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Mooney, Ursuline to meet in Catholic final at Cene
Cardinals will face biggest rival for tournament title
By GARY HOUSTEAU
Struthers
In an epic pitching duel at the 2016 Bob Cene Catholic Baseball Tournament at Cene Park, Cardinal Mooney’s unproven young arms were just a little better than St. Edward’s veteran Division I college-bound pitchers.
The Cardinals scored a run in the top of the 12th inning without the benefit of a hit to defeat the Eagles 3-2.
“It was a great game, one of the best games I’ve ever witnessed. Both teams played extremely well,” said long-time Mooney head coach Al Franceschelli. “What a great team that is. That left-hander they brought in [Quinn Lavelle, a Northwestern recruit] just did a phenomenal job. Their defense didn’t make an error. They were just a great team. We were fortunate to get by, we really were.”
Mooney freshman John Mikos relieved sophomore Tony Page in the seventh inning and held St. Edward in check over the remainder of the game to earn the victory.
“They play a tough schedule, they really do,” Franceschelli said. “They’re a big D-I program and I’m sure they face a lot of guys with extremely quick arms and today we decided to go the other way and throw them someone that wasn’t real, real quick and had some good breaking stuff. They couldn’t adapt to our [starter] for the most part of the game and then we turned it up a bit when we brought the reliever in in the seventh inning. It was a great game.”
Both Page and Mikos had stellar performances over the six innings that each pitched.
“You know something, they both pitched tremendous and the composure was there,” Franceschelli said. “It was a tough game. It was tied most of the way. There was a lot of opportunities for them to win the game but we played some really good defense today. I was proud of the team. We’re fortunate, I think they had a hard time hitting our pitching because we didn’t throw 90 MPH. But that’s a phenomenal team.”
St. Edward head coach Matt Rosinski credited both teams for an outstanding performance.
“It was an absolute great game,” Rosinski said. “Their kids competed, they got out of big jams and they got the runs when they needed to.”
A pair of D-I prospects pitched equally well for St. Edward as Jaret Edwards gave up two runs over five innings, striking out four and Quinn Lavelle took loss after giving up just the one run over the final seven innings. He struck out 10.
“There was great pitching on both sides,” Rosinski said. “Their first pitcher kept us off balance and their second guy came in and really attacked us. On our side, Jaret threw the ball pretty well and then Quinn Lavelle was exceptional in his seven innings of relief.”
Mooney’s Devin Curd and Bryce Richey both were hit by pitches to open the top of the 12th. A sacrifice bunt by Jack Lynch moved the runners to second and then another sacrifice bunt by Dom Pecchia scored Curd with the go-ahead run.
“This was one of the biggest wins that we’ve had,” Franceschelli said. “Any time you can beat a program like St. Ed’s with all of the talent that they have — they have two or three kids already committed to big D-I schools — it speaks for itself. This is one of the biggest wins since I’ve been here.
“This game had everything — a lot of strategy, a lot of hitting, great defense, great pitching from both sides. So it was a really good game.”
Mooney won twice Saturday. Earlier, the Cardinals beat Archbishop Hoban 8-3. Curd pitched a complete game and struck out five. Mike Williams had three hits to lead the offense, which produced four runs in the fourth inning to help secure the victory over the Knights.
“At one time we were 1-4 and now we’re 8-5 so we’ve had a pretty good stretch here,” Franceschelli said. “We’ve won six of the last seven against great teams so it’s been a good run for us. We’re hot now.”
Mooney, winner of Pool A, will play Gilmour Academy today after the teams participate in a Mass on Field No. 1 at noon. Regardless of that outcome in the early games, the Cardinals will play Ursuline, winner of Pool B, at 5 p.m. for the championship.
“This is a great tournament — a great idea and it’s long overdue,” Franceschelli said. “I wish it would have been done 10 years ago.”