By BRADY FARKAS
www.cliftonparkworldseries.com
CLIFTON PARK – When Guilderland took the field just before 9 p.m., Monday night, Coach Brian Grabek didn’t know if a win would cement his team a birth in the quarterfinals of the 13-year-old Babe Ruth World Series.
Even with the victory team defeated Tri-Valley, CA. 6-0, just after 11 p.m., he still didn’t know.
The win pushed Guilderland to 2-2 in the American Division, where Tri-Valley sits in the driver’s seat at 3-1.
Atlantic Shore, NJ, is also 2-2. With Jasper, Ind., and Glen Allen, VA, sitting at 1-2 records with one game left in pool play.
The top three teams from the pool will advance out of the pool but the potential tiebreaking scenarios are more head-scratching than figuring out the last spot in the NFL playoffs.
“All I know is we did our job tonight.” Grabek said. “We had to win, and we had to keep the runs allowed low and we accomplished both.”
In the event of a tie, head-to-head records are the first tiebreaker, with runs allowed coming next. Guilderland only allowed only eight runs in the American Division.
Outside of all the tiebreaking calculations and number crunching going on in the stands, the story of the game was Guilderland lefty Alex Varsanyi.
Varsanyi, who took the loss in Guilderland’s opening game, came back on two days rest to deliver the gem of the tournament. He threw a seven-inning complete game, while holding the potent Tri-Valley offense to just four hits. He also added 13 strikeouts, sending down seven in a row.
“Alex Varsanyi pitched the game of his life.” Grabek said. “He was absolutely dominant.”
The Bulldog hurler earned the Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game award for his efforts.
“I think the momentum really helped me a lot,” Varsanyi said.
Offensively, Guilderland pushed a run across in the bottom of the first on a single by Kristian Singh but the big blows came in the sixth inning when Tri-Valley defensive miscues and an RBI single by Nick Chiseri made the score 6-0.
Lost in the excellence of Varsanyi was Cameron Long, who went 4-4 for the Bulldogs.
Tri-Valley was led by its Ron Tellefsen Player of the Game, Nick Moroney, who was 2-3 with a double and a triple.
Guilderland will need to wait until the conclusion of the 5 p.m. game between Jasper and Glen Allen to know their fate.
Grabek and his team are so confused by the process they don’t know which team they are rooting for.
Either way, Varsanyi won’t be in attendance.
“…I think I might need a day of rest,” he said.

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