who brought them home on a 2-run single, extending the lead to 4-0 heading into the 6th. 

The Ghost looked like maybe they could rally with a leadoff walk in the top of the 6th. Then Karalis retired 3 in a row, capping it off with a strikeout to retire the side.

That ended up being the last shot for the Ghost, with the game reaching 2 hours in the bottom of the 6th, ending the game.

Karalis struck out 5 in his 6 inning complete game, and the Elite are 1-0 in the Hot Stove Father’s Day tournament, putting themselves in a good spot winning the first match of the tournament. 

“My fastball, I was locating all my pitches. I put a lot of off-season work into that and I was able to locate everything,” said Karalis on what was working for him. 

The Elite certainly have a good shot to win the tournament if their pitching will continue to dominate. 

“[The mindset is] just win… keep on pitching like how we did today and just win,” said Karalis.

The Long Island Elite (Diez) will return to play Saturday, June 20th, at 8:30 AM against B1 Ghost (Lambert) at Maclaren Field 90 Turf. The B1 Ghost (Meija) will play at the same field on Saturday, at 5:30 PM, against Yeti 15u Taormina.