James Sill fires fifth shutout in five tries for Division

Manhasset put three runners in scoring position across six innings. None of them scored. The Streak lives.

James Sill fired his fifth complete-game shutout in five tries for Division. The senior righthander yielded just two singles in this 11-0 road win Monday that marked the opener of a three-game Nassau A-III series. 

The Blue Dragons have been so fierce offensively that Sill still hasn’t had a chance to pitch a seven-inning shutout because of the 10-run mercy rule. Three shutouts covered five innings and this was the second that lasted six — 27 consecutive scoreless innings.

So was he worried about the shutout streak ending? Definitely not.

“I’m not thinking about that,” Sill said. “I’m just thinking about pounding the zone, getting outs and doing whatever I can for the team.”

Sill used a fastball/slider/changeup mix en route to 10 strikeouts and just one walk. He also helped himself with an RBI single and an RBI triple. He has committed to Hudson Valley Community College as a two-way player.

“First of all, he got himself into tremendous shape,” Division coach Tom Tuttle said. “… His velocity is up. His breaking ball stuff is better. 

“He’s pitching like the best pitcher in the county.”

And his team, which went to the Nassau Class A semis last season, is playing as well as any team in the county, now 13-0 overall and in the conference, outscoring the opposition by a count of 162-17.

“It didn’t end the way we wanted it to end,” Tuttle said of 2022. “… But I thought it was a great learning experience for us and kind of motivated us to come back this year a little bigger, a little stronger, a little faster. And now it’s showing on the field.”

Manhasset starter Theo Zacharia left six Division runners in scoring position over the first three innings. 

So it was 0-0 heading for the top of the fourth.

Then it was 6-0 Division heading for the bottom of the fourth.

The big hits in the big inning came from Isiah Marino, who delivered an RBI single for the first run, Matt Bolton, who ripped a single to drive in the next two, and Sill, who singled Bolton home.

“We have probably the most depth I’ve seen in a lineup,” senior catcher Joe Yovino said.

Yovino singled in Bolton in the fifth after Bolton reached on an error and stole second and third. Bolton had four of Division’s 14 steals.

“We get big stolen bases at big times,” Bolton said.

Despite the final margin, Manhasset coach Anthony Serrapica was enthused over his sophomore-heavy team, which is 6-6-1.

“For most of this game, we hung with them,” Serrapica said. “We played real hard.”