Thursday,
June 4, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
|
Emerson's Jake Leara laying down a squeeze bunt that drove in a run in the Cavos' 8-6 win over Ridgefield in the Group 1 state semifinals. |
LYNDHURST – The marker on the fence in the leftfield corner of the Lyndhurst Recreation Complex reads 354 feet. That is a long way from home plate and it was over that marker by plenty that Ridgefield senior Eamon Catherina crushed a first inning home run in Wednesday’s Group 1 state semifinal against Emerson.
Fast forward to the bottom of the seventh inning and it was that shot that was still echoing. Cling to a two-run lead with two runners on and two outs, Emerson needed one more out. Ridgefield, on the other hand, already had the tying runs on base and just needed one more spot in the order to pass before Catherina could come to the plate for a final showdown. Had it happened, it very likely could have been with the bases loaded and no way to pitch around him.
That was a situation that Emerson desperately wanted to avoid.
“I am not going to lie, I was nervous. Especially after my catcher’s interference in that inning gave them an extra baserunner,” said Emerson catcher Pat Dunn, who got his mitt a little too close to a Benny Turano swing that moved the Ridgefield lineup forward one more spot. “I definitely did not want their big hitter [Catherina] to come up. I knew he was up next, but I have total confidence in our pitchers and we had one chance to get one out.”
The pitcher was Chris Nedilsky, a senior right hander who has been making steady progress with the curveball that he added to his arsenal last season. And he snapped off a beauty.
|
Ridgefield senior Eamon Catherina hit a first inning home run and was standing on deck as when the last out of the game was made. |
With a 1-2 count and everything on the line -- Emerson’s season, his high school career, etc. -- Nedilsky threw a hook that dove into the dirt just after it crossed the plate and got a check swing offering for strike three and the final out of the Cavos’ 8-6 win in a game that included many wild twists and turns.
The fun started in the top of the very first inning as Emerson put together a three-run rally that came out of nowhere. Catherina, who started the game, retired the first two hitters he faced before running into Emerson’s not-so-secret weapon, the cheek to bunt with any hitter in any situation.
Jon Juri, who bats in the No. 3 spot for the Cavos, laid down a beauty to become the game’s first baserunner. A walk to Matt Durocher, a two-run double by Jake Leara and a booming triple into the vast expanse of left field by Anthony Scazzafava put Emerson in front, 3-0, right out of the gate.
Ridgefield answered right back as its first batter of the game, Catherina, hit the bomb to left that nearly hit Wood-Ridge head coach Mikey Carcich, a spectator, standing about 360 feet from home plate. John Biggiani followed with a double and scored on Santo Guinta’s single to make it 3-2, but the Royals chance at an even more productive opening inning was erased when Joel Torres was ruled to have stepped on home plate as he laid down what would have been a bunt single and Ridgefield made a bit of a mess of the top of the second inning.
Frank Manning drew a leadoff walk and Matt Nedilsky reached safely on his sacrifice bunt attempt as Ridgefield tried to get the out at second, but throw was late. Anthony Laureano’s then sacrificed both runners up a base before Chris Nedilsky drove in a run with a fielder’s choice on which Ridgefield threw late to the plate to fall behind by a 5-2 count.
|
Emerson's Mike Callagee threw six innings to pick up the win, his 11th of the season without a loss. |
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the offenses picked back up. Juri (2-for-3, 2 R) opened the top of that frame with a single as the last batter that Catherina (4+ IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 2 BB) faced. Matt Durocher (1-for-3, 2 R) greeted Chris Martucci with a long double to left and Leara followed with a short bunt, a perfect squeeze that pushed home Emerson’s sixth run and Dunn added a two-out RBI to make it 7-2.
A five –run lead looked like plenty for Emerson senior Mike Callagee (6 IP, 6 R, 3 ER, 9 H, 2 K, 2 BB), the first team All-County senior right-hander who was a perfect 10-0 coming in. But errors made against the leadoff hitters in both the fifth and sixth innings opened the door to consecutive two-run innings for the Royals.
