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08/14/2016 12:00 AMEntering the East Shore Travel League Playoffs as the No. 2 seed, the Shoreline Cougars 18-U AAU baseball team defeated the Connecticut Edge in dramatic fashion, 7-6, before being eliminated by the New England Knights with an 8-5 defeat in the semifinals. The Cougars finished their season with a record of 18-8-1.
On Aug. 8, the Cougars faced the Connecticut Edge in the quarterfinals and won it when recent Valley Regional graduate Arik Sypher doubled home Owen Marica in the bottom of the seventh inning for the stirring, walk-off victory in North Branford. The Cougars fell behind when Nash Eppard gave up five runs in the top of the first inning. In the bottom half, Marica singled and stole second, after which Sypher hit an RBI single to make it 5-1. In the third inning, Scott Masse singled in Ross Meglin and then Tyler Popp scored on Eppard’s ground-out to close the gap to 5-3. In the fourth, Sypher walked, stole second, and scored on Ben Alonzo’s single to trim it to 5-4. Then in the sixth inning, Justin Popp doubled in both Meglin and Alonzo to give the Cougars their first lead at 6-5. Marica allowed the tying run in the seventh, but that set the stage for Sypher’s walk-off that sent Shoreline to the semis with the 7-6 win.
“I get a feeling when [Sypher] is at the plate like he’s just going to get a hit every time,” Head Coach Dennis Annicelli said. “He’s very confident, clutch, and there’s nobody else you would want up in that situation.”
Sypher had three hits and two stolen bases, plus Alonzo and Marica both had two hits. Eppard went six innings and struck out nine in the no-decision.
“I was impressed with Nash as I don’t think he was pitching poorly. He got a few bad breaks and a couple close calls didn’t go his way, but he kept fighting and put us in a position to stay in the game,” Annicelli said. “After the first inning, I just told the guys that we didn’t work this hard all summer to end like this. I told them to get their energy level up and start chipping away. They rose up like they had all year and that’s the type of team they are.”
The following day, the Cougars traveled to Berlin to face the No. 3 seed New England Knights and lost 8-5. Once again, Shoreline trailed early as the Knights took advantage of two Cougars’ errors and scored five runs against starer Luke Bauer. However, Annicelli’s team showed the same fight it did against the Edge and began to whittle away at the deficit. In the bottom of the first, Jon Grasso walked and scored when Marica singled. Two innings later, Evan Makowicki walked, Eppard singled, and both scored when Sypher ripped a double to cut it to 5-3. New England scored two runs in the fourth, but the Cougars still wouldn’t go away. Shoreline trimmed the gap to 7-5 in the fifth when Makowicki and Meglin singled and each scored on another Marica base hit. The Knights later added an unearned run off Marica for the 8-5 final. New England went on to defeat the Connecticut Capitals 3-1 in the championship game.
“We couldn’t get over the hump this time. The kids fought and never quit, but we just couldn’t get it done,” Annicelli said. “We had a great season and, I think since I’ve been coaching, this is the most talented and enjoyable team I’ve coached. They were just a bunch of great kids who love the game and there are five or six guys who will play or are going to play in college at a high level. I’m excited to see how they do in the future. The main thing is that the players get better. That was the goal: to make them grow as players and get ready for the high school season or college season, and I think we did that.”