This one hits home.
The Massapequa Chiefs (18-8) and the Connetquot Thunderbirds (23-4) face off in a winner-takes-all game for the Long Island baseball championship Saturday night — a thrilling rematch of the 2019 title game, which Pequa won 8-7.
“I remember being at that game vividly,” Thunderbirds senior pitcher Dylan Wilkinson, who will get the start Saturday at Farmingdale State College, told The Post. “It was bases loaded, two outs … someone hit a ball to right field, and Massapequa made a diving catch.”
Now, Wilkinson and senior center fielder Andrew Amarando, who also saw the heartbreak in person, want to rewrite history.
“It was cool just watching it and wishing I could be on that stage, and now it’s time,” said Amarando, a terror on the basepaths this season with 23 stolen bases.
“We know they’re good, but we’re also really good.”
Just reaching the LIC — and being brought into Middle Country Athletic Complex on a whole town escort and parade — was the thrill of the year for the Suffolk squad.
The team had six walk-off wins in the regular season but lost a game to Sachem North in its double-elimination playoff format, only to earn a rematch and win in the finals, 3-2.
“Nothing fazes this team,” said Robert Burger, Connetquot’s manager since 2019.
“They’ve been through this before, and now we’re ready to make the jump,” he added of the “rivalry of respect.”
The boys in the other dugout are no pushovers, though, and have shown their true grit throughout the season.
Massapequa, which played in several best-of-three series throughout the playoffs rather than double elimination, had its back against the wall in the Nassau title against archrival Farmingdale after losing the first game 1-0 on an extra-inning balk.
“We didn’t let it get in our heads,” said junior pitcher Jack Scannapieco, who got the win the next day in the Chiefs’ 10-4 Game 2 win.
Massapequa then shut out the Dalers, 12-0, to secure the championship, which only adds to the squad’s mettle ahead of its next all-or-nothing contest, said junior shortstop John Neary.
“We’ve had four elimination games recently, so I think we’re ready,” said Neary, who started the season batting ninth and worked into the leadoff spot.
And manager Tom Sheedy wants to keep things down to earth at the school recently visited by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, who is fighting to let Massapequa keep using its Chiefs name against a state ruling.
“It’s one game, it’s already big enough, you don’t need to build it up,” he said.
“The kids know what’s at stake, I don’t have to tell them that. They’re proud to represent the school, and they’re proud to represent the community.”
Lax titles on line
The Wantagh Warriors (15-4) take on Somers (16-3) of Westchester for the Class C boys lacrosse southeast final at Yorktown High School at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Garden City (17-2) faces Chappaqua’s Horace Greely High School (16-3) at Yorktown at 5:30 p.m. for the boys Class B southeast final.
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