PLAYOFFS: Plainedge Ousts South Side, 12-2

South Side needed one more win in their best-of-three series against Plainedge on Friday to advance to the Nassau County Class A Final.

South Side, having won 14 of their last 15 games, looked poised to take that step after jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead after three innings.

Louis Matarazzo got the start for South Side, and the junior cruised through the Red Devils lineup through the first four innings — giving up two singles — and just like that, the Cyclones were nine outs away from a spot in the county finals.

But baseball's never that simple.

Trouble started brewing for the Cyclones in the fifth inning when Matarazzo walked the No. 8 batter Cody Golub to lead off the frame. Plainedge followed with a seeing-eye single by Anthony Licata, then back-to-back doubles by Ralph Caccavale and Joe Hauer to give the Red Devils a 3-2 lead.

South Side went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, and Plainedge went back to work in the top of the sixth inning.

Anthony Pensato and Tyler Manez led off the inning with back-to-back singles. After a groundout to short advanced each runner a base, Golub laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Pensato and give Plainedge a 4-2 lead.

But the play didn't end there.

Matarazzo fielded the bunt and fired over to first base to nail Golub. The ball beat Golub to the bag, but he collided with first baseman Ben Felderstein and was called safe. With Felderstein face down after the collision and visibly injured, Manez took home to give Plainedge a 5-2 lead.

South Side argued that since Felderstein was down, it was a dead ball and Manez's run should not have counted. Umpires after the game said it had to be a "severe injury" for the play to be called dead by the officiating crew. One umpire, who did not offer his name, said it wasn't a "severe enough injury" for him to stop the play, and South Side should have called a timeout.

Licata then followed with an RBI triple to give the Red Devils a 6-2 lead. A walk, a wild pitch and an error later, and the Cyclones were down 9-2.

Plainedge tacked on three more runs in the seventh inning, and South Side couldn't muster a miraculous comeback. They had three hits in the final four innings.

David Hawley and Ed Tammaro were the lone bright spots for the Cyclones. Halwey finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. Tammaro finished 1-for-2 with an RBI.