Valley Stream South closes with win

Valley Stream South’s baseball team wrapped up its season last Friday with a 2-0 victory over Uniondale.

The star of the game was sophomore Nick Simone, who pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out 10. He also helped his own cause, scoring both runs with RBIs from Jason Beauzile and Daniel Casey. The Falcons backed Simone up with perfect defense as they did not commit an error in the finale.

“We had base runners, but give credit to Uniondale because they made a lot of plays in high leverage situations. It was really a well played ball game on both sides,” VSS coach Rich Hess said.

Not only did Simone have a great game in the season finale, he was also one of Valley Stream South’s best hitters, batting .360 on the season with a .522 on base percentage and 27 steals. Simone’s sister, Giada, is an eighth-grader starting at second base.

“She earned this opportunity, it wasn’t just given to her,” Hess said. “She was the best player on the junior high team last year as a seventh grader.

“We had some injuries this year, so I confer with the JV coach and say ‘this is what we need.’ He says, ‘you gotta take Giada.’ She does exactly what we ask her to do and she makes plays. In the West Hempstead game, she turned two heads up double plays that helped us win.”

Zachary Dyer, Nick Parisi, and utilityman Ryan Rivera put together some nice seasons on the field and at the plate. Casey and Peter Greif were standout freshmen this spring. Greif batted .333, scored 20 runs, walked 18 times and stole 16 bases while Casey hit .308, drove in 17 runs, and had an on base percentage of .526.

A key piece that was missing this season due to injury was All-League catcher Nicolas Alvarez. Luckily for the Falcons, however, he’ll be back for summer ball and his senior season. Casey stepped up in his absence.

“Even though [Alvarez] had the injury, he never missed anything. He was there every day, for every practice, scrimmage, and game,” said Hess. “He just grinds and he practices and he loves the game. He’s just an awesome teammate and he's easy to root for. Nick oozes baseball.”

While the Falcons ended their season with a 9-10 record, Hess takes pride in the team’s high baseball IQ, good grades off the field, and the fact that they are recognized as a New York State scholar-athlete baseball team. The Falcons squad is a young one and the hope is that they can keep improving from their solid season.

“We used that next person up mentality. I think the team really did the best they could under these circumstances,” said Hess. “There was no complaining about moving people to different positions. Everybody bought into it. They come to practice every day, they’re willing to work, and they like each other.”