Par Hills Upends Par High for Mayor's Cup

The baseball team, led by sophomore pitcher Brandon Katzenberger, reclaimed the Mayor’s Cup by beating crosstown rival 6-2, in a Monday evening game played at Jannarone Park.

It’s the sixth time in the seven-year history of the rivalry that the Cup claims the Hills as its home.

The Vikings (8-10) didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard, scoring a run in the bottom of the first inning. Katzenberger doubled to right-center field, moved to third on a passed ball and scored when C.J. Joyce hit a fielder’s choice to short.

Par Hills added another run in the third. Again, Katzenberger was the spark who got things started by getting hit by a pitch to start the inning. A steal, a dropped third strike and an overthrow to first and Katzenberger crossed the plate again.

Parsippany right fielder Kyle Jones highlighted the inning for the Red Hawks (5-11) with a spectacular diving catch. He added another outstanding catch in the fourth inning. With the infield drawn in, Jones ran down a pop fly all the way from deep right field to just beyond the infield dirt near first base. But, the Vikings did add another run in that inning, making the score 3-0.

The Red Hawks added another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Peter Milevski walked, stole second, went to third on a bad throw and scored when Tyler Simms singled to right field. Simms came around to score after Andrew Cupo walked, Kire Milevski bunted safe and Mike Comerford singled deepto left field.

In the top of the seventh, walks to Nick Leitner and David Samuel, a single by Ryan Ruggiero and an overthrow to home led to the Red Hawks' first run. A wild pitch allowed Samuel to score.

Katzenberger got the win for the Vikings pitching 6 and 1/3 innings, walking 3, striking out 10, giving up 5 hits and two earned runs.

Sagar Patel took the loss for Parsippany. He walked three and struck out two. The Red Hawks committed five errors.

“We gave them runs,” said Parsippany coach Kevin Dobkin. “Take away a couple of errors and it’s a ballgame. We were ready for good pitching and we saw it. We just didn’t get key hits. We were one hit away from making it a game.”

“This game begins and ends with Katzenberger,” said Parsippany Hills coach Ray Santana. “Far and away, he has been our best pitcher this year. He started this game with a 1.3 ERA and he leads the team in strike outs with 26 in 27 innings pitched.”