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Briarwood Stanners Hold off B1 Ghost Andersen’s Comeback Attempt to Finish Off Dominant Weekend and Capture Independence Showdown Championship!

by John Sullivan

The 16u Hot Stove Independence Showdown championship was a clash between two highly-talented teams who were hungry for a championship. The Briarwood Stanners were the number one seed and held an undefeated 4-0 record with a run differential of 44-7 heading into the championship game, and the only team standing in their way was B1 Ghost Andersen, who were the number two seed with a record of 3-1 and a run differential of 38-23 going into the tournament finale. 

With Ghost’s only loss being a 13-1 mercy rule against Briarwood, they were extra hungry to pull off the upset and bring home a ring, but Briarwood starting pitcher Justin Murray had other plans. The hard throwing southpaw attacked hitters early on and despite giving up a lead off single to Bobby Genovese, he escaped his first inning of work scoreless by inducing a double play ball off the bat of Nick Vitellaro and striking out Brady Ahern. Ghost starting pitcher Joseph Breuer started his first inning with a hit by pitch to Jackson So, who stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Jovi Chau-Gandelman groundout for a 1-0 Briarwood lead. 

Justin Murray allowed another leadoff single in the second, but he was once again unphased and notched three quick outs to leave another runner stranded. Alex Kazos then led off for Briarwood and reached on an E5, and this snowballed into a huge inning for the Stanners! With one out, Dom D’Alto ripped a single up the middle to score Kazos and following a Lucas Pagnotta walk, Jackson So drove a breaking ball the other way for a 2 RBI double, and they weren’t done there. Brandon Meija then smoked a two out RBI double and came around to score on the next at bat, which was a dropped pop up. Briarwood’s ability to take advantage of mistakes led them to a 6-0 lead after two innings. 

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That lead seemed extremely safe in the hands of Justin Murray, who shook off a Bobby Genovese walk and Nick Vitellaro single by notching three strikeouts in the inning to maintain the shutout. Ghost decided to hand the ball over to Robert Ingersoll in the third and that proved to be a good decision. Despite two walks to start his outing, he settled in nicely with two pop outs and a strikeout to escape the jam. In the fourth, Murray and Ingersoll exchanged scoreless innings again to keep a 6-0 game. 

After a quiet four innings for the B1 Ghost offense, they finally broke out in a big way in the fifth! An Isaiah Santiago single got things started and Bobby Genovese’s second single of the game made it first and second. With two outs, Ghost’s three batter Brady Ahern stepped to the plate looking for a big hit after two strikeouts in his first ABs. A big hit is exactly what he got after he did a great job on waiting back on an off speed pitch and driving it over the center fielders head for a clutch 2 RBI double. Robert Ingersoll then helped himself by taking a fastball on the outside corner into the right field gap to score Ahern and cut the Briarwood lead in half to 6-3. Ingersoll carried the momentum from his at bat onto the mound, as he threw another quick and scoreless inning on the mound.

Asher Beatus led off the sixth with a single for Ghost, but Justin Murray got a pop out and a strikeout on the next two batters. This wasn’t a problem for Ghost, who proved in the previous inning that they’re comfortable hitting with two outs. Nine batter Steven Quiroz worked a walk to turn the lineup around and Bobby Genovese hit his third single of the game to load the bases for Nick Vitellaro, who came up clutch with a line drive into center to score Beatus and Quiroz to make it a 6-5 ballgame. Unfortunately for Ghost, Bobby Genovese was thrown out on the play trying to advance to third. Briarwood caught a big break with three batter Brady Ahern due up next. 

In the bottom half of the sixth, Briarwood responded in a big way with some much needed insurance runs. Miles Leyton reached base with a bunt single and Alex Kazos walked. Caleb Viera then drove them in with a double into right center field and he later scored on a Lucas Pagnotta single up the middle. Briarwood led 9-5 heading into the final inning. 

Saleh Dihyem was given the responsibility of closing the game and ultimately capturing the championship for Briarwood, and he delivered! After a strikeout of Brady Ahern and Robert Ingersoll, Dihyem got Evan Garces to pop out to left for the 9-5 victory and the Hot Stove Independence Showdown championship! The Stanners had an extremely impressive weekend, out-scoring teams 53-12 en route to a 5-0 record and a Hot Stove ring.