Post 70 Advances to Sectionals with 4-3 Win

After Tuesday night's 14-2 beating of Milton in Game 1 of their best-of-three playoff series, Manager Paul Samargedlis said Milton was going to fight “tooth and nail” and that the series wasn’t over.

He was right.

Milton battled back with Willie Archibald to win Game 2, 5-3, but Norwood won the series clincher 4-3.

“They are the scariest 5th seed you could possibly have on your playoff ticket,” said Samargedlis.

The pitching match up between young high school pitchers Brendan Cathcart and Milton’s John Arens, was nothing less than spectacular as both pitchers showed great poise and presence on the mound in this pressure cooker battle.

Norwood did jump out in the first inning when Captain Sean Keady smacked a single and proceeded to steal both second and third base before scoring on a John Gorman RBI single.

Gorman once again presented a big problem to Milton pitchers as he went 3-3 on the day with a double and a pair of RBI’s.

After Milton got one back in the third on an RBI single by Josh Ellis, Gorman laced a double to the right-center field gap to score Chris O’Brien. Gorman then scored on a single by Brandon Davis to make it a 3-1 game.

Norwood added a crucial run in the fifth on an Anthony Perriello sacrifice fly that was the difference maker, to make it 4-2 Norwood.

Brendan Cathcart, who had pitched beautifully all night, went five innings, scattering five hits and striking out four Post 135 hitters and allowing all three runs.

“He was like that all year long," said Norwood pitching coach Joe Montesano. “He gives 5 or 6 every outing and he is calm and collective.”

Milton made a late run in the sixth when Willie Archibald hit a hopper to short that took a wicked bounce and shortstop Gorman couldn’t corral the ball. With the lead runner on third followed by a single by Connor Regan, Coach Samargedlis lifted Cathcart for Game 1 pitcher Sean O’Neil.

“I wanted to get a different look, he (O’Neil) still had a lot left,” said Samargedlis.

O’Neil was nothing short of brilliant as he got the next Milton hitter to hit into a crucial 6-4-3 double play. After a fly out to center field by the next Milton hitter, O’Neil was left with only three outs left in the seventh for the save.

Coach Montesano, talked about the double play ball after the win saying, “That was huge and keeping the ball down and mixing it up. His change-up was on.”

In the seventh O’Neil was able to strike out the first batter but hit the next Milton batter in the back, putting the tying run on first.

Probably the most unsung play of the game was when third base substitute Tyler Gover made a critical play in the field, getting the lead runner out at second on a tricky hop to third.

“Huge play off the bench,” said Montesano.

The play gave Norwood and O’Neil two outs with a man on first, and he capped the night off with his trademark strikeout for the series win.

“We hit as much as we had to,” said Samargedlis. “Beating them was an accomplishment.”

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