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Mooney ousted by defending champions
By Gary Housteau
STRUTHERS
It was a pitchers’ duel through six innings in a Division III district final at Bob Cene Park as Cardinal Mooney and Canton Central Catholic were tied at 2 going after six innings.
But a run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh was the difference as the Crusaders advanced to the regional tournament with a 3-2 over the Cardinals
After Jake Vance struck out the side against Mooney in the top of the seventh, Mooney’s John Mikos when he walked the leadoff batter to open the bottom half of the inning and then he pulled his first baseman off the bag on a sacrifice bunt attempt to put runners on first and second with no outs.
That’s when Clay Davies stepped to the plate and proceeded to deliver the walk-off hit. With both runners moving on the play, Davies poked a bloop hit over the second baseman for the game-winner.
“My mindset was to move the runners,” Davies said. “I knew they were in scoring position and I just knew that I had to get them over. He jammed me and luckily the infielders were playing in and I just got it right over the second baseman’s head.”
J.C. Colangelo, who walked to start the inning, broke from second on the double steal attempt and had to hesitate for a second heading to third before scoring the winning run for Central Catholic (20-5).
“As soon as he hit the ball I was a little nervous because it was a line-drive type of ball,” Colangelo said. “I looked back to see where it was but I knew that there was no chance I was going to get back to the base if they caught it, so I just had to go and hope for the best. It was nerve-wracking but I’m just glad we came out on top.”
Central Catholic is the defending state champion in Division III.
Longtime Crusaders head coach Doug Miller explained why he started the runners with two on and no outs.
“We tried to stay out of the double play,” the coach said. “Yeah you take a chance if you hit a line drive but hey, sometimes you just got to roll the dice a little bit and I liked our chances there.”
Mooney tied the game at 2 in the top of the sixth inning.
With Cardinal runners on first and third and two outs, Chris Lewis took off from first after he singled Alex Wollet over to third. Wollet ran for Dom Pecchia who walked to start the rally. Lewis slowed up half way to the bag and the Crusaders shortstop, who took the throw from the catcher slipped on his attempt to throw back to the plate and Wollet scored uncontested. As Lewis made his way back to first, a throwing error from the shortstop to first, allowed Lewis to go to second and the game was tied at 2.
The Cardinals season ends with an 18-9 record.
“Their guy pitched a good game,” said Mooney head coach Al Franceschelli about Vance, who is headed to Ohio State. “He kept us off balance but I thought we were in it the whole game. What are you going to do? It is what it is.”
Just a freshman, Mikos took the loss after pitching a four-hitter, striking out three Crusaders and walking four.
“He was strong, he was throwing well and his pitch count was still under 90, so it was his game to lose,” Franceschelli said. “I was OK with this. This is a good team we played. We had them on the ropes all the way to end but we just came up short. I thought we could pull it out.”