Diamond Dogfights: Saddle up for Class AA No.4 Mahopac vs No.2 Fox Lane; Class A No.1 Panas vs. No.2 Rye

Put Valley Advances in Class B

By Ray Gallagher, Examiner Sports Editor @Directrays

Getting there is half the battle in the Section 1 baseball tournament. Winning it all takes everything you got, especially since Section 1 has adopted a modified double-elimination semifinal/final round that could tax each and every pitching staff in the Class AAA, AA, A and B tournaments.

The stars were out in force last week as the quarterfinals turned to semis with Class AA Fox Lane and Mahopac, plus Class A’s Walter Panas and Class B’s Putnam Valley advancing to Tuesday’s winner’s bracket.

The hype surrounding Tuesday’s Mahopac/Fox Lane semifinal game is surreal with both clubs firing up their aces in what could be the game of the year to that point in time. More on that below. The winner of that game will automatically advance to the sectional championship game, where it will need to win only one game to become the section champion and advance to the NYSPHSAA tournament. The two teams that are 1-1 will then battle to see which makes the section finals scheduled at Purchase College. Game 1: Saturday, May 31; Game 2 (if necessary): Sunday, June 1.

 

CLASS AA BASEBALL

Saturday’s classic semifinal battle at Granite Knolls Park between top-seeded host Yorktown and No.4 Mahopac was nothing more than just another epic clash between the two state-ranked rivals (Huskers No.13; Wolf Pac HM) in a double-elimination tournament that placed the top-seeded Huskers on the losing side of the bracket after the Wolf Pac pulled off a 7-3 come-from-behind victory capped by a go-ahead solo homer from junior CF Nate Mascoll, a two-run game-tying bomb from senior captain Jack Moeller and a handful of seventh-inning insurance runs.

Tied 3-3 in the fourth inning, the All-Section HM Mascoll spotted the Wolf Pac its first lead when he went yard. The Huskers came unglued in the seventh, permitting the Wolf Pac to trash the plate with recklessness, allowing the Wolf Pac to advance to Tuesday’s winners bracket where they will face No.2 Fox Lane, a 7-0 winner over No.6 John Jay CR. The state-ranked (No.17) Foxes will host after Fox Lane didn’t play its best game and still came out on top.

Mahopac senior reliever Anthony Eppolito worked 6.2 shut-down innings to earn the win over Yorktown, getting some assistance from junior C Drew Lichtenberger (2 BB), who called a great game behind the plate. 

Moeller also scored two runs for the Wolf Pac, which have advanced as far as any Mahopac team since the mid-90s when the former Indians won back-to-back sectional titles behind ace hurler Chris Tantalos #RIPbuddy. 

Mahopac junior IF/P Nick Masciarelli added two hits and an RBI while P/IF RJ Grabeklis added an insurance RBI off a safety squeeze.

Yorktown’s Alex Ornstein (2-4), Lirim Biberaj (1-4, 2RBI) and Luke Esposito (2-3, 2B) gave the Huskers a bump, but not enough to avoid the losers bracket of Tuesday’s modified semis where they will face John Jay CR in a must-win scenario. The winner would advance to face the loser of the Mahopac/Fox Lane game later in the week.

Fox Lane Coach Matt Hillis wasn’t particularly thrilled with the 7-0 win over JJCR, but surviving and advancing is what the Foxes do best and they did so behind a standout effort from senior P Will Rudolph, who made the most of his first start this season. 

“We played awful today, but Will Rudolph was awesome in his first-ever start,” the coach of the RHP who fanned six batters over 6.1 innings. He didn’t wait around for support either: Rudolph had three hits, including a double and two RBI. Logan Provost (2 hits, 2 RBI) and PJ Stonsby (2 RBI) were just two dudes doing damage.

Fox Lane senior SS John Czernyk knows the Foxes will have little room for error against Masciarelli.

“From the first few innings you would’ve thought we were trying to lose (against Brewster),” he said. “We really didn’t play our best game as we made way too many mistakes on the bases and gave away too many at bats, but ultimately we woke up and got the win. I think it shows the team we pull off a big win without playing our best, but we need to be at our best going forward.”

Logan Mammola, Rudolph, Cooper Furst and Spencer Grayson each had two RBI for Fox Lane in a 21-0 opening round win over Lincoln. 

No.11 Greeley bowed out in a 7-5 first-round setback at JJCR.

They say history repeats itself, but it could be a long time before Mahopac High baseball fanatics  witness another solo no-hitter in a Section 1 playoff game, considering it’s never happened before Wednesday, May 21, 2025. Masciarelli now owns that distinction after the right-hander twirled the gem of a lifetime in Mahopac’s 3-0 Class AA quarterfinal win over visiting Somers. Masciarelli was so dialed in on the goal of winning the game and advancing to the semis, that he hadn’t even realized the stakes of a no-hit bid in the offing.

