Rotondo, Supp Home Runs Lead Red Bank Catholic To Monmouth County Tournament Championship

Above Photos courtesy of Tom Smith: 2017 MCT champs, jubilant Caseys after final out, Rotondo rounding the bases after homer and Nappi on the mound

LAKEWOOD – JonMichael Rotondo helped third-seeded Red Bank Catholic erase the memories of its 4-0 shutout loss to Christian Brothers Academy and Luca Dalatri in last year’s Monmouth County Tournament final launching a two-run, first innning home run in Tuesday night’s Monmouth County Tournament championship game at First Energy Park - home of the Blue Claws - in Lakewood.

Rotondo’s long-ball capped a four-run Red Bank Catholic first inning triggering a 10-3 win over No. 5 seed Freehold for its first Monmouth County Tournament championship since 2013 and second title in six MCT final appearances. The Caseys (13-6) were playing in the MCT final for the fifth time in seven years.

Freehold (13-6) was seeking its first ever MCT title in its second championship game since 1990.

Rotondo’s blast, off a first-pitch fast ball that Freehold starter Tom Holdorf left over the plate, sailed over the left field wall and halfway up the grassy knoll behind it for a major league-worthy homer in a major league ball park.

“It was a fastball right down the middle,” Rotondo said. “Once it hit the bat, I didn’t even feel it come off, so I knew it was gone.”

Two innings later after Freehold had closed to within one, 4-3, on a Holdorf two-run double off the base of the wall in right and an RBI single by Nick Aiello, senior second baseman, Aiden Supp, duplicated Rotondo’s mammoth shot with a towering first-pitch homer that easily cleared the wall in left for a 5-3 lead.

“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Supp said of his approach at the plate. “The first pitch was a fastball and I was looking fastball and I got a hold of it. As soon as I hit it I knew it was going to go out. I put the hand up running around the bases, turned to Haus (Red Bank Catholic coach Buddy Hausmann) when I hit third and said, ‘I told you it was gone; I knew it.’”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen two balls go out here,” said Hausmann in awe of Rotondo’s and Supp’s bombs. “We talked before the game how Holdorf liked to throw a lot of first-pitch fastballs and fastballs, period.”

Senior Mike Veit led off the bottom of the first with a sinking line-drive single to center before No. 2 batter Aaron Ahn reached on an error by shortstop Chris Cassandra on what looked like a perfect double-play ball.

A sacrifice fly by senior Anthony DeRosa moved Veit to third before Ahn stole second putting runners in scoring position on second and third with two outs after Holdorf got Supp on strikes.

Senior catcher Brian Sheehy then sent a high pop to the first base side of the infield that got lost in the wind and was misplayed into a two-run single with the next pitch of the game being Rotondo’s homer.

After allowing the three runs in the third, RBC starter, senior Austin Nappi, wiggled out of a jam in the fourth getting second baseman Mark Costanzo to fly out to right with runners on second and third. Nappi was eligible to throw 72 pitches after throwing 68 in Saturday’s semifinal win but was finished after throwing 65 pitches through four innings.

Sophomore Vin Bianchi came in for Nappi in the top of the fifth and finished the job with relative ease except for a little wildness in the top of the sixth. He walked two batters setting up a showdown with Holdorf, who represented the go-ahead run at the plate with runners at first and second.

Holdorf worked the count full before lofting a long fly ball to right for the second out of the inning with the runner at second tagging and going to third. Bianchi then induced a tapper in front of plate to get out of the inning with the score still 5-3.

“It was a good at bat at both ends,” Hausmann said of the battle between Holforf and Bianchi. “Holdorf was getting good swings and Vin just kept challenging him. He showed a lot of courage in that spot.”

Bianchi tossed three complete shutout innings giving up one hit and three walks while striking out four on 53 pitches to pick up the save and Nappi allowed three runs on six hits, without walking a batter and struck out one while picking up his sixth win of the season.

In the bottom half of the sixth, the Caseys broke the game wide open scoring five time to take a 10-3 lead.

Sheehy walked leading off the sixth and with two outs right fielder Dave Glancy singled home pinch runner Elijah Ally for the sixth run before an error on a grounder by Connor Caizza scored Glancy when third baseman Matt Granato’s throw to first sailed into the stands for a 7-3 lead.

Veit then brought Caizza home with an RBI single through the 5-6 hole for the eighth run before Ahn drilled a double into the left-centerfield gap scoring Veit for the ninth run. Ahn then scored on Freeholds third error of the inning to make it 10-3.

“We wanted to stay focused; we wanted it (the title) really, really bad,” said Supp. “It meant a lot, the last three years have been brutal. Being here every year almost, competing, getting our butts kicked. We really, really wanted this year like I said. But in the end, we came, we conquered and finally got the championship back where we wanted it to be.”

“I’ve been on the other side of this the last couple of years and so have a few of these guys,” Hausmann said. “It’s much better being on this side and I’m glad they get a chance to enjoy this.”

Nappi was named the tournament MVP while Veit was named the game MVP going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

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