Mistakes costly for Kingston in state semi
Kingston season comes to an end with Friday’s loss to eventual Class AA champion Liverpool
ENDWELL, N.Y. » There’s little room for error when a team is playing in the state tournament.
Kingston High’s baseball team learned that the hard way on Friday when it lost 4-2 to Liverpool in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class AA semifinals.
Kingston played catchup for much of the day and stranded 10 runners on base. Warriors pitcher Jeff DeStefano scattered seven hits in a complete-game effort.
“It’s a little depressing. It’s where we wanted to be all year,” said senior Jeff Hayner, who absorbed his only loss of the season, “but, at the end of the day, we still fought hard. It just didn’t go our way today.
“They were a solid team. You can’t take that away from them. They deserve to be there.”
Liverpool went on to win the state championship on Saturday, defeating Massapequa 4-1.
“I thought Jeff did a heckuva job. They scored on a wild pitch and three two-out hits,” Kingston coach Mike Groppuso said. “We didn’t play that perfect game and we really didn’t have any room for error today against Liverpool.”
The wild pitch gave (23-3) Liverpool a first-inning lead, but doubles from Avery Short and Jon Kivlan tied it for Kingston in
its half of the inning. The Tigers had two on, but a double play killed the rally.
“We came out swinging the bats. I was a little unsure, because I knew how their pitcher was,” Groppuso said. “After that first inning, I knew we were going to have a good ballgame. They came up in the big situations when they had to.
“We didn’t get that big hit.”
Jake Evans’ two-out single put the Warriors ahead in the third. In the bottom half, Short crushed another extra-base hit into the right center gap. He beat the throw to third for the triple. When the ball got loose, he scrambled home, but was thrown out at the plate.
In the fourth, Joe Zywicki’s two-out single had Liverpool up 3-1. Kingston answered by loading the bases on Tyler Kelder’s double and walks by Fritz
Genther and Garrett Warnecke. Hayner’s infield single drove in one run, but DeStefano induced a 6-4-3 double play for another rally killer.
“We hit the ball well today. We put it in spots and sometimes right at them,” Hayner said.
Liverpool made it 4-2 on Zach Pieklik’s sixth-inning single
Kingston had runners on in every inning, including the leadoff batter in four.
In the seventh, Short kept the Tigers’ hopes alive with a one-out walk. Kivlan then legged out an infield single with two down to put the tying runs on the corners for Kelder.
The senior worked DeStefano to a 3-1 count, then fouled off four straight pitches.
The last pitch looped high down the left field line, but the wind kept the ball in play and third baseman Nick Antonello snagged it by the fence to end the game.
“We had a lot of faith in him. Unluckily, the ball with the wind stayed just inside the ballpark for the third baseman to grab it,” Hayner said. “It’s a rough way to end it, but he put up his fight and we all put up a fight the whole game.
“It’s just something you got to get past and move on.”
“You normally don’t get goosebumps, but I got’em in the seventh,” Groppuso admitted. “When Avery got on and Kiv was able to get that hit, I just thought maybe the time was right. I told Avery, ‘We got a shot right here.’ Right man. Right spot. Good pitcher. Good hitter.
“He (Kelder) did a great job laying off some pitches, a good job fouling off some good pitches. He just missed that 3-2 pitch and, unfortunately, it just didn’t carry out far enough and that guy made a nice play over there.”
“We gave ourselves some opportunities. We fought,” Groppuso added. “I thought we did a real good job against DeStefano, made him throw a lot of pitches, made him come to us. All you can ask for is to give yourself a chance and that’s what we did in the seventh. You can’t ask for a better scenario with Ty up in that situation. It just didn’t happen.
“If we’re a little cleaner when we need to be, if we get that hit ...,” he said. “We made one base running mistake there in the (third) inning. It wasn’t just a clean game that we’ve been playing for quite awhile and, when you get this far and you’re facing a team like Liverpool and that type of pitcher, you got to be a little bit cleaner.”
Kingston finished the season 20-5, repeated as Section 9 champions and reached its first final four appearance since winning the state title in 2012. The Tigers got there for the first tine in ’11.
“I couldn’t have been more proud of their effort. It’s been a great ride,” Groppuso said.
As for what he will say to the team, the coach said, “Helluva job. I’m proud of them. They definitely left it better than they found
it. I think it’s good experience for the younger guys, the juniors and the sophomores, to see what it takes.
“I wish these seniors all the best. They’ve given me everything they have and we’ll just move on.”
“He said there’s nothing to hang your heads about. You played well out there and they’re just a solid team. It just didn’t go our way today,” Hayner said.
Groppuso believes this state run is motivation enough for the underclassmen.
“I won’t I have to say much. I think the seniors led by example and I think the experiences that we went through this year was worth the price of gold. We’ll be fine,” he said.
“They’ve accomplished a lot. It’s only happened three times in our history. We’re on a nice run and I don’t expect it to end. This is how you start championship ball clubs and programs.
They kept that bar raised.
“We’ll get after it when the time comes next year.”