For Providence, Hitting is Contagious

It all seemed to happen so suddenly.

Providence left-hander pitcher Matt Trowbridge worked through an uneventful top of the first inning, walking one, but took care of business to allow the Celtics to take their first hacks at Downers Grove South's Matt Wivinis in a scoreless ballgame on Saturday.

Wivinis had no problem with Kevin DeFilippis and Joe Houlihan, the first two Celtics he faced, but then he made a mistake to No. 3 hitter Sam Travis and the Celtics suddenly were on their way to a 12-3 victory in the championship game of the Neuqua Valley Sectional.

Travis doesn't let you get away with mistakes.

He clobbered a solo home run to left-center field and it proved to be the beginning of a hitter's day for the Celtics on a warm and breezy morning in Naperville.

Travis' roundtripper was the first of three for the Celtics. As for hits, it was just the first of 16 for a Providence team that advanced to Monday night's Class 4A Champaign Supersectional. Next, the Celtics will face Edwardsville.

"We got to the park and the wind was blowing out and warm," Providence coach Mark Smith said. "It was a hitting day with the wind carrying out to right center."

Providence senior catcher Dan Potempa followed Travis' blast with a single. Then, Collin McEnery and Zak Kutsulis tacked on singles to put the Celtics ahead 2-0.

"The first kid in the lineup hits, and we all feed off of each other. That's what I love about this team," Potempa said. "We have a lot of faith in each other and it showed."

Downers Grove South pulled even at 2-2 in the top of the third, but it did little to change the momentum as the Celtics responded with a five-run inning.

Travis walked and Potempa (3-for-4, 4 RBIs) followed with a two-run home run. Then, McEnery walked and Kutsulis followed with a two-run long ball. Notice a trend here?

The two blasts pushed Providence ahead 6-2. The Celtics would extend their lead to 7-2 on back-to-back-to-back singles from Trowbridge, the winning pitcher, Dominic Olszta and DeFilippis.

"When we first got here, we saw the flag blowing out and Coach Smith said it was a hitter's day," Potempa said. "When coach says that, it drives us to get going and we usually do well."

Providence (35-3) went down in order in the fourth inning but came within a walk or hit, or anything really, of enforcing the 10-run rule in the fifth.

The Celtics strung together four straight hits from the bottom of the order to get the inning started. No. 7 hitter Dan Wetzel, Trowbridge, Olszta and DeFilippis all reached via base with Trowbridge hammering a double. Potempa added a two-run double in the inning and Wetzel walked to force home a run to put the Celtics ahead 12-3.

"We started off in the playoffs and weren't swinging as well as we could," Kutsulis said. "But we turned the corner today and started hacking."

Five different Celtics had at least two hits. Potempa and Trowbridge both had three hits to head the attack. Their efforts at the plate seemingly overshadowed the five strong innings pitched by Trowbridge.

"I've been fortunate to have him three years on varsity, and I enjoy watching him pitch every time," Smith said. "We always expect to win when he's on the mound and we've got a lot of confidence with him and (Brandon) Magallones and Collin (McEnery), who have been with us a long time.

"We're going to go as far as they'll take us."

Which is Champaign on Monday, and then hopefully back to Joliet on Friday and Saturday for the Class 4A state tournament at Silver Cross Field.