It was an impressive loss — as losses go -– with the Shelton Gaels Wednesday falling to the state’s no. 1 ranked Amity Spartans, 2 – 0.
Heading into the final inning, Spartan and Dartmouth-bound pitcher, Lou Concato, was one out away from a one-hit shutout. The Gaels managed to put their next two hitters on base and were one swing away from beating Connecticut’s best team.
Unfortunately, the final out came by way of a missile right into the glove of the Spartan’s first baseman.
“They had guys hit rockets right at people when we were in tough situations,” Amity coach Sal Coppola said. “I told our guys we were fortunate to get out of here with a win.”
The Gaels sent out their ace and senior Dan St. George to the mound to face the dangerous Spartans lineup. St. George pitched a complete game and held the Spartan bats to just one earned run in a losing effort.
“Danny pitched well again and, unfortunately, he’s on the short side for our third loss,” Shelton coach Scott Gura said. “He strained his groin in the fourth inning and gutted it out.”
The Gaels made a total of three errors in the field, including one that led to the Spartan’s first run of the game.
It was a challenging day for both teams as the high winds had the players turning in knots as they chased down fly balls and pop ups. Early on two of the Spartan infielders almost knocked each other out after colliding on a foul pop, leaving catcher, Anthony Aprile with a limp.
“No, it’s still killing me,” said a laughing Aprile as he squatted down to catch the final inning.
“Concato pitched a gem with eight strikeouts and he shut us down. When you’re zero for seven with runners in scoring position and you’re held scoreless, it hurts,” Gura said. “We had guys on second base in five of the seven innings, but we didn’t come through with the clutch hit. You can’t win a game if you don’t score runs.”
Two of the Gaels’ three losses come to the number one and two (Notre Dame-West Haven) ranked teams in the state.