Roosevelt 6 A.E. Smith 4
Nestor Puente couldn’t wait any longer. The Roosevelt senior and the rest of his teammates hadn’t played in a week. They were getting rusty, losing their swing.
And so when the first round of the Monroe Tournament was washed out on Saturday because of the downpour the previous day, Puente took matters into his own hands.
“I really wanted to play,” said Puente, after he had two key hits in Roosevelt’s 6-4 win over Alfred E. Smith (4-4) yesterday at George Washington. “But the rain stopped us again. So me and a couple of guys played anyway.”
Puente called catcher Theiborh Almazar and center fielder Arwin Garcia on Sunday. The three met at a field in the South Bronx and practiced by themselves. It paid off.
Puente drilled an opposite-field, two-run homer to right in the second inning to tie the score at 2-2. He then helped push the winning run across in the top of the eighth in a much different manner.
The right fielder sent a dribbler down the third-base line that he beat out for an infield hit. The throw from Smith third baseman Frank Delgado got away and went out of play, allowing Waskar Tajeda, who was pinch-running for Almazar, to score the go-ahead run. A single by Jason De La Cruz drove in Puente with an insurance run.
“Going out [on Sunday] got my swing back,” Puente said. “We were hungry for this win.”
As was freshman pitcher Esteban Germosen, who tossed a complete game, but flirted with disaster.
In the bottom of the seventh, Roosevelt led 4-3 with two outs and runners on first and third. Germosen wanted to check the runner at first with a throw over, but De La Cruz wasn’t covering. Germosen stopped his motion, was called for a balk and the tying run scored.
“I don’t know what happened there,” said Germosen, who upped his record to 3-0. “I was mad. I had to come back and do my thing. I have confidence in myself.”
He came out in the extra frame and allowed only a single before closing it out. In his eight innings of work, Germosen allowed only four hits and two earned runs, with four walks and four strikeouts.
“There was a lot of pressure on him,” said Roosevelt head coach Fred Ortega. “He showed what kind of kid he is by coming back. To get eight strong innings out of a freshman is remarkable.”
Roosevelt (9-4) will take on George Washington today at Lehman H.S.
G. Wash. 13, Truman 3
George Washington broke open what had been a tight game with a seven-run fourth. The Trojans (25-1) plated a run in the bottom of the fifth, when the mercy rule was enforced.
Any hope Truman had at pulling off an upset was foiled by its defense. The undermanned Mustangs (9-4-2) had just nine players available, forcing players out of position. Partly because of that, they committed 12 errors in the shortened contest.
