For the South Colonie Raiders Mickey Mantle team there was good news and bad news.

The first good news: the Raiders scored four runs in the sixth inning and staked a 11-7 victory over Sorensco in the Upper NYS Mickey Mantle semifinals, earning a berth in the finals against the North Country Athletics.
The game saw five lead changes through the first five innings, but Colonie reliever Eric Birdsall was able to shut the DevilCats down over 2 and 2/3 innings of stellar relief with a very tired arm.
Trevor Wadsworth led the team with three hits, catcher A.J. Monin scored three runs and left fielder Kyle Savoca drove in the game-winning run in the sixth inning rally.

The bad news: North Country, who rallied to beat the Raiders 4-3 in the last inning on Sunday, were undefeated in the tourney coming into the final round. And they were undefeated for a reason.
With Colonie leading 4-0, North Country scored 13 consecutive runs in the fifth inning...before Colonie could record a single out. 13-4 final, North Country is bound to the Mickey Mantle World Series in McKinney, Texas.

But wait, there's more good news for the Raiders: Their runner-up performance earned them a berth in the North Atlantic Regional to be held in Waterbury, Conn. beginning Wednesday. Should the Raiders win that tournament, they too are headed to Texas.


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A tough loss for the DevilCats, but they did have a number of good performances. James Vooris started and gave Sorensco a strong five innings and was leading when relieved.
Ben Tidd scored two runs and laid down a perfect sac bunt in the fifth, but Colonie pitched Anthony LaValley tried to get Tidd at first and threw it away, allowing two runs to score and Tidd to move to third.
Joe Dugan also had a double and scored two runs for the DevilCats.

"We tied for first in the regular season and we were final three in the tournament," said Sorensco manager Dan Renaud. "That's a good year. Hopefully we can keep the core together for fall ball and Connie Mack next year."


Read the full report in Tuesday's Record.


-- Will Montgomery

South Colonie 11, Sorensco 7

SOUTH COLONIE SORENSCO

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Birdsall cf-p 3 2 1 0 Casavant 3b-2b 5 1 2 1

Kalica ss 4 1 0 0 Kasper c 3 0 1 0

Wadsworth 3b 4 1 3 2 Rebhun ss 5 0 0 1

Monin c 3 3 1 0 Papas cf-p 3 0 0 0

Fitzgerald 1b 5 2 2 2 a-Tesoriero ph-lf 1 0 0 0

Butler p 3 1 2 1 Dugan rf 2 2 1 0

1-LaValley ph-p 0 1 0 0 Henchey lf-3b 3 1 0 0

Savoca lf 4 0 2 2 Tidd 1b 3 2 2 1

Ilyadis 2b 3 0 1 3 Williams 2b 3 0 0 0

Mazzola rf-cf 4 0 1 0 b-Loughman ph-p 1 0 0 0

Vooris p-cf 3 1 2 1

Totals 33 11 13 10 Totals 32 7 8 4

South Colonie.......................................012 034 1 — 11 13 3

Sorensco...................................................011 230 0 — 7 8 0

1- walked for Butler in 6th. a- pinch hit in seventh, a-flied out for Papas in 6th, b-popped out for Williams in 6th.

E—Fitzgerald, Wadsworth, LaValley.
LOB—South Colonie 10, Sorensco 11. 2B—Wadsworth, Fitzgerald, Savoca, Ilyadis, Casavant, Dugan, Vooris..

SB—Birdsall, Kalica. SF—Ilyadis.

South COlonie ip h R er BB SO

Butler 4+ 6 5 3 2 1

LaValley 1/3 1 2 1 1 0

Birdsall, W 2 2/3 1 0 0 3 3

Sorensco ip h R er BB SO

Vooris 5 9 6 5 3 2

Papas, L 2/3 3 4 4 3 0

Loughman 1 1/3 1 1 1 1 0

Butler pitched to one in 5th
WP—Birdsall 2. PB—Monin 2. HBP —Vooris (by Butler).