MARLBORO, N.Y. — Marlboro junior right fielder Tommy Benfer readily admitted the Iron Dukes’ 4-3 win over Red Hook in Wednesday’s Section 9 Class A semifinal wasn’t a thing of beauty.
But with his team on the brink of elimination before pulling it out with a three-run seventh-inning rally, Benfer wasn’t worried about style points. “We knew we should have been up, but we didn’t lose confidence the whole game,” Benfer said. “It wasn’t a pretty game.
I’ll tell you that for sure. But we got the job done and that’s all that matters in playoff baseball.” Trailing 3-1 with just three outs left in the season, the host Iron Dukes loaded the bases on a leadoff single by freshman Liam Correa and back-to-back walks to Casey Vogel and Matt Ciarimboli to start the rally.
Mitch Neer was then hit by a pitch to force in a run to cut the Dukes’ deficit to 3-2. Following Owen Schlagler’s strikeout by Red Hook reliever Dylan MacDonald for the first out of the inning, Benfer tied it 3-3 with a sacrifice fly to center. Then top-seeded Marlboro (14-5) gladly accepted a gift-wrapped walk-off win when MacDonald balked in the deciding run with Cooper Vogel at the plate.
Marlboro coach John Morrissey was just happy that his squad rallied to advance to Saturday’s 11 a.m. Class A title game against No.
3 Beacon at Cantine Field in Saugerties. The Bulldogs beat No. 2 Rondout Valley 10-5 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.
“I’m happy with the win and being able to coach an.
