CHSAA PLAYOFFS / 8 INN.: Msgr. Farrell 6 – St. Edmund 5
Monsignor Farrell’s Daniel Gonzalez began yesterday’s CHSAA playoff game against St. Edmund Prep the same way he has started every game this season – on the bench.
The junior reliever, who appeared in only two games this season, was called upon by coach Bob Mulligan once the game went into extra innings at their Staten Island field. After setting St. Edmund down in the top of the eighth to keep the score knotted at 5-5, Gonzalez led off the bottom of the frame with a walk.
The pinch runner for Gonzalez, Ryan Saulle, advanced to third on consecutive passed balls, then scored on Mike Pontebbi’s single, giving Farrell a 6-5 victory and a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three CHSAA playoff series that continues Sunday afternoon (and Monday if necessary) at Molloy College.
“I was a little surprised when coach put me in to pitch,” Gonzalez admitted afterwards. “But I wasn’t nervous. I was confident because I have such a good defense behind me.”
“We know that [Gonzalez] can get it done,” Mulligan said. “There are other guys we normally use but we had already used two of them earlier in the game.”
The reason Gonzalez even got the opportunity to be the unlikely hero was due to the Lions’ resilience. Once trailing 5-3, Farrell (13-4) tacked a run on the board in the sixth and then rallied in the seventh to tie it at 5-5.
Ralph Marzella’s one-out single off St. Edmund starter Marc Lussier in the seventh got the Lions in position to force the extra innings. St. Edmund coach Mike Ammirati brought in Tom Guerin with hopes of closing the game out, but Farrell first baseman Mike Hart had other plans.
After a wild pitch sent Marzella to second, Hart singled up the middle, plating Marzella to tie the score at 5-5. Guerin got out of the inning when Matt Pasquale lined into a double play.
In the end, St. Edmund (18-8) had only itself to blame. The Eagles didn’t take advantage of 12 walks; they left 15 runners on base and failed to score a run in three innings in which they loaded the bases.
“This one really hurts,” Ammirati said. “To come all the way here from Brooklyn and leave empty-handed after playing a pretty good game is difficult to accept.”