Pydyszewski 1-hitter, 14Ks
lead D&M Auto Body to title
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ROCKAWAY - Once Philip Pydyszewski got locked in - once he found his groove - he was unstoppable ... simply lights out, unbeatable and unstoppable.
Pydyszewski gave up his only walk, his only hit and his only run of the game in the first inning and then retired the last 18 batters he faced as D&M Auto Body of Rockaway defeated Burns Honda of Morris Plains, 4-1, to repeat as the champions of the Northern Morris Interleague's Minor Division in a game played at Bryan Feury Field in Morris Plains on Thursday, June 10.
Pydyszewski walked the Morris Plains leadoff hitter and then gave up a single. After both runners moved up a base on a steal, Pydyszewski got the first of his 14 strikeouts for the first out and to start his streak of getting out 18 batters in a row. A groundout by the next batter produced Morris Plains' only run and then Pydyszewski struck out the last batter of the inning.
Pydyszewski struck out the side in the second and third innings; struck out two in the fourth; got a six-pitch inning with one strikeout in the fifth; and then struck out the side in the sixth and final inning. Pydyszewski finished the six-inning complete game with 14 strikeouts and allowed only two baserunners - the first two hitters of the game.
"Philip pitched two no-hitters during the regular season and has to considered one of the best pitchers in the league," said D&M manager Brian Pelkey after the game. "We were a little worried about his pitch count late in the game, but he had a couple of one-pitch outs in the fifth inning and that helped him finish the game."
The pitch count for a game in the minors division is 75, but a pitcher is allowed to finish throwing to the batter he is facing when he reaches 75 pitches, which is what happened to Pydyszewski as he finished the game with 79 pitches.
After going down 1-2-3 in the first inning, D&M scored a run in the second when John Rice led off with a single, advanced on a groundout by Angelo Macera and, after Daniel Zawaski walked and Evan Akeson singled to load the bases, John Schaefer drew a walk to force in Rice with D&M's first run.
D&M got what proved to be the winning run in the third inning when Pydyszewski singled, Kyler Hatke and Ian Pelkey walked to load the bases, and Angelo Macera worked a one-out walk to force in a run that gave D&M a 2-1 lead.
D&M added two runs in the fifth when D&M got five of its nine hits for the game. Hatke, Pelkey and Rice singled to start the inning but Hatke was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Rice's single. With runners on second and third, Macera singled for one run and, after Macera was cut down stealing, Daniel Zawaski followed with an RBI double to drive in the game's final run.
Pydyszewski and Rice finished with two hits each, Pydyszewski going 2-for-4 with a double and run scored and Rice going 2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Macera was 1-for-2 with a walk and two RBIs; Hatke was 1-for-3 with a walk; Pelkey was 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored; Zawaski was 1-for-2 with a double, a walk and an RBI; Akeson was 1-for-3; Schaefer was 0-for-1 with an RBI and two walks; Dylan McBride had a walk; and Ramy Ashour was hitless in three trips to the plate.
The win gave D&M a season-ending record of 12-2-1 and the team's 3-0 run through the post-season playoffs enabled it to avenge its only two regular-season losses of the year, one to Dangler and one to Burns. The loss to Burns was a 2-1 loss on the final game of the regular-season, giving Burns an 11-1 season record and giving them the regular-season title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
"That game was an exciting game, too," Pelkey said. "We had what would have been the tying run thrown out at the plate on a close play in the final inning."
Pelkey was quick to point out the championship was a team victory that included the parents as well as the players and coaches.
"The players were a pleasure to coach ... they all had good attitudes, worked hard at all times and cheered for their teammates when not playing," Pelkey said. "We had a deep and talented team and it was hard to get everybody the playing time they deserved at the positions they wanted to play ... but the kids were great about this, too, and we had no complaints about playing time all season.
"Our parents did a fantastic job as well ... I never had to worry about kid showing up for practices or games and we always had a great cheering section at our games.
"I can't say enough about coaches Phil Pydyszewski and Carl Hatke, either. I had limited availability during the week due to a new job 70 miles away but Phil moved to the night shift so he and Carl would be sure to be at all our weekday practices and games. Our assistants - Brian Zawaski and Andrew Macera did a great job working with the kids all season, too.
"It was truly a great, great season."
Notes: D&M beat Arthur's of Morris Plains, 5-3, in the semifinal after beating Dangler, 11-2, to open the playoffs ... every game has its defensive highlights and this was no exception as Schaefer knocked down a shot to third in the fourth inning and stayed with it and threw out the runner; and McBride made a nice running catch in center field in the fifth inning ... Pydyszewski finished as the team's leading hitter with a .705 batting average on 31 hits in 44 at-bats ... Pelkey hit .568 (21-for-37), Akeson finished at .424 (14-for-33), Rice hit .419 (13-for-41), Hatke finished at .355 (11-for-31) and Macera rounded out the plus-.300 hitters with an average of .318 (14-for-22) ... Robert Chapell finished with nine walks in 19 at-bats ... the D&M players will each have the league championship trophy for a week or so to display in their homes ...
