Tuesday,
May 31, 2011
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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DePaul became the first No. 11 seed to win the Passaic County Tournament since 1978 after it topped Wayne Valley, 8-4, in the county final on Monday. |
WAYNE - Dillon Chorba never envisioned himself as much of a cheerleader, but that was essentially what he became over the past six weeks. While DePaul had been pulling one Passaic County Tournament upset after another throughout the past few weeks, all Chorba could do was root on his teammates. In his third start of the season against Marist on April 16, he suffered a broken bone in his left wrist while trying to field a ground ball and was put into a cast the following day. Doctors told him that his season was likely over. But when they said 'likely over', that put the idea in Chorba's mind that there was a still a chance he could make it back sometime this season, which is a goal he set for himself from that point on.
Through those six weeks, he faced adversity both mentally and physically just to get back on the mound. So when he finally did finally get to pitch again and in the Passaic County final no less, then promptly gave up back-to-back homers in the first inning against defending county champion Wayne Valley, it was just another hurdle for Chorba to clear.
With the help of friend and classmate Ryan Carroll, Chorba became much more than a cheerleader, the duo helped the Spartans cap the most unlikely run in the 40-year history of the Passaic County Tournament.
Chorba allowed just two hits over the final six innings and Carroll's second home run of the day gave DePaul the lead for good. The Spartans as a team hit four homers and became just the second No. 11 seed in Passaic County Tournament history (Pompton Lakes also achieved the feat back in 1978) to win the championship as they scored eight unanswered runs to beat top-seeded Wayne Valley 8-4 at Passaic County Tech in Wayne.
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Dillon Chorba, in his first start in six weeks, threw a complete game to finish off DePaul's improbable run to a county title and set off a celebration. |
"We felt we were better than the seed we got, but the only way to prove it is to play your way out of it," said longtime DePaul head coach Joe Lennon. "We have faced adversity all year and Dillon is a key example of that. I mean he hadn't pitched in a game in six weeks, then comes out after letting two homers to throw a gem. I think playing at a small field like PCT's really helped us out mentally. We knew Dillon would find a rhythm and we felt with the way we've been swinging the bats that we would score runs. This is a storybook ending for a team that really deserved it because of the effort they put in this season."
Chorba was considered a surprise starter being he had not thrown a pitch in live game action since trying to field that comebacker against Marist, only to return to the mound in the biggest game DePaul has played in during the past decade. After allowing a leadoff to double to K.C. Abel, then a walk to Brian Kokos in the bottom of the first inning, Nick Hoy lifted a fastball to left field that just cleared the fence for a three-run homer.
Just a few pitches later, Josh Marks went the other way another fastball and hit almost the exact same spot. Before Chorba was even able to settle in to any type of flow, he and his teammates were staring at 4-0 deficit against a team that did not allow a run in either of their previous county tournament games.
Between coming off of an injury, facing a tough lineup, spotting the opposing team four runs, and playing in the most hitter-friendly ballpark in North Jersey, Chorba’s confidence could easily have been shot. But it was the opposite because Chorba felt like he was throwing the ball well and that at most fields those two homers would have been deep pop fly outs and he would have been out of the inning.
"I couldn't let those homers get to me or it would have gotten even worse and we might not have been able to come back," said Chorba, who will pitch at the University of Scranton next year. "Caught a couple of bad breaks, but as a pitcher you just have to put that behind you and focus on the next hitter. We have such a great lineup and we can put up runs quickly. I just had to do my job and I knew we would get those runs back."
The Spartans cut into the lead in the top of the third. After Nick Fondacaro singled and George Monson doubled to put runners at second and third, Wayne Valley made the curious decision to pitch to the Spartans' top hitter with first base open. Carroll made the decision hurt by crushing a 3-0 fastball deep to right-center for a three-run shot that trimmed the WV lead to a manageable 4-3. Fondacaro was in the middle of things again in the fourth as he stroked a two-out, two-strike RBI double off the fence in left-center to tie the game at 4.
That made it a whole new ballgame when Carroll came up to the plate with one out in the top of the fifth and made an impact with one swing of the bat. After being fooled by a curveball on the previous pitch, Carroll took a swing at a good curveball that was at the knees on the outside corner. The Fordham-bound first baseman drove it the other way and one-handed it out just out of the ballpark to give DePaul a 5-4 lead.
"The first homer, I figured I wasn't going to get a better pitch to hit and got a pitch right down the middle, the second one I got a bit luckier on," said Carroll. "I got buckled pretty bad by the first curveball and just had a hunch he was going to go back to it because of how bad he got me the first time around with it. It was actually a pretty good pitch, but I made pretty good contact and
got just enough of it to get it out. Dillon (Chorba) worked so hard to get back for this game and he was throwing harder as the game went on, so we felt pretty comfortable once we got him the lead."
Kokos, a right-hander, came on in relief of sophomore lefty starter Mike D'Amato to start the sixth and was rudely greeted by DePaul's John Scarr. The lefty batter stroked a leadoff homer and Fondacaro lifted a sac fly later in the inning before Gerard DeFilippo hit a homerun of his own to make it 8-4 going into the bottom of the seventh.
Meanwhile, Chorba was cruising along before facing one last bit of adversity in the Indians' final two at-bats. There were runners on the corners and the tying run was on deck with one out in the sixth before the right-hander got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat. After not allowing a hit since the second inning, he gave up a leadoff single to 2010 Passaic County Tournament MVP Mike Tolerico, then issued a walk to Marks to again put two runners on with one out. Chorba was unflappable all day though and struck out the final two batters to cap DePaul's fourth straight county tournament upset. The only thing left to do was wait until the players came rushing at him from angles waiting to pile on.
"I know I should have been thinking about if someone lands on my arm funny or something, but I didn't think about that for a second," said an elated, yet exhausted Chorba. "I didn't know if I would be able to go all seven innings, but I think adrenaline just took over once we got the lead and I never looked back."
Chorba allowed just five hits, walked seven, and had 12 K's for DePaul (14-10), which has now won eight in a row. Carroll had two homers and four RBI, while Fondacaro and Scarr each had two hits and combined for three RBI.
The William Paterson-bound Abel had two of the five hits for Wayne Valley, whose season ended with a 16-9 record.
"It was really, really tough to go through what I went through this season, but it was all worth it," added Chorba. "For this all to play out the way it did in my senior year is amazing, it's like a movie. Ryan (Carroll) and I were talking before the game about how we couldn't sleep last night. After the run we've had and the way this game ended, I don't know how we'll sleep tonight either."
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