NEWPORT ― The Blue Sox went into the bottom of the seventh inning up 8-2 in game one of the first round of the NECBL playoffs.
The Gulls stormed for eight runs in the inning alone and won 10-8 on Thursday night to take game one of the best-of-three series.
Valley scored five runs off of Newport starter Aidan Coleman. Anthony Scarabino hit a two-RBI double, Michael Toth hit an RBI single and two runs scored on a ball thrown by catcher Jake Burley that hit third base and went out of play. Newport got one back in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-1 after one inning.
Newport stranded the bases-loaded in the bottom of the second but after two it was still 5-1. The Gulls got one more and after three innings, it was 5-2.
In the top of the fourth, with two outs and Andre Vidal on first base, Lucas Manning fought off many tough pitches and hit a double off the top of the high wall in right-center field. 6-2 Valley.
Shaw went 5.0 Innings pitched and gave up just two runs.
Anthony Scarabino hit a home run out of Cardines Field to make it 7-2 Valley. Manning hit an RBI single in the sixth to make it 8-2. Nothing happened in the top of the seventh and Valley was nine outs away from a game one victory.
Will Newell started the inning after pitching a clean sixth inning. He gave up a grand slam to Andrew Duncan to make it 8-6. After giving up a single and a walk, Christopher Torres came in to try to limit the damage.
After giving up the game-tying single to Matthew Ossenfort, Torres struck out two in a row. Jack Doyle came up and delivered the go-ahead run to make it 9-8; after seven, it was 10-8 Gulls. The Blue Sox were held hitless throughout the rest of the game.
Drew Delucia came in relief for Coleman and threw 4.2 innings to finish the game for Newport.
The Blue Sox return to MacKenzie Stadium to take on the Gulls in game two of the best-of-three series. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.