On Monday, May 11, the Carey Seahawks hosted the Long Beach Marines in the first round of the playoffs. Carey was 13-5-1 during the regular season heading into the playoffs, while Long Beach was 5-12. On the mound for Carey was Ryan Kunkel. Kunkel was dominant in his outing, pitching a complete 6 innings and striking out 8 batters while only giving up a pair of hits and walks, earning himself a shutout win. Carey’s offense would strike first in the 2nd inning, when left fielder Michael Agostino got caught in a rundown at first base, allowing first baseman Tristan Hickis to score from third base. Agostino ended up getting tagged out to end the inning, but not before Carey took a 1-0 lead. However, Carey’s offense exploded in the third inning for 3 runs, started by a single by center fielder Jayden Gigante, driving in second baseman JonCarlo Carbone, who doubled to right to get on base. Later in the inning, catcher Dominick Peluso singled and drove in Mark Vera, who was playing third base, followed by an RBI single by designated hitter Brody Kennedy to bring home Peluso. In the fourth inning, Peluso would drive in Gigante and shortstop Jasper Persaud on a single for his second and third RBIs for a 2 run inning. The fifth inning would be another three run inning, where Gigante drove in his second and third RBIs when he crushed a 400+ foot homer to left, with Mark Vera driving in another RBI two batters later. In the 6th inning, with a runner on third, Michael Agostino singled to drive in the run, clinching the win by way of mercy. On Thursday, Carey travels to Clarke for their second playoff game, hoping to continue their run.

Carey’s top batters:

CF Jayden Gigante: 3-3, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R

C Dominick Peluso: 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R

3B Mark Vera: 3-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, R

Carey’s pitcher(s):

RHP Ryan Kunkel: 6 IP, 2H, 2 BB, 0 ER, 8 Ks