“During the game I had no idea I had a no hitter going until the last out of the game,” said Masciarelli, who lowered his season-long ERA to a tidy 0.71. “I was just so focused on getting the win and sticking to the game plan… the no-hitter was not on my mind. Going into the game, the mindset was to go out there and trust in my defense, who has been great for us all year, while also trusting in our coaches’ game plan for this game. It also helps having a great catcher like  Drew (Lichtenberger).”

According to three prior longtime Mahopac baseball coaches – Frank Miele, Frank Moloney and Chris Miller – Masciarelli did, indeed, make Mahopac playoff history.

“I’ve been around Mahopac for a long, long time, and I don’t recall any former player who threw a no-hitter in the playoffs,” Miele said. “This kid is special.”

Mahopac junior CF Nate Mascoll added a solo bomb, and junior OF Lorenzo Enchandy scored a run off a wild pitch while pinch-running for Lichtenberger, who singled to lead off a Wolf Pac (15-6) inning. 

Somers senior Andrew Kapica allowed five hits and one earned run in the fifth-seeded Tuskers’ 6-3 opening-round win over visiting No.12 Carmel. The veteran RHP struck out 12, including the 200th K of his career, in a complete game effort while going 2 for 3 with a homer, two RBI and a run while Tusker Alex Hoffman was 1 for 2 with a triple and two RBI. The rebuilding Rams were not an easy out for the Tuskers, who had to burn Kapica to advance. The difference between the No.4 and 5 seed was telling indeed.

Somers P Ryan McAuley allowed four hits and three earned runs and struck out nine in six innings in the loss to Mahopac.

Sidenote: Entering the semifinals, five former Mahopac players were still alive in the Section 1 playoffs as head coaches: Pat Mealy (RCK), CJ Riefenhauser (Yorktown), Ted Lawrence (John Jay CR), Joe Natalie (Putnam Valley) and Myk Lugbauer (Briarcliff). 

CLASS B

Top-seeded and state-ranked (No.4) Putnam Valley moved on to the semifinal winner’s bracket after Saturday’s 8-6 win over visiting, fifth-seeded Pawling. The victory moved the Tigers (17-4) into the winner’s bracket where they will face third–seeded Hastings, which upset No.2 Braircliff (No.24 in NYS), 9-7, in the other semifinal. Briarcliff will move on to Tuesday’s must-win scenario against Pawling, loser goes home. The PV/Hastings winner would move on to the finals and await a challenger for the sectional title, which would be the first in PV history should the Tigers keep it rolling.

Senior P/SS Jay Constantino earned the win for PV, allowing two hits and two runs over one and two-thirds innings, striking out one and walking one. Dominic Benedetto stepped up in relief, surrendering two hits and four runs (none earned) over four and one-third innings, striking out seven and walking three before RHP Sean Carroll earned the save with a 1-2-3 seventh.

James Sanford and Jake Peterson (2 hits) were a one-two punch in the lineup, each driving home three runs. Constantino paced Putnam Valley with four walks and Aaron Pierre (1-2) stole three bases.

PV battered YMA, 12-0, in the opening round behind sophomore hurler Eli Pierce, who fanned a career-high eight batter in four innings. Peterson (2-3, 3RBI), Constantino (3-4, RBI), Sanford (1-1, RBI) and Ryan Dinizo (1-3, 2 RBI) all knocked in runs.

In Briarcliff’s 6-0 win over No.7 Dobbs, Lucas Golovcsenko fired a shutout, allowing three hits while fanning nine. Briarcliff’s Jesse Roth (2-5, 2 RBI) and Lucas Martinez (3-4, 2 runs, RBI) did what they could to keep the Bears (12-9) in the loss to Hastings.

PV is one win away from its first sectional finals since 2008. That game will be contested at Purchase College: Game 1, Saturday, May 31; Game 2 (if necessary), Sunday, June 1.

 

CLASS A

Walter Panas senior ace Nick DiMaso, as he has done so often the past three seasons, came up huge in the top-seeded, state-ranked (No.8) Panthers 1-0 semifinal win over No.13 Eastchester, chucking a tidy two-hitter with four walks and 10 whiffs. Panther C Gianni Generoso’s RBI groundout plated SS Jacob Malfant in the first inning, which was just enough to beat Eastchester ace Joseph Deljevic (3 hits, 12 K’s).

The Panthers (19-4), the lone Class A Examiner-area team still standing, will host No.2 Rye in Tuesday’s highly anticipated showdown between two of Section 1’s top programs. The finals will be played at Purchase College: Game 1, Saturday, May 31; Game 2 (if necessary), Sunday, June 1.

No.5 Croton, the reigning Class B sectional champs, was eliminated in a 9-8 quarterfinal loss to Eastchester despite the offensive efforts of Owen Mintzer (3-4, 2 RBI) and Sam Levine (2-4, 3 runs, RBI).

No.7 Pleasantville (11-10) lost to visiting No.10 Pearl River, 7-3, in the opening round. No.14 Lakeland suffered an 11-4 opening-round loss to No.3 Nanuet, and No.6 Westlake bowed out in a 3-2 loss to No.11 Bronxville.

 

PHOTO CREDITS DAVID TABER/CHRIS SMAJLAJ PHOTOS