Sports

Sachem North, Northport Play Ball and Raise Awareness for Cancer

Arrows win game, both teams battle with pink socks and arm bands.

Sporting pink socks and arm bands, the baseball teams at Sachem North and Northport High Schools played ball to raise awareness for cancer Monday afternoon.

Recording 13 hits, including a leadoff hit in every inning, the Arrows walked away with a 3-1 victory over the Tigers at home.

Sachem coach Tom Gambino said before the game that a victory to start the week was mandatory for his team to jumpstart itself for the rest of the season. Hitting around the Mendoza Line (.200) this season, he is anything but happy about Sachem’s (4-2 League II) performance through six games.

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“Maybe we have to wear pink socks everyday,” said Gambino. “We’re coming, but it’s slower then we wanted.”

Northport (6-3) struck first when Brandon Fischer hit an RBI single in the second inning, scoring Colin O’Gara.

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Sachem answered back in the bottom half of the second when Steve Kowalski singled in Brendan Garry to tie the score at 1-1.

The Arrows, who had their most offensive production in the third inning, added the eventual game winning run when Alec Sole hit a single, scoring Brian Hennelly, who doubled to lead off the inning. Sole went 2-for-3 in the game.

An insurance run was added in the sixth inning when Nick Teta, who tripled earlier in the game in the fourth, hit a towering leadoff home run.

Northport, who has been one of the best teams in League II this season, didn’t give pitcher Rob Koscuiuk offensive support and coach John DeMartini said as much after the game.

“We didn’t hit,” he said. “It was a missed opportunity for us. Our starting pitcher gave us a chance to win the game and that’s all you can expect. We had a few opportunities to drive guys in, but we didn’t get it done today.”

This was the second sporting event this season at Sachem focused around cancer awareness. Earlier this month the at Sachem North wore pink shoelaces and socks.

“It’s important to show there are more important things than just baseball,” DeMartini said.

Dawn Tropeano, the director of special events for the American Cancer Society and a Sachem resident, was on-hand to open the game with a speech about the volunteer programs each school have.

“It’s such a prevalent topic,” she said. “Everybody knows someone affected by cancer. It’s nice to bring awareness to it and the great programs they have at both schools.”

Both teams will face each other in the second game of the series at Northport Tuesday at 4 p.m.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F Northport 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Sachem 0 1 1 0 0 1 X 3
  • Winning pitcher: Mike Vitale, Sachem
  • Losing pitcher: Rob Kosciuk, Northport
  • Home runs: Sachem: Nick Teta (1)


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