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Sports

Wind Blows Bronxville Away in Hastings Loss; Bisconti Bright Spot for Broncos

Despite the score, team manager Christopher Bisconti helps bring out the best in the team.

At the top of the seventh inning, even though the score was 16-6 in favor of Hastings (12-2), Bronxville fan Robert Bisconti looked out of the spacious press box at Peekskill Stadium and couldn't have been happier to have made the trip from Bronxville (9-4).

That score turned out to be the final at Saturday night's game.

But with a big smile on his face, Bisconti said he came to support his son, Christopher, a senior at Bronxville High School and the Broncos team manager, as well as Bronxville players and coaches.

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Christopher Bisconti has Down Syndrome, but witnessing the interaction between him and the players, one would never know it.

"Having Chris as the manager is absolutely fabulous," Bisconti said. "It makes him feel part of the team and part of the community. All the boys on the team, as well as the coaches, have been wonderful to him. It's something that you will treasure the rest of your life. It's wonderful."   

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The players and coaches feel likewise about having Christopher, who also helps out the Broncos cross country and boys basketball teams, as their team manager.    

"He means a lot," Broncos senior shortstop Chris Marasco said. "He's been with the team longer than anyone else has. He comes to every game and helps us in any way he can. It's really good to have him with us."    

Bronxville coach Anthony Vaglica agreed.

"On a night like tonight, we didn't have a lot of bright spots, but he was one of them," Vaglica said. "Seeing him interact with players, seeing him going out and getting the bats and bringing them back and helping the players in-between innings, putting the helmets and bats back—that's always a bright spot for us."

He continued, "I think it's great to see the character of the kids when he shows up. They really help him out on the bench. When they talk to him—they are always positive when he's around them, no matter what is going on out on the field."   

Besides supporting his son and the team, Robert Bisconti also thought the trip was worth it to witness Peekskill Stadium.    

"This is a great Stadium," he said. "It's right on the river, the Hudson Valley. It's magnificent. The only problem you have here is too much wind tonight." 

 

Conway gives Broncos early lead    

After Bronxville took the lead on a RBI double by Jackson Conway, which drove in Christian Conway, in the top of the first, the team fell victim to that wind, which was more appropriate for a winter day at the Meadowlands than a spring night at a baseball contest.   

With 1 out in the bottom of the first, Bronxville second baseman John Tormey had trouble with the brutal wind, which caused him to miss a pop up off the bat of Hastings Alex Pezzuto. He would score on a triple by Greg Pezzuto who scored himself on a base hit by Ryan Blicker.   

With two outs in the second, the wind played tricks on Tormey again, enabling Brian Wu to reach base and come home on a homer by Mark Siden.   

"There were points when it went up and no one could see the ball," Marasco said. "You couldn't call it an error at that point. Maybe when it was coming back down you could get a glimpse of it, but you'd have to react so quickly, it would be hard to make the play."   

Marasco, the Broncos leadoff hitter, who entered the game with a team high .556 batting average, homered to left field in the third to pull the Broncos to within 4-2, the closest they got to the Yellow Jackets the rest of the night.   

"I thought it was big to try and help the team win," said Marasco. "I wasn't trying to hit a home run, I don't have that approach, I'm not that kind of player. I just had a good swing and it went out."  

 Despite the loss, it doesn't damper what's been a solid campaign for the Broncos so far.

"We've having had a good year, I'm not disappointed with the year we're having," said Vaglica. "We're still going, we still have a lot more games left (seven), we have a good stretch to finish, including playoffs."

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