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Small ball carries Mooney past Crestview
Mooney uses small ball to deliver
knockout blow to Crestview
By STEVE WILAJ
STRUTHERS
Facing a five-run deficit, still without a hit through three innings and with Crestview ace — and Ohio State commit — Mike McDonough waiting on the mound for the top of the fourth, it was an understandable time for Cardinal Mooney to panic, right?
Think again.
Showing its resiliency, flexing its muscles — and maybe most importantly — displaying its finesse with some small-ball, Mooney used an eight-run fourth inning and a nine-run seventh-inning to beat Crestview, 17-9, on Monday in a Division III district semifinal at Cene Park.
The Cardinals (18-7) — who rallied from a one-run seventh-inning deficit — will play Canton Central Catholic at Cene Park today at 6:30 p.m. for the district title.
“This is a great team,” Mooney coach Al Franceschelli said. “They’ve worked really hard all year and they never quit. We’ve come back like this all year, so I feel we’re never out of the game.”
Crestview (16-7) took a 5-0 lead after three innings — knocking Cardinals starter Jack Lynch from the game after 21/3 innings — but gave it all back when Mooney posted eight runs in the fourth.
While McDonough struck out six and didn’t allow a hit through the first three frames, he left midway through the Cardinals’ outburst with an apparent injury to his left throwing arm. He didn’t record an out in the inning, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks prior to exiting.
“He gave us everything he had,” Crestview coach Dan Hill said, adding that he wasn’t sure of the severity of McDonough’s injury. “It was just a situation where he had enough and we went to the next step. That’s nothing against Michael or anyone else.”
Tyler Hurd came on for the Rebels as Mooney sent 11 batters to the plate for the entire frame. Dom Pecchia notched a two-run single, Brennan Olesh and Bryce Richey hit RBI singles and the Cardinals executed two suicide squeezes.
“I think when [McDonough] came out of the game, it was a big relief for us,” Mooney third baseman Chris Lewis said.
Still, Crestview recovered to score two runs in the fourth and a run in each the fifth and sixth innings to take a 9-8 lead into the seventh. Caleb Hill smacked a two-out RBI-single off Mooney’s Devin Curd in the bottom of the sixth to put the Rebels ahead.
“That’s what we’ve done all year — they know to play 21 outs,” Hill said of his Rebels, who were led by three hits each from Devin Turvey, Tyler Fitzsimmons and Hill. “We just needed a crooked number in two or three of those innings to give us some cushion. As well as we hit today, we just couldn’t get that crucial hit to blow the game wide open.”
Mooney knocked Hurd from the contest and loaded the bases with one out to begin the seventh. Lewis then hit a go-ahead two-RBI single off Andy Gorby before the floodgates opened.
In the next four batters, Mike Williams, Olesh and Aaron Woodberry notched successful suicide squeeze attempts for a 13-9 lead. Curd’s two-RBI double to follow was the knockout blow.
“We coach small ball,” Franceschelli said. “It’s the way I coach — especially when we found out they were struggling fielding the bunts. So we just kept coming at them. This is tournament play. You have to just do what works.”
Said Hill: “It was situations where they got it away from the plate far enough and we weren’t downhill far enough. And that’s on me.”
Curd got the win for Mooney, going 42/3 innings and allowing four runs on six hits. Kaden Davis had two RBIs and Jacob Wick and Hurd each doubled for Crestview, while Lewis also tripled for the Cardinals and Dean Lauer notched two hits, including a double.
“We just used a team effort,” Lewis said. “Guys weren’t selfish and we got the bunts down when we needed to. It was a solid win and hopefully we can continue it to the district championship.”