Red Bank Catholic Advances To Shore Conference Tournament Final

Photo above: Casey first baseman Mike Veit

RED BANK – Red Bank Catholic’s late-season surge continued into Thursday night at Count Basie Field as the Caseys won their ninth game in a row narrowly getting past Toms River South 3-2 to advance to the Shore Conference Tournament final Sunday at First Energy Park in Lakewood at 7 p.m.

The No. 4 seed Caseys took advantage of a defensive lapse by top-seeded Toms River South to break a seventh inning, 2-2 tie, and junior starting pitcher Austin Nappi finished off a complete game in the bottom half of the inning for his tenth win of the season against only one defeat.

Senior first baseman Mike Veit popped up a two-out high fly-ball into shallow centerfield that looked like a catchable ball to end the inning, but a miscommunication between shortstop Tom Campo and centerfielder Dylan Danelson resulted in Danelson losing the ball in the twilight sky before it landed behind him.

Sophomore David Glancy, who worked a one-out walk and stole second base, was running on the play with two outs and easily scored the go-ahead run.

“You got to be lucky and good, right, figure it out,” Red Bank Catholic head coach Buddy Hausmann said of the play.

“While I’ve been here we don’t ever start slow,” Hausmann, whose team started 4-4 this season, added. “We started 18-1 and went 4-7 down the stretch last year and it’s like we’ve had these seasons where we’ve crashed and burned at the end, so maybe starting slow was good for us because we’ve been finding ways to win ever since.”

The Caseys have not lost a game outside the Class B North all season with all seven of their losses coming within the division including its last loss way back on May 5 – a 3-2 defeat to Middletown North. Red Bank Catholic’s (21-7) current nine-game winning streak began the next game with a 10-3 victory over Freehold to win the Monmouth County Tournament championship.

Red Bank Catholic was holding on to a 2-1 lead entering the bottom of the sixth when Nappi momentarily lost command of the game surrendering back-to-back ground-rule doubles that bounced over the wall in almost the exact same place at the 370 mark in centerfield.

With the go-ahead run now on second base, Nappi bore down and got the next two batters to ground out to third baseman Anthony DeRosa, who flawlessly fielded and fired to first for the final outs of the inning.

“I was really frustrated; in the bottom of the sixth I made two big mistakes,” Nappi said. “I obviously blew the lead and the team bailed me out. I tried to keep us in the game the best I can and they came through for me and that’s what this team does. I couldn’t be happier with these guys.”

Nappi retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh before T.J. Scuderi, who started the game and was the hard luck loser on the mound, drilled a two-out single into center and immediately stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position.

The side-arming Nappi then got two quick strikes on senior Matt Shiffer to move the count to 0-and-2 before inducing a game-ending 5-3 ground out that DeRosa tracked down on the infield grass and put a little extra on the throw to just nip Shiffer at first.

“I was thinking when Brian (catcher Brian Sheehy) was calling pitches I’m throwing fastball no matter what.” Nappi said. “He’d been swinging aggressively at the ball all day and I thought he was going to roll over on something so I threw a sinker down, he rolled over on it and Anthony made an awesome play.”

On Veit’s go-ahead hit, it originally looked as though Campo had a beat on it but he backed off the ball at the last minute realizing he couldn’t get to it. That appeared to throw off Danelson, who gave a quick look at Campo before losing the ball and over running it enough for the ball to drop just over his head.

“I was watching the shortstop drift back and I thought it had a chance of falling,” Veit said. “When you see that you’re just hoping it finds grass. After they scored we were just trying to get one across, scratching and clawing to get one anyway you can. We wanted to go out on top on our own field and for us seniors this is our last game ever here.”

The Caseys took a quick 1-0 lead on a unearned run in the top of the first on an errant pickoff attempt at first base that scored Veit, who led off the game with an infield single, from third base.

The Indians tied it an inning later when Campo destroyed a Nappi fastball sending a towering drive over the left field wall. Senior Justin Fall had opened the inning with a line single to left but was erased on a 1-3 double play on a liner back to Nappi.

Glancy put the Caseys up 2-1 with a two-out RBI double into the left-centerfield gap scoring courtesy runner Alijah Ally from second base. Glancy played a terrific all-around game by going 1-for-2 with a double, walk, two stolen bases, a run scored and an RBI. He also robbed TRS first baseman Matt Fitzpatrick of an extra base hit in the third inning with a sensational running catch in right center that he made look easy.

The decision by Hausmann to pitch Nappi Thursday night as opposed to last Tuesday’s NJSIAA Non-Public South A quarterfinal-round win against Notre Dame or the Non-Public South A semifinal game today (Friday) at St. Augustine was a calculated risk but it proved to be the right one.

“This was kind of what we decided as to what we were going to do. We just said, ‘He’s going (Thursday night),’ Hausmann said. “If we can pull it out (Friday) he’s ready for Tuesday (in the Non-Public A South championship game). You have to take it one game at a time. At this point they’re all important games.”

Freshman John Nimeth will probably get the start Friday according to Hausmann with sophomore Vincent Bianchi scheduled for Sunday’s SCT final and junior Blaze Panzini ineligible having pitched and won on Tuesday.

Scuderi definitely pitched well enough to earn a win and it was a tough way for the Indians to end the season. The senior righty went seven innings allowing three runs (two earned), five hits and walked two batters while striking out 12 batters on a 104 pitches.

Nappi was equally impressive giving up two runs in seven innings on nine hits without a walk while striking out three on just 91 pitches.

“He’s our guy,” Veit said. “He’s tough; he’s really tough. He’s a younger guy but he really steps up. It’s pretty awesome, he competes with anyone and he’s our bulldog.”

Veit finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

“The intensity is high in these types of games,” Veit said. “The tournament and playoffs, that’s what matters to us. You look out in the outfield and see those championship signs and we want to leave a legacy and that’s something we really pride ourselves on.”

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