In the fifth an error, a hit batter and a walk loaded the bases with one out and Joel Torres (2-for-4, RBI) hit a dribbler up the first base line that pushed in a run. Michael Ragone then drove in a run with a ground out to make it 7-4 before Scazzafava made a nice sliding catch in foul territory in left field for the final out.
In the sixth, the last inning worked by Callagee (11-0), Turano reached on an error leading off, Lou Correa walked to turn over the lineup and Catherina (2-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R) blooped a single to load the bases. John Biggiani then hit a sacrifice fly and Martucci singled in a run to make it 7-6.
Martucci stole second to put two in scoring position with one out for clean-up hitter Santo Guinta. A base hit likely would have given Ridgefield its first lead of the game and it would have only had to get three more outs to earn a second straight trip to the state final. Guinta hit a line drive on the screws, but it was right at Manning, the second baseman, who then flipped to Laureano, the shortstop cutting in behind, for the 4-6 double play.
|
John Biggiani had a hit, an RBI and scored twice for Ridgefield, which finished the season at 22-10. |
Manning (1-for-3, R, RBI) then tacked on an insurance run with a two-out single in the top of the seventh to give Chris Nedilsky the two-run cushion to work with in the bottom of the inning.
“When we had a guy on third there and Frank Manning up in the seventh, I was in the dugout and I guaranteed that we would get a run there and I would go out and shut them down,” said Chris Nedilsky, a senior right-hander who came on to start the seventh. “I read an article this morning where they predicted the final score of 8-6. It was weird that they would predict that score of a high school game, but Frank got the hit to make it 8-6 and I had to go out there and close it down.”
He did, but it certainly wasn’t easy. Chris Nedilsky got the first out on a comebacker before Ragone (2-for-4, RBI) reached on a one-out infield single. Nedilsky got strike out for out No. 2 and had two strikes on Turano before the catcher’s interference put two runners on. Catherina was taking his swings in the on deck circle when Nedilsky broke off that final curveball for the final out.
“I am just so proud of the way my guys grinded it out. Down 7-2 we could have folded, but we came back to make it a game. We talked about just getting the tying run to the dish in the seventh and we did it. We couldn’t ask for more than that,” said Ridgefield head coach Joe Gambardella. “I kept hoping we could get Eamon up. I kept seeing that big body with all that blonde hair going up to take that at bat with the bases loaded. Can you imagine what that would have been like?”
Instead, Ridgefield (22-10) saw its season and the brilliant run by this senior class come to an end. The core four of Catherina, Martucci, Guinta and Turano helped turn Ridgefield into a small school powerhouse. In the last four seasons, the Royals have won three state sectional titles, played in a state final and won three league championships.
|
The Emerson coaching staff is pumped to be going back to Toms River for the first time since 2001. |
“I just wanted to see those guys go out on top. They have worked harder than anybody I have ever had and it sucks, but you have to tip your cap to Emerson,” said Gambardella. “These seniors laid the groundwork and I just got done telling our younger guys that it is time to get to work. We are going to do everything we can to get back here next year.”
For Emerson, which started the season with a 3-3 record, next year will have to wait for one more game. The Cavos are heading back to the state final for the first time since winning back-to-back Group 1 state championships in 2000 and 2001. What that means is that it has come full circle for Chris Sommerhalter.
He was a senior on that 2001 team and now is the first year head coach leading the Cavos back to Toms River where it will play Middlesex in the Group 1 final in a 2 p.m. start.
“This means a heckuva lot because I played here, my assistant coach Anthony Mazzo player here, my other assistant Joe Palombit played here and our other coach Matt Ramagli played here. This means a lot to the program because the last time we were here was in 2001 and it mine and Anthony’s senior year,” said Sommerhalter. “It means a lot not just to this group of guys, this team, but to everybody who has played in the program. It’s great.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |