The Dodgers won a shut out game against the Padres on Saturday, June 18, winning the League Majors Division championship. In the regular season the Dodgers had a record of 6 wins, 6 losses and 2 ties.
During the playoffs the Dodgers meant business. In the quarterfinals playing against the Rays winning 4-3, semi-finals against the Reds 7-1, and championship game no scored runs. In all three playoff games the Dodgers were able to hold their opponents to only four runs. Head Coach Frank Iemmiti and assistant coaches Patrick Scognamiglio and Ray DeCarlo attribute the championship win to the fact during the course of the season each individual player put all of their personal strengths together to join together as a team!
The Championship Game
On Friday, June 17 Oyster Bay Baseball was notified that our home field, and sight of all the planned festivities, Marino Park was closed for Saturday due to a water leak. Again, the Oyster Bay Baseball organizers were sent scrambling to secure another field. The question became, would Father Smith once again be willing or able to supply the St. Dominic’s fields? Luckily the answer was “yes,” and with some changes the day would go off as planned! An appreciative thank you to Father Smith and everyone at St. Dominic’s for saving the Day!
After all this no one could have hoped for a better day, the sun was shining; the weather was hot, almost too hot for the players. Scheduled for 1 p.m., the Dodgers and Padres, along with their coaches lined up for a group picture before the game got under way. There truly could not be a finer game to watch as the favored first-place Padres would be playing a Dodger team who after getting off to a 1-5-1 start seemed to be putting it all together for a magical playoff run. Both teams were getting last minute instructions by their coaches as the umpires were going over ground rules. The game started with the Dodgers batting, and as the coaches implored them to get off to a fast start it seemed that the players heard every word. The defense did just that and while the Padres were able to get runners on base some sparkling defensive plays by the Dodgers kept the Padres from scoring including a well-executed run-down play at home plate! However, as anyone could hope for a championship game, the score was very close 3-0 Dodgers. The coaches on both sides were encouraging the players to continue to play hard, the Padres hoping for a rally and the Dodgers hoping to hold on. In the top of the 5th when with two runners on base and two outs with two strikes on the Dodgers batter it seemed that here the game for the Padres was on the line. The answer soon came as the Dodgers sideline erupted in cheer as the ball sailed into centerfield which turned out to be the decisive 2 run single.
The Dodgers went on to a 5-0 victory to become the Majors Division Champions. Winning pitcher Derek Vickers struck out 8 batters and began the Dodger’s scoreless streak. Stephen DeCarlo relieved Derek with three strong innings continuing this trend. Lucas Gandolfo started the game off with a ground rule double to start the Dodgers lead and a run saving tag at home plate assisted by John Maloney. Ryan Whelan had a clutch single in the 5th inning bringing in two runs. Chris Gandolfo, father of Lucas who was a great help during the season with his amazing baseball knowledge said this win was truly a team effort by all! Other Dodgers included Lance Amarillo, Jason Cassella, Frankie Iemmiti, Johnny Iemmiti, Anthony Reilly, Tyler Scognamiglio, and Saad Subwari.
