The Avalanche team of Elmsford's Frozen Ropes baseball academy won its first Triple Crown Memorial Day Baseball Tournament in Newburgh this past weekend. It was a bittersweet victory for the young team since their team captain wasnt able to attend.
Team Captain Steven Espinosa, 9, of Putnam Valley, lost his year-long battle with Leukemia last month after his illness took a turn for the worst. The Avalanche team was established by Stevens father, Ron, three years ago. But last year his son was diagnosed with leukemia. Steven was an all-star in both baseball and basketball and played on the Pop Warner Cortlandt Panthers team, of which Ron is the president.
"He was diagnosed last year on March 16 with very high risk ALL, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia," Espinosa said. "It was a severe case that came out of nowhere. The weekend he was admitted to the hospital he was out practicing with the team."
While in the hospital, Steven earned a new nickname based on a popular Marvel superhero. "They surgically implant a mediport that goes under the skin and they give you a cream that numbs the skin, his father said. [Steven] wasn't really getting what it was, so I told him 'It's just like what Iron Man put in his chest. It's something you need to stay alive.''
Steven, a student at Putnam Valley Elementary School, was home schooled with the help of the district. "The district and his teacher, Mrs. [Christine] Crill were great," Espinosa said. "The school district actually gave him a laptop so he could video conference in with the class from time to time." Steven returned to the team in April of last year and lived up to his new nickname, maintaining a sub-3.00 ERA and even managed to pitch a no-hitter against rival Newcastle.
Last year, Steven started his own tournament with his father, the Can't Hold Me Down Iron Man Tournament, to help provide needy players with equipment. Espinosa had to provide all new equipment for his son because of Stevens lowered immunity made him susceptible to common illnesses.
"One day, he said, 'Dad, if you didn't have the money to buy my own equipment I wouldn't be able to play," Espinosa said. Stevens father plans to hold the tournament again this fall in honor of his son. He is also raising money to build a new scoreboard at Walter Panas High School in his son's name and plans to create a scholarship at the Frozen Ropes academy. After months of treatment and a bone marrow treatment from his sister, Summer, Steven managed to rid his body of leukemia.
But the victory was short-lived. Doctors discovered the Epstein-Barr virus had been dormant in his system. Since his sister did not have the virus, Steven's body no longer had the power to fight the disease after the transplant. "Eventually, the virus is what got him," Espinosa said. "The leukemia was completely gone. So he beat cancer but just couldn't outrun the virus."
Assistant coach Eric Johansen, a Lieutenant with the Peekskill Police Department, said the team and its coaches have been competing with heavy hearts. He called Stevens leadership qualities to be nothing short of amazing.
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