Joey Goodman, Matt Kalfas hit back-to-back HRs in Calhoun baseball's win
Matt Kalfas of Calhoun watches his hit sail away during a Nassau game against Carey on Thursday, April 28, 2022 in Franklin Square. Credit: Dawn McCormick
When Joey Goodman and Matt Kalfas stepped up to the plate as the first two batters of the day, they instantly sent a message to their Calhoun teammates.
A scoring barrage was coming.
Goodman and Kalfas led off the game with back-to-back home runs, and Calhoun’s bats continued to produce at an electric pace from there in a 24-11 victory over host Carey in a Nassau A-II baseball game on Thursday.
“I was just trying to hit the ball to right-center and I got under it and it flew,” Goodman said. “It was good to start off the game well. We wanted to get out to a good start early.”
Calhouh coach Art Canestro said the early homers gave the team the energy boost it needed.
“Coming out right away and hitting the two home runs, it really set the tone,” Canestro said. “And it really gave the kids a little momentum. They haven’t really been full of energy lately, but that gave them a little jolt with a seven-run inning. It was a really good way to start things off.”
Following the seven-run first inning, Calhoun (14-1) tacked on two more home runs from Charlie Imhof and Andrew Schneir in the third to extend the lead to 12-3.
After scoring a run in the bottom of the inning, Carey (12-2-1) cut the deficit to four with a grand slam in the fourth, but Calhoun held them off from there. The Colts added two more runs in the fifth to take a 16-8 advantage before scoring their final eight runs in the sixth.
Kalfas said he’s never taken part in such a scoring outburst and credited his team’s depth throughout the lineup for the production.
“Hitting is just really contagious,” Kalfas said. “So we just hit balls hard. Up and down the lineup we have guys that can do that. So it’s good to just get it going.”
Dan Bondi pitched 3 2/3 innings to earn the win.
As the ball kept flying over the fence and baserunners continued to cross home plate, Canestro was grateful that Calhoun ultimately came out on top.
“It’s not very often this happens,” Canestro said. “I was just hoping that the game was going to end because whoever was coming up was going to score a bunch of runs. We just happened to score a few more runs than them.”
