Just like they had done against the Central Bulldogs six days prior, Springfield Catholic (16-2) came away with a dramatic win in their final at-bat on Monday – finishing off No. 3 ranked New Covenant Academy (11-3) by a final of 5-4 in a battle of area powerhouses.
The victory continued an intriguing theme for the Irish as Monday also marked the sixth time the club has secured a one-run victory this season – a theme that seemed to be put on hold before the Irish let a four-run lead slip away late.
“It amazes me how they keep doing this,” Catholic coach Jason Daugherty said about his team. “Honestly, it seemed like we had so many chances all day. It's one of those games where I go 'Man, we're going to let these guys stay in the game and they're going to beat us.' We did let them tie it, but we came back and beat them so I felt pretty fortunate.”
Last Tuesday's walk-off hero, sophomore Hayes Hutter, got Catholic off on the right foot in the bottom of the first when he crushed a Cody Malan fastball for a two-out, three-run shot over the left-center field fence.
“It felt really good coming off the bat,” Hutter said about his home run. “We needed some runs there, especially with two outs.”
After the Irish brought home another run in the second inning to stretch the lead to 4-0, New Covenant answered back with a run in the top of the third and three more in the fifth to tie the score despite collecting only three hits.
The NCA comeback bid was due in large part to seven free passes issued by Catholic freshman pitcher Zach Cole over just four-plus innings of work.
“It's a definite concern,” Daugherty said of Cole's struggles with finding the strike zone. “He was a little wild last game and a little wild today. He's just got to get his command. If he does that, it might be a different ballgame, I don't know. [New Covenant] had way too many baserunners via walks, for sure.”
After senior Ben Rash came in relief of Cole and finished out the fifth frame while allowing an earned run of his own, Rash pitched back-to-back perfect frames over the next two innings – setting the stage for third baseman Seth Kamykowski in the bottom of the seventh.
With one out and runners on first and second, Kamykowski socked a 1-2 pitch into deep right field that landed well over the head of NCA's Corbin Morgan and brought in a sprinting Grant Schoen from second base to seal the win.
“I've been in a slump over the past couple of games and it felt good to get out there and actually hit one again,” Kamykowski said. “I got down in the count with a bad call on the first pitch, but I came back, kept fighting and got that hit.”
The script could have been drastically different for John Hartley's Warriors if it wasn't for their discouraging inability to bring home more runners.
All told, New Covenant stranded nine runners in the contest and left the bases loaded in the second and third innings.
“Part of the game is timely hitting and we left some guys out there,” Hartley said after the loss. “No complaints with the way the kids worked at the plate or on the bases. We just didn't get enough tallies.”
Next up for Catholic is a road game at Bolivar on Tuesday. New Covenant looks to bounce back against state-ranked Galena in a neutral-site showdown at Hammons Field on Wednesday.
