June
8, 2005
 |
 |
|
Anthony Monzo rounding third after his seventh inning home run gave Whippany Park the insurance run it needed to hold off New Milford in Tuesday's Group 1 semifinal at Ramapo College. |
|
MAHWAH -- Four days and nine outs. That was what separated the New Milford baseball team from getting a chance to defend its Group 1 state title this weekend in Toms River. Up a run after four innings of play, the Knights saw their two-year run of state tournament magic come to a disappointing end on the field at Ramapo College.
Whippany
Park, the North 2 champion, scored all of its runs in the last two innings
and got all of them with two outs. Two errors opened the door to two unearned
runs in the top of the sixth that gave the Wildcats the lead for good in a
3-2 win that brought New Milford's remarkable two-year run of success to a
close with 51 wins in 60 games.
 |
| New Milford's PJ Saporito allowed just one earned run in the final start of his high school career, which came to a close with a 33-4 record. |
"It's a tough way to go out, especially for those two (seniors PJ Saporito and Christian Diaz), but they have a lot to be proud of," said New Milford head coach Joe Sutera. "We won back-to-back league titles, back-to-back sectional titles and a state championship last year. You don't see too many teams repeat like that and it is a credit to these kids that they were able to live up to the bar that was set so high last year."
As expected, the game was a pitcher's duel between both teams' aces, New Milford's Saporito and Whippany Park's Matt Frazier.
New Milford did not manage a hit through the first three innings, but made its first one count in the bottom of the fourth inning. Steve Brunelli was hit by a pitch leading off and Todd Crispino, a day after being named the first team All-Bergen County catcher, then laid down the perfect bunt.
When he returned to the dugout, Crispino told a teammate that it was the first time he had ever bunted in his life and it was good for two bases as Brunelli, realizing there was no one at third base after WP's Mike Arekelian charged on the play, went first to third. Saporito then stroked an opposite field double to give himself the 1-0 lead that lasted into the top of the sixth.
 |
| Matt Frazier threw a two-hitter in pitching Whippany Park into the Group 1 state final. |
Saporito (8-3) had allowed just two singles through the first five innings, fooling just about all of the Wildcat hitters with his change of speeds. The one exception was WP leadoff hitter Anthony Monzo, who singled to start the top of the sixth. Saporito then fielded Joe Gogel's bunt and got the lead runner at second, but an error on the return throw allowed Gogel to reach safely and move up to second.
Saporito
got a fly ball for the second out, but Frazier then helped his own cause,
blooping a single into short center that tied the game at 1. Whippany took
the lead when Justin Sarno's groundball was misplayed and Rich Maregiano came
through with a single for a
2-1 WP advantage.
In the
top of the seventh, Manzo, who had two hits and a walk in his first three
plate appearances, did it again. He crushed a solo homer over the left field
fence for what turned into an all-important insurance run as the Knights made
one more run at it in their final at bat.
 |
| Christan Diaz led off the seventh with a double and later scored on a sac fly to get New Milford back to within one run. |
Christian Diaz led off the last of the seventh with a well-struck double, moved up a base on Pete Eckert's ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alvaro Perez. But Frazier, who kept New Milford off balance all game with curveballs in the strike zone early in the count, closed the game with his eighth strikeout and sent Whippany Park to the Group 1 final where it will play Pennsville for the outright state title in Toms River.
Frazier allowed just two hits and two walks in going the distance and out dueling Saporito, who was again solid in his final high school start before moving on to NJIT next season. Saporito allowed seven hits and one walk while striking out eight. Only one of the runs scored against him was earned and he finished his prep career with a 33-4 record, including the win in last year's state final that gave New Milford its first-ever state championship.
"We rode him for two years and he pitched well enough to win today. He let one up to the leadoff hitter (Monzo) and that wound up being the difference," said Sutera. "We knew coming in that they were going to play good defense and that we had to match that. We could not give away any outs, but that is what we did."
FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT THE NJS.com SCHOOL STORE!
|
|
|
| About Us | Contact Us | Home | Advertise |
Questions?
E-mail the editor editor@northjerseysports.com
All contents © copyright 2002-2005 HSSportsWeb.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
