BY ADAM RONIS
I asked St. John the Baptist junior first baseman Anthony Zarrella if he ever envisioned the moment that happened today when No. 2 St. John the Baptist upset top-seeded St. Dominic, 13-3, to win the deciding Game 3 of the CHSAA championship at Molloy.
"Not a chance," he said. "We started off the season terrible. It’s the best feeling in the world."
It was an awfully impressive run. St. Dominic had visions of winning its first title; had the league pitcher of the year in Justin Jorgensen and the player of the year in Dan Lackner. The Bayhawks were favored after clearly being the best team in the regular season. They have to be awfully be disappointed, but there's no denying SJB was the better team in the series.
SJB athletic director Ralph Dalton said the series was intense and emotional, but he gave credit to Lackner for coming over to the dugout following the game and congratulating the Cougars. Dalton said it was a class move.
I saw SJB four times in the postseason and they played excellent baseball. They consistently hit the ball hard and that includes everyone in the lineup. The defense was solid and you couldn't have asked for more from a pitching staff that had no varsity experience before this season.
Kevin Courtney, a sophomore lefthander, was the linchpin going 10-0. St. Dominic went 20-5 and lost three times to SJB and Courtney beat the Bayhawks twice.
"He was tough," St. Dom's coach Rick Garrett said. "He commanded that mound and did a great job. They put the bat on the ball and make things happen."
Give some credit to senior catcher Matthew Simone, who will play at Iona for handling an inexperienced staff.
"This run was awesome," he said. "They took on a lot of responsibility.They just got after it. They had a carefree attitude and took whatever confronted them."
SJB won its first championship since 2002 and 9th overall. SJB opened the season against St. Dom's, Kellenberg and Commack.
"We started off slow," SJB coach John Habyan said. "I knew it was going to take time for this team to evolve. I thought we were sputtering before the playoffs and we regrouped. We evolved quicky and put it together as a team. We played good, sound baseball."
Here are some SJB stats from today's game:
Simone 2-for-4, with a walk, double and three RBIs
Casey McKay 1-for-3, BB and an RBI
Anthony Zarrella 2-for-4 with a double, homer and three RBIs (Championship MVP)
Frank Loiacono 2-for-4 two RBIs
Joshua Sharpe 1-for-3, two walks, a stolen base and an RBI
James Carey 1-for-2 with two walks and two RBIs
Courtney 7 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 2 ER, 4 K
For more on the game, check out tomorrow's paper.
Here's the online story. The SJB record is listed wrong. The Cougars finished 18-8, not 19-7.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/highschool/ny-skjohn0529,0,4616359.story