Saturday,
May 26, 2012
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Matt Clancy struck out two of the three hitters he faced in his season debut during Old Tappan's 3-0 win over rival Demarest in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals on Friday afternoon. |
OLD TAPPAN – Having long since committed to play baseball at St. John's University, all that was left for hard-throwing left-hander Matt Clancy was to go out and dominate hitters during his senior season and put up all-county like numbers in ERA and strikeouts as a key part of Old Tappan's rotation. But of all things, a banana boating accident during winter break changes all that and instead made Clancy's senior season all about rehabbing from a chipped bone in his pitching elbow.
Surgery gave way to bulky sling which turned into the first baby steps toward a comeback. The longer his teammates could carry the team into the state tournament, the better chance Clancy had to make it back and a least throw a couple of pitches that counted.
The injury happened on February 22, the comeback from the broken elbow came on May 25 in the sixth inning of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinals against rival Demarest and it wasn't like Clancy was called upon to throw a ceremonial first pitch. He entered the game with the tying runs on base and nobody out.
“I got the chills when he first went out there on the mound,” said Dan Jablonski, Old Tappan's starting shortstop and another member of the class of 2012. “I was so excited for him to throw that first pitch and everyone in the [Demarest] crowd was all over him. It was the perfect spot for him.”
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Junior Jon Avallone had two of Demarest's three hits. |
To add to the drama, Clancy hit the first batter he faced to load the bases, then struck out the next two hitters looking before getting a flyball to get the Knights out of trouble. Matt Pacicco worked a 1-2-3 seventh as Old Tappan closed out a 3-0 win over its sister school in the Northern Valley district and advance to the state sectional semifinals.
“Ever since I broke my elbow this is the day that I have been looking forward to. During the whole rehab the idea was not to rush it, but I did want to find a way to contribute somehow this season,” said Clancy. “[Head coach Tim Byron] told me I was going in if we got into trouble and we walked a kid to put two on, so I kind of knew I was going in. I took a deep breath, I tried to clear may head and go out there like it was any normal day.”
What made it not such a normal day for Old Tappan was that it was able to give all four of the pitchers it used some early run support. The Golden Knights have struggled to score runs this season, but got three in the first two put Demarest, which came in flying after upsetting top-seeded Ramapo in the opening round, on its heels early.
John Trainor walked to set the table in the Knights' first at bat and Luke Mazurek singled with one out to put runners on the corners and bring up Vin Capazzi, the clean up hitter who lifted a fly ball to centerfield that turned into more than a sacrifice fly. As the throw from the outfield came all the way through to home, Tyler Fleischer, the courtesy runner for Mazurek, raced for third. When the throw down sailed into left field, Fleischer popped up and came down the line to make it two zero Old Tappan. Three straight one-out singles by Sean Haveron, Christian Runga and Matt Schramm led to a third run and the Knights sent nine hitters to the plate and left the bases full before settling for a 3-0 lead.
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Vin Capazzi's first inning sacrifice fly led to two Old Tappan runs. |
When Trainor (1-for-3, R, SB) led off the second inning with a single, Demarest head coach Charlie Giachetti went to his bullpen for Paul In, who walked Chris Pinelli, the first hitter he faced and it looked like Old Tappan was primed for another big inning. But In retired the next three hitters in order and wriggled out of trouble, which would be an on-going theme for the rest of the game.
In worked the final five innings without allowing a run as Old Tappan left 10 runners on base through the first five innings. A wider working margin would have been nice for the four pitchers the Knights used, they hardly needed it as they combined to work a three-hit shutout and had the benefit of a stellar defensive performance on the infield.
Jablonski made a leaping grab of a line drive hit by Bobby Hoberman with one out in the third. It became more important when Mazurek walked the next two hitters, but then the starting pitcher grabbed a sizzling one-hop comeback off the bat of Justin Marko to end the inning.
Mazurek got the start and threw 4 1/3 innings with two hits allowed to go with two walks and three strikeouts. He was relieved by freshman Greg Westhelle who retired the final two hitters of the fifth before allowing an infield single and a walk to open the sixth, which set up the return of Clancy, who maintained the shutout. Old Tappan second baseman David Keil made a sliding stop and steady throw from the first base hole for the first out of the seventh and Pacicco struck out the final batter of the game for Old Tappan, which improved to 16-10 on the season and advanced to the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinals where it will travel to Indian Hills, the No. 4 seed that knocked off No. 5 Paramus, 2-1, on Friday.
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Paul In worked five innings of scoreless relief for Demarest. |
“We could have used a two-out hit along the way, that really would have helped us out, but we had the good first inning and our pitching and our defense kept us right there,” said Old Tappan head coach Tim Byron. “We made plays, we got a big double play [in the fourth inning], but honestly it should have been a different final score. We shouldn't have been holding our breath for the last couple innings, we should have been able to tack a couple of runs on.”
Demarest finished up its season with a 9-12-1 record. In was solid as he threw five innings of scoreless relief, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out four. Jon Avallone had two of the three hits for the Norseman while Luke Iovino had the other.
Mazurek picked up the win to improved his record in his senior season to 9-3. The disappointment of missing out on the Bergen County Tournament is starting to fade for the Knights, who are two wins away from a sectional title and four from a Group 3 state championship and they don't have to burn any pitching this weekend.
“It feels great to win this game. To beat Demarest, our biggest rival, three times this season and today in the states to advance in front of a huge crowd, it was great,” said Mazurek. “I am just trying to do my part, my role on the team because we all want to keep winning and get the ring. I am still upset that we didn't get to play in the county tournament, but now we can focus only on the states and hopefully we can go really far.”
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