Russo's big hit for Yankees doubles pleasure for LI family
MAY 21, 2010: YANKEES 2, METS 1
at Citi Field
West Babylon native Kevin Russo delivered the key hit for the Yankees, a two-run single in the seventh inning that provided the game-winning runs. The RBIs were the first of Russo's career. Earlier in the game, he notched his first big-league hit. Credit: Kevin P. Coughlin
Kevin Russo's immediate family left West Babylon when he was 3 years old, but the majority of his extended family remains in the area. So when the Yankees rookie hit a two-run double Friday night against the Mets, there was a lot of celebrating taking place all over Long Island, most especially in one West Islip home.
His mother, Colleen McArdle Russo, is in from Colorado and watched her son's first big major-league moment with family and friends at her mother's West Islip home. "Everybody was crazy," she said Saturday. "We were having so much fun."
Colleen said she grew up in Massapequa with six siblings, and there was no doubt which baseball team they rooted for. "Oh, please, all of us, we were all Yankees fans, diehards," she said. "It was so incredible when he got drafted. I remember thinking this is so incredible he got drafted by the Yankees."
She said Kevin's father, Steve, died three years ago after a three-year battle with lung and brain cancer. But she said it was special that he lived to see the Yankees draft his son. "My husband passed along his hard work ethic, a passion for the game and how to be a team player," Colleen said.
She added that Kevin's brother, Ryan, attended Friday night's game with his daughter, Deandra.
With Anthony Rieber
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