|
|
|
|
|
Wins in Final Two Games Played Saturday
Li'l Irish Baseball Earns First State Title
Kevin Oklobzija
|
View all news
|
 |
| AQ Li'l Irish Celebrate the State Championship Win on June 14, 2009 |
|
BINGHAMTON — The instant pitcher Ray Kelly recorded the final out in the Class A state baseball championship game on Saturday evening, the Aquinas Institute baseball team stormed the mound.
On that pile of dirt were 23 players, stacked on top of one other, hugging and screaming.
Next, they plopped down as one near home plate for the team photo. Make that photos, since seemingly every parent, sibling and friend had piled onto the field to join the celebration.
Then, the players and the AQ baseball entourage tromped out to the right-field fence to pose beneath the scoreboard for more photos.
After winning two games in a 41/2-hour span — a 4-1 semifinal victory over Mexico-Section III before the 3-1 title-game win over Clark High School of Westbury — the Little Irish savored every minute of the moment of the school's first state baseball championship.
"I can't think of anything better than this," senior center fielder Alan Komorowski said.
"This is mind-blowing," said Kelly, a junior left-hander who pitched a complete game. "I feel so good."
So did everyone else in the white and maroon of Aquinas.
Despite being given little respect in the state poll (ranked 15th) and overshadowed in Section V by four-time defending Class A champion Pittsford Sutherland, the Little Irish (23-5) proved they were best.
They marched through the sectionals, regional and state final four with a basic but hard-to-perfect recipe: timely hitting to produce critical runs but great pitching and defense to win games.
"That's been our M.O. all year," said Komorowski, who drove home the winning and insurance runs against Clark (Section VIII) with fourth- and sixth-inning singles.
From the sectional title game through Saturday's doubleheader at Broome Community College, the Irish outscored opponents 23-2.
"The Aquinas family definitely thought we could pull this off but I don't think anyone else did," junior third baseman Jalen Dennis said.
Junior right-hander Jed Lemen, the ace of the staff with a 10-1 record, was dominant against Mexico (21-8).
Against a team that was averaging 10 runs a game, Lemen allowed just four hits and the run was unearned, fooling Tigers hitters time after time with his skydiving curveball.
"My defense is so solid, I rely on them big-time," Lemen said.
Dennis doubled home two of the three Aquinas runs in the third inning, and Chris Bostick singled home Eric Knauf in the fourth for a 4-0 lead.
The Tigers produced a run in the fifth and, in the sixth, had a runner on second with two out when Jon Silva boomed a Lemen pitch to deep, deep center.
Somehow, Komorowski got back to make a diving catch.
"If that drops, it really puts us in a little bit of a pickle," Lemen said.
Said Komorowski: "That kid put a shot on it. I just planted my feet and hauled butt back to get it."
Against Clark — a school that won the 2002 and '05 state titles — Kelly was in charge. He escaped a one-walk, three-hit second inning by giving up just one run, then pitched five scoreless innings, allowing only one more hit.
"I was a little nervous," Kelly said of the second inning. "But I settled into a routine. I was just playing baseball again. It's a game, it's a baseball game, just have fun."
They all had fun not too much later. KEVINO@DemocratandChronicle.com
More pics, recaps of the season, and information about the team can be found on the AQ baseball website:http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=aquinasbaseball
Democrat and Chronicle
« View all news
|
|
|
|
|
|