May 3, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Late drama vaults CHA Blue Devils to victory
by John O’Reilly

CHA’s Mike Christiansen had two walks in the game against Central High School. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com

Through the first five innings of their game last Thursday, Chestnut Hill Academy was looking nervously at the scoreboard, trailing their rivals.

Clutch hitting and base running in the sixth was all it took, however, to steal a victory from visiting Central High School (4-5).

After letting up three runs in the first two innings, CHA buckled down to shut out Central for the rest of the game for a 4-3 come from behind win to raise their season record to 15-2. Coach Stanley Parker was impressed by their resilience.

“The kids came out a little bit flat, but they started to regain their focus and therefore they got better at-bats, were getting better pitches, were a little more disciplined at the plate, and hitting strikes rather than chasing some balls, and I think that was the key.”

Central struck early in the top of the first, with senior CHA pitcher Steve Smorecki allowing a walk and two hits, scoring two runners.

They struck again in the second, capitalizing on a Blue Devil mishap in the field. With a runner on first, a weak grounder to the first baseman should have been converted into a double play. It was thrown away from the bag at second, however, and only a diving stop by the shortstop kept the ball in the infield.

Subsequently a walk loaded the bases, and a passed ball by Smorecki allowed in a third run. A double play ended the inning, and that was the turning point for the CHA senior. He only gave up one more hit over his remaining four innings pitched. Coach Parker commented on his day, which ended with a respectable six innings pitched, three runs, five strikeouts, two walks, and four hits.

“Steven did pretty well after the first inning, that’s been his modus operandi, he comes out, he takes a little bit of time to get going, usually we’re down a couple of runs unfortunately[…] he had a little bit of difficulty as you saw early, but he settled down nicely after that.”

While the pitching settled down, the batters heated up. After an initial strikeout, the Devils’ next two batters in the bottom of the third hit back-to-back singles. Smorecki and speedy leadoff hitter Jonathon McAllister (2-4, one run) got the hits and then advanced another base on a balk by the pitcher.

Mike Christiansen (two walks) then hit a weak grounder to third that scored Smorecki. Steel Russell promptly singled in McAllister from third for his sole RBI of the day, narrowing the gap to 2-3.

Russell was filling the lineup’s three-spot in lieu of Anthony Cafagna, one of their best hitters, who is out for the season with a broken hand.

The final nail in the coffin for Central came in the sixth inning when sophomore Brendon Sady (1-2, walk) ignited the Devil’s final push when he led off the inning with a walk. He then stole second and third base on consecutive pitches, and scored the tying run when Mike Mattei blooped a hit into shallow center.

The next two hitters grounded out but advanced Mattei to third base, and Bobby Martz came in to pinch hit with two outs. The tension quickly ended, though, when a pitch hurtled by the catcher and Mattei scored the unearned go-ahead run. Martz smoked a single on the next pitch but was bereft of the RBI.

Martz then stayed in to close the game, striking out the last two batters to allow CHA to hold onto the 4-3 victory.

Mike Whitworth also contributed to the team’s 10 hits with a single in the third.

Parker has high hopes for the veteran team’s future. Handicapping their Inter-Ac status, he was comfortable with the team’s undefeated league record, but kept a wary eye on the upcoming schedule.

“We’re sitting in first place, and they’ve got to catch us. The kids are battling; I think they believe in themselves a little bit. We still have two real tough games with Penn Charter, obviously they’re always good, and Haverford, even though they started off poorly, they’re a competitive team. We’ve got another one at Malvern. We’re on the road four of the last five, so that’s gonna be tough.”

Yet he feels his players have the talent and the focus to stay on top of the competition.

“They’re aspirations are, yes, go out and win every game one at a time. I know it’s the old cliché and you almost hate to say it, but that’s really how we have to play.“