Clear skies, light winds, sun out and all you can ask for is a hot dog and a bag of cracker jacks to describe the ultimate baseball feeling. For Poly Prep High School, it was just that kind of day and an emotional day for their shortstop Anthony Prato. Prato, a senior at Poly Prep played his last home game as a Blue Devil and made sure he would leave on top. Last week, Prato helped the ball club to an impressive 9-0 victory against Fieldston High in the semifinals of the New York State Association of Independent Schools. The win extends the winning streak to 11 straight and puts them one step closer in capturing their fifth state title in six years.
When asked about his athletic high school years coming to an end Prato said, “I’ve had the greatest four years of my life, I’m going to miss it so much”. Not to be outdone by Prato’s performance of a triple, a double driving in two runs, there was another key player who has been hotter than a “fox in a forest fire” in Poly Prep’s sophomore pitcher Oliver McCarthy. After a shaky start where he walked the first two batters, the crafty left-hander settled in nicely and had the Fieldston batters guessing with a great mixture of his pitching arsenal in which he allowed two hits in five innings, striking out five.
There is another big game ahead for top-seeded Poly Prep as they will take their talents to Manhattanville College to battle second-seeded Rye Country Day. Upon preparing himself for the challenge, Prato simply put things into perspective saying, “We got business to do. We got one more game to go out a winner”.
Sports Notes: (Basketball) Once again, on behalf of myself and everyone here at Our Time Press, we want to thank everyone (past and present) who have served our country and we thank you for keeping us safe and free as we celebrate another Memorial Day. For the Defending Champion Golden State Warriors, it was a memorial one for Steph Curry and company as they completed the task of coming down from three games to one becoming just the 4th team in NBA history to do so. The Warriors defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder and now sets up a NBA Finals rematch with the Cleveland Cavaliers which begins tonight! LeBron James will now have his team at full strength as teammates Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love missed last year’s finals due to injury.