So close
Carmichaels hangs on to beat Hopwood for 15th FCBL title
Santino Marra dashed around second and third base and raced frantically to home plate as Carmichaels catcher Robbie Wilson-Jones awaited the throw.
Hopwood Village Plaza鈥檚 Chad Petrush had laced a double into center field to bring in Andino Vecchiolla, cutting Carmichaels鈥� two-run lead to one, and Marra neared home plate hoping to score the tying run with two outs in the top of the seventh inning.
Dom Colarusso鈥檚 strong throw came slightly to Wilson-Jones鈥� right. He grabbed it and lunged to tag Marra who went into a head-first slide.
The play was extremely close 鈥� and the call was 鈥渙ut.鈥�
The Copperheads had hung on to claim a 4-3 victory and a three-game sweep of Hopwood in the Fayette County Baseball League finals.
The series was much closer than the 3-0 final count.
Each of the three games 鈥� Carmichaels won Game 1, 2-0, and rallied to win Game 2, 8-5 鈥� was a tight, tense battle.
鈥淲e were in every single game,鈥� Hopwood manager Buddy Marra said. 鈥淲e were a couple plays away. I know it was 3-0 but it was a great series.鈥�
Carmichaels manager Dickie Krause, whose team claimed its league-record 15th championship and second in a row, agreed.
鈥淭he whole series was so tight. You couldn鈥檛 take an inning off,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淚t was just two very good baseball teams going really hard at each other, and that鈥檚 what this league is supposed to be about. Credit to them. They were missing some guys in Game 1 and then the squads went at each other so tough in Game 2 and again in Game 3.鈥�
The outcome came down to the final play.
The Copperheads entered the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead. Gianni Cantini, who relieved starter Ethan Erhard in the fourth inning, got two quick outs, the first on a tough grounder to shortstop Colarusso. Vecchiolla kept Hopwood鈥檚 hopes alive with a double, bringing up Marra and prompting a mound visit by Krause, who opted for an intentional walk.
鈥淪antino Marra has been a league MVP numerous times, he was on our team last year, he鈥檚 a phenomenal baseball player, he holds the PSAC record for hits, he鈥檚 got great power, we鈥檙e in a park that鈥檚 not that big,鈥� Krause said in explaining his decision. 鈥淪o, yeah, I realize I鈥檓 putting the tying run on base but if I let him hit a home run to tie the game, I鈥檓 not doing my job.
鈥淣o disrespect whatsoever to Chad, who鈥檚 a great catcher and a good hitter. I didn鈥檛 like seeing him up there either. But it really didn鈥檛 matter who was on deck, I have a base open so it was a no-brainer to me to bypass Santino.鈥�
The move to walk his son didn鈥檛 surprise Buddy Marra.
鈥淚 knew they were going to do that but Chad made them pay for it 鈥� or he almost did if we would鈥檝e got that call at the plate,鈥� he said.
Petrush drilled a 3-1 pitch for a hit towards center fielder Brodee Latocha with Vecchiolla scoring easily and Santino Marra following behind.
鈥淭he ball took a skip in the grass and I got a little worried,鈥� Latocha said. 鈥淏ut I rushed to it, got it, saw Dom and threw it to him and just hoped.鈥�
鈥淗e hits the cut-off man and that was key,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淗ow many times in high school do you see they don鈥檛 hit the cut-off man? And Dom made a hell of a throw.鈥�
Colarusso quickly snagged the throw from Latocha, whirled around and fired to home plate.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know where Santino was, coming around third, but I knew it was going to be close,鈥� Colarusso said. 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 tell from where I was what the call would be.鈥�
Wilson-Jones didn鈥檛 know either.
鈥淚t was too close to call,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose guys did a great job. Dom made a really good throw. It was drifting a little to my right but it got there in just enough time where I could grab it and get the tag down. I didn鈥檛 even think I had the ball in my glove but the umpire called him out and I looked in and saw I still had it.鈥�
Krause watched and awaited the call.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 see from as far away as I was,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淚 just knew it was very, very close. I鈥檓 just thankful we got the call.鈥�
Colarusso pumped his fist in celebration.
鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome, a great feeling,鈥� he said of taking part in the game-ending play.
Carmichaels (17-3-1) took control early, scoring three runs in the first inning off Vecchiolla.
Colarusso drew a lead-off walk, took third when Alex Vansickle dropped a double down the left-field line and scored on Noah Mildren鈥檚 ground out. After Ben Shields walked, Luke Camden drilled a two-run double to center.
鈥淟uke crushed it,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淭hat was the hit of the game.鈥�
The Copperheads pushed across what proved to be the winning run in the third inning.
Vansickle, Mildred and Camden each drew walks to load the bases with one out. Buddy Marra then opted to bring in Erik Streussnig for Vecchiolla.
鈥淩ik hurt his foot in yesterday鈥檚 game and was at the doctors today getting x-rays and they were negative,鈥� Marra said. 鈥淲e were planning on starting him. He throws the ball hard. When we got in some trouble there he said he was ready to go, so I went with him.鈥�
Streussnig got a strikeout but then hit Wilson-Jones with a pitch that brought in Vansickle to make it 4-0.
Hopwood (12-9) got to Erhard for two runs in the fourth inning to slice the lead in half.
Matthew Firestone made it 4-1 when he smashed a home run to left. Erhard recorded a pair of strikeouts before giving up a single to Streussnig and a walk to Anthony Piasecki. Chase Sankovich then singled on a sharp grounder up the middle to bring in courtesy runner Robbie Andrews.
Krause called on Cantini to relieve Erhard and he got an inning-ending strikeout.
Krause commended Erhard鈥檚 effort.
鈥淲e put him in a spot where he had only started one other game this year because of schedules basically,鈥� Krause explained. 鈥淲e were hoping to get maybe four from him and we got three and two-thirds, which I was pleased with.
鈥淗e comes in, he鈥檚 committed to this, he works hard at it. He was a good player at Waynesburg University and was a student of mine there. He鈥檚 a really polite, good kid and I鈥檓 happy he played a key role in us winning today.鈥�
The Copperheads threatened to extend their lead in the fifth when Shields hit a one-out double to center but Streussnig got a ground out and a strikeout to keep the score at 4-2.
Hopwood had a chance to cut into the lead in the sixth inning. Justin Brestensky led off with a single, stole second and then attempted to steal third with two outs and Piasecki batting but was gunned down by Wilson-Jones鈥� perfect throw to third baseman Mildren.
Erhard gave up two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Cantini tossed the final 3.1 innings, coughing up one run on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts in earning the win.
鈥淕ianni did the job, although I would鈥檝e liked the ending to be a lot less exciting than that,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檒l take the end result.鈥�
Wilson-Jones accounted for two of Carmichaels鈥� six hits. Vecchiolla and Firestone had two hits apiece for Hopwood which wound up with eight hits.
Vecchiolla surrendered four runs on four hits and five walks with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings in taking the loss. Streussnig pitched 3.2 scoreless frames, allowing two hits, one walk and the hit batter with five strikeouts.
Both managers lauded their opponent.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a class act, from their coach to their players and, of course, they have two (Marra and Vecchiolla) that played for us last year,鈥� Krause said. 鈥淭he whole series was all about baseball. I have tremendous respect for them.鈥�
Buddy Marra returned the compliment.
鈥淢y hat鈥檚 off to Carmichaels,鈥� Marra said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e a good team, a good defensive team, a good pitching team. They earned it. From the coaches to the players, they鈥檙e respectful people.
鈥淢y guys have big hearts. They gave it their all.鈥