Every year, hundreds of thousands of people descend on Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Just two blocks away is Doubleday Field, where not nearly as many people get the unique chance to play in such a historic venue. Earlier this month, the Dryden and Newfield baseball teams got that one-of-a-kind experience, and it produced a thriller.
On May 8, the Lions and Trojans squared off for the special occasion. Newfield scored three runs in the first and remained in front until the sixth inning, where Dryden put up a five-spot to take an 8-6 advantage. The Trojans fought back to the tie the game up at 8-8, but that set the Lions up for some walk-off heroics.
With one in the seventh inning, Kadin Eaton led things off with a bunt single, and a walk to Harrison Giroux put the winning run in scoring position. Up stepped Giuliana Pascarella, who promptly scorched a line drive up the middle to drive home her fellow senior Eaton and win it 9-8 in an instant classic.
It was already special enough to even step foot into Doubleday Field, but the fact that the Lions were victorious made things even more unforgettable.
“It was a lot of fun,” said head coach John Pascarella. “I think the best part about it is you go up there on the bus, you have a little lunch at the pizza shop, go to the Hall of Fame, sit down in the movie theater and listen to Cal Ripken talk about Lou Gehrig’s speech and then go to the Cooperstown and kind of recite a little bit of that speech and what it means to play on the field, and then the kids deliver and give you a win. It couldn’t be a better storybook moment.”
This wasn’t the first time Dryden got to play in Cooperstown. The Lions played Homer at Doubleday Field last year, which ended in defeat. This time around, they were hungry to bounce back from their previous setback with some added motivation.
“Last year, I think it was the ‘ah’ moment,” Pascarella said. “This year, I think it was, ‘This is great. We’re back.’ It was kind of cool on the bus. They’re like, ‘We’re going to get a win for the seniors. This is their last hurrah.’ That was pretty cool to hear them talk about what it looks like to them as a team and what it looks like to their senior teammates. When you hear kids talk like that, it’s a good feeling.”
It was undoubtedly fitting then that the game-winning hit and run were from the only two seniors on the team. Giuliana Pascarella has one of the most unique stories in the local sports scene as the only girl on any of the varsity baseball teams in the IAC. Last year, she got the chance to meet with Maybelle Blair, who decades ago played at Doubleday Field for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. With that in mind, it was pure poetry to see Pascarella come up clutch on the very same field that Blair and so many other women blazed a trail.
“She’s had some ups and downs at the plate this year, but you have an opportunity like that, and then you deliver on the ashes of the Hall of Famers and on a stage where you really want to deliver,” coach Pascarella said. “She got that moment, and that’s gonna be in her head for the rest of her life.”
Eaton has been another steady presence throughout his time with the Lions with three years of varsity experience. In fact, he’s played alongside Pascarella since they were five years old, making their triumph in Cooperstown a full-circle moment, too.
“To have that opportunity to have one senior driving in the other in a big moment and then see everybody celebrate what looks like one of the best times of their baseball careers together was pretty wild,” Pascarella said. “When Kadin said ‘Giuliana, thank you for hitting me in’ and they’re just smiling and laughing, that moment was just fantastic. He had a good game. He had his moment, as well.”
While Newfield ended up on the losing end, Pascarella commended their opponents for their gamesmanship.
“The Newfield team has some of the best sportsmanship a high school varsity team can display,” Pascarella said. “Head coach Jeff Augustine and assistant coach Ian Valentine are great coaches, and it was a pleasure to have played them.”
Dryden is planning on making these treks to Cooperstown an annual occasion. One thing’s for sure: It will never get old to soak in the pillar of America’s national pastime.
“The Baseball Hall of Fame is the staple of baseball,” Pascarell said. “When you can put a player on that field and have that experience and experience the Hall of Fame, there’s nothing like it.”
