Standing on the mound against the Southold Settlers in the Class C state semifinal at Binghamton University on Saturday was perfection.
Hoosic Valley’s John Rooney has never lost the game. The big lefty was an unblemished 35-0 coming into the semifinal. But through seven innings, Southold’s Alex Poliwoda matched him zero for zero as the game went into extras tied at 0-0.
Both teams threatened to score but each pitcher came out on top time after time and ultimately something had to give. It all crumbled for the Settlers (21-3) in the top of the tenth inning when they uncharacteristically committed two errors and gave up two runs.
The Settlers couldn’t muster a comeback in the bottom of the tenth inning and Hoosic Valley (24-1) advanced to the state championship with a 2-0 victory.
“It’s anybody’s game up here,” Settlers head coach Mike Carver said. “You don’t get on the bus here and say you’re going to win. You just come here and play baseball and I’m proud of what our guys did today.”
Poliwoda had his best game of his career in this his final game as a Settler. He threw 9.1 innings and kept Southold in the game to the very end. There’s not much more you can ask out of a senior.
“I’ve been coaching him for four years and that’s the best game I’ve ever seen him throw,” Carver said.
Asked if he considered taking him out for the tenth inning, Carver replied: “not a chance.”
But ultimately it was the defense that let the Settlers down.
“The name of this team has always been defense,” Carver said. “So those errors hurt but that doesn’t take away from what we were able to accomplish this season.”
Poliwoda had strong words following the loss as he reflected on a historical Southold season that brought them into the state semifinal for the first time ever.
“It’s been an adventure with these guys,” Poliwoda said. “Every day come together and we’re a family. We enjoyed every moment this year. It would have been great to go farther but there’s nothing we can do about it; we played our hearts out.”
State championship or not, Southold town, who came out in large numbers for the game, is beyond proud of what this team was able to do this season.
A parent in the stands summed it all up as he yelled from the top of the seats: “We’re proud of you, Southold! That was the best season in history!”
SoutholdLOCAL photos by Courtney Blasl.
