Trip to Binghamton Escapes Monarchs' Reach as Errors Add Up

Following the last four games that saw the McGann-Mercy offense put up a monstrous 47 runs, the story of the day wasn't the fact that the Monarchs tallied two runs on the scoreboard.

In the Monarchs' 9-2 loss to the Tuckahoe Tigers on Tuesday afternoon at St. Joseph's College in Patchogue - which ended a run that will go down in the books as one of the best in school history, as Mercy earned the Long Island Class C crown - the story of the day was the defense.

Tuesday's game was highlighted by six defensive errors and a number of wild pitches by the Monarchs (17-6), which gave Tuckahoe extra run-scoring opportunities that they took advantage of en route to a Saturday date in Binghamton.

“We were tight from the get-go,” Mercy Head Coach Ed Meier said. “And then they put a few runs on the board, and that kinda just wound us tighter, and it just snowballed from there.”

For the Monarchs, the top of the first inning served as a precursor of what was to come for the rest of the game.

After Tuckahoe (16-6) third basemen Steve McCaan stole second base, a wild pitch by Monarchs starting pitcher J.T Descalo allowed McCaan to take third base and Tuckahoe’s Louis Gallo to go to first base. The next batter, outfielder Louis Bellantoni, lined a double to left center field, which gave Tuckahoe an early 2-0 lead.

The Monarchs would quickly respond in the bottom half of that inning as an RBI double by Rocco Pascale cut Tuckahoe’s lead in half to 2-1.

The game would stay close for the Monarchs until a big top of the fifth inning put the game out of reach.

With Tuckahoe leading 3-1, Alex Melendez led off that inning with a sharp, but playable, groundball that shortstop Keith Schroeher was unable to handle. Instead, Melendez got a single and his hit kicked off what would be a four run inning for Tuckahoe, which opened up their lead to 7-1.

The bottom half of that inning saw the Monarchs lose a chance for a big inning of their own and get some of those runs back.

A Pascale single to left field would load the bases with two outs for Centerfielder Patrick Stepnowski.  He would hit a single to make it 7-2, but that was all they could muster up, as Tuckahoe got the key out it needed to keep their lead at five.

The last out of the game saw Tuckahoe’s players run to the mound in celebration of their victory that will see them play in the state semifinals this Saturday in Binghamton.

“Whenever you end it, it’s disappointing, you always expected to get to the next level, next step,” said Meier, reflecting on the season overall. “The disappointing part is that we didn’t play up to our potential today. “