Baseball is a game of inches.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Just ask No. 1 Chatham High School (N.J.), as a South Plainfield baseball just landed fair, right inside the rightfield line, and went for a two-run double, snapping a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh. The Tigers (17-11) rode that huge hit and the arm of senior Aiden McCarthy, who fired a wonderful complete game, to a 4-2 victory over the Cougars in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 playoffs semifinals Wednesday at Chatham High School Field.
After two players (junior Drew Speace and sophomore Owen Young) were out due to injury and illness, respectively, senior Ryan Bailey filled in and came up clutch twice for the Cougars, head coach Todd Leathers noted, adding that his boys played their hearts out in the affair as well as all season long.
“These guys had such a great season; losing stinks,” Leathers said. “But they battled, and we had a lot of positive things. (I) couldn’t ask anything more from the seniors. Ryan Bailey hasn’t got to play a lot late in the season, and what does he do today? Gets an opportunity and gets three hits and two RBI. That’s what leaders do, that’s what seniors do. He did exactly what we knew he could do. I couldn’t have been happier for him, in a big spot.”
Fourth-seeded South Plainfield touched up Chatham senior starting pitcher Justin Zigon in the top of the first inning. But he clamped down and limited the damage to just two runs across 3.2 innings of work, much to what his coach has been accustomed to seeing from him during his high sc high career.
“He did exactly what he has done all year, what we expect him to do,” he said. “He found a way to battle through it and allowed us to stay in the game. He did a great job.”
Chatham (20-7) got one back after Bailey singled home a runner from second base to slice the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth frame.
Bailey, who collected three hits in the game, came though again, knocking in another runner to knot the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, junior Jack Hadzima could not hold the Tigers after pitching solid in relief, as South Plainfield ousted Chatham from the postseason.
Zigon threw 71 gutsy pitches, surrendering two runs, one of which was earned, with three strikeouts, three hits, two walks, and a hit batsman in his outing.
Senior Dalton Loftin went 1-3 with a run scored, while sophomore Tommy Sciacchitano scored the other run. Senior Caden Gabriele, who is committed to Division I Bucknell for football, tossed 0.2 innings of scoreless ball with two Ks.
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— Jerry Del Priore