90 Feet to Daylight By John Kocsis Jr.
noticed that the pitcher was kind of slow to the plate,” Allende tells. “My coach said you can get this. I trusted myself and I did it. That was the first time in my life that I stole home and it was awesome.” Allende took off on a ball up and in to Stone Russell to score the tying run. It was the second time a Fireflies player has stolen home in team history. The first one belonged to Lizandro Rodriguez, who stole home against the Down East Wood Ducks in the top of the eighth inning June 4, 2023 to give the Fireflies a 4-2 lead at Grainger Stadium. At that point, the dugout went crazy. The team allowed Allende to climb down the first step and then they consumed him, patting him on the back, jumping around in and sharing plenty of high fives. The stands had the opposite reaction, as Atrium Health Ballpark went from extremely loud to quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Later in the at-bat, Russell flipped a single into left field to score an additional two runs. Dash Albus was throwing in the bullpen waiting to see if he would come on to close out the game. “I see him go and he slides in and Stone is standing there and I don’t know if he’s safe. Then the umpire calls him safe and I was like let’s go!” Dash Albus said. “Then I told Julio Pimental let’s get going.” Albus got ready to go and then retired the side in the bottom of the ninth to earn his first professional save. A lot had to come together for the Fireflies to even their series with the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers heading into the weekend—and one of the most exciting moments in team history proved to be the icing on the cake. Heading into this week, Columbia is just one game out of first place in the South Division with 20 games remaining in the first half. Cheer on the Fireflies this week as they play the Fayetteville Woodpeckers on special nights such as Country Night, Thursday, May 29. Find your beach on Margaritaville Night May 30, where the first 1,000 fans through the gates receive a free Hawaiian shirt courtesy of AMAROK and Saturday enjoy Princess Knight presented by ERA Real Estate. Start your game with a tea party with real life princesses and end the night with a firework celebration for defending the castle against the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. Buy your tickets now at FirefliesTickets.com.
Jackie Robinson stole home against Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford in Game One of the 1955 World Series. Robinson swiped home in the eighth inning to cut New York’s lead to 6-4. Yes, the Yankees held on to win the game, but The Brooklyn Dodgers won the series and that steal is the most-famous moment from that series. There’s 90 feet between third and home for the base runner and a
pitcher has to throw 60 feet and six inches to get the ball to the catcher. It’s easy to see the risk of trying to steal home—especially with pitchers routinely throwing in the upper 90s and even clocking 100 MPH frequently. That’s what makes what Giullianno Allende did Friday night at Atrium Health Ballpark that much more special. Allende came on as a pinch runner at first base after Jorge Hernandez was hit by a pitch and the Fireflies trailed 4-2. He was the go-ahead run with slugger Ramon Ramirez striding to the dish. Pierce George threw a wild pitch to score Henry Ramos from third. The wild pitch allowed Asbel Gonzalez to move to third and for Allende to go from second to third with only one out. Ramon Ramirez drew a walk to load the bases again before Derlin Figueroa bounced into a fielder’s choice. Asbel Gonzalez was thrown out at the plate. Now there were two outs and Allende became the game-tying run at third.
It was Stone Russell’s turn at the plate.
“I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was bluffing down the line the past couple of pitches,” Russell explains. “I saw it and I said, ‘Okay, he’s coming.’ So I took the pitch.”
Manager David Noworyta was feet away from the pinch runner at third directing traffic. He noticed that Allende was taking some big jumps.
“It looked like he was going to jump from pitch number one. He was getting some great jumps at third,” Noworyta remembers. “I was trying to tell him to ease up a little bit, because the last thing I want is for the pitcher to step off and have that be how we lose the game. But, he was staying aggressive the whole time.”
Everyone who watched Friday’s game in Kannapolis know what happens next. Allende took off on a 1-2 pitch.
“I was focusing on the pitcher because we only need one to tie the game. I
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