Larry's nonsense, stuff & other stuff!!!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Tribstar's view on Regional win CC vs Rockville!!!

LAFAYETTE — If Rockville’s high school baseball players had been able to plan their trip to the Class A Lafayette Central Catholic Regional on Saturday, none of what actually occurred would have been on their lists.

The host Knights, ranked third in the state and sectional winners over top-ranked Frontier, took advantage of some shaky play by the Rox in the first inning, did some long-ball hitting in the second frame and added insult to insult in an 11-run fifth inning for an 18-0 win in the second semifinal game on Saturday.

Scarier than that outcome? The potential of the championship game later Saturday night, when the Knights faced Seton Catholic.

“They’re a great team,” Rockville senior Tyler Bradburn said of the Knights afterward. “They have a great shot at going to state [finals]. They had great hitters, a pretty good pitcher and a good defense behind him.”

Coach Bob Kyle of the Rox — who missed all but the first inning and a half — wasn’t in the mood to be quite as kind to the Knights afterward.

“They’re good,” he admitted. “They hit the ball on the button and we didn’t.”

Having the regional at LCC — where the Knights can display four Class A state championship banners, including the last two and three of the last four — provided the host team with an advantage, Kyle felt.

“It’s a situation where you hope your kids can rise above [the intimidation factor], and we didn’t do that,” Kyle said.

And the Knights’ demonstrative celebrations didn’t sit well with the old-school Rockville coach either, which is why his time in the dugout was shortened.

Visiting team on the scoreboard because of the tournament draw, the Knights got on the board quickly in the top of the first inning.

Leadoff batter Nick Stone — at about 6-foot-3 and maybe 215 pounds the biggest player to bat in the regional so far, although not the biggest of the Knights — singled up the middle and scored when Jake Churchill’s line drive got past a diving Rox outfielder for an RBI double. The Rox lost an infield popup in the high sky and wind, Ryan DeBoy singled for a second run, and two more came in when a line drive was dropped in the outfield.

“Everything fell apart early,” Kyle said later.

“I missed my spots, and [the Knights] took advantage,” added starting pitcher Zac Kempf.

With one out in the second inning, Stone reached on a bad-hop single and Churchill and Austin Munn followed with back-to-back homers.

Kyle visited Kempf on the mound and pointed out loudly that one of the Knights had taunted his pitcher during his home run trot. The next pitch hit DeBoy in the back, Kyle was ejected and both benches were warned about future retaliation.

With LCC’s Brett Haan — about 6-5, with a 90-mile-per-hour fastball — dealing on the mound, that was probably all the runs the host team needed. An infield single by Nate Fisher was all the Rox could muster, although when Derek Gregg was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fourth inning the many Rockville fans wondered — loudly — why Haan got to stay in the game.

And in the top of the fifth, the Knights added their extra runs, including three more home run celebrations.

Disappointing as the day turned out to be, though, the three Rockville seniors — two of whom also had their basketball seasons end at the semistate in Lafayette back in March — were emphatic that it didn’t mar their season.

“My senior year has been awesome,” Kempf said. “This was my second regional appearance [of the year]. We had an up and down [baseball] season, but in the end we came through. We knocked out our No. 1 rival, [Class A’s] No. 4 Riverton Parke, in the sectional, and we got where we wanted to be.”

“It’s been awesome,” agreed first baseman Tyler Cooper. “We started off rough [this spring], but in the end we came through. It was fun; we had a great senior year and we’ve got a great team behind us.”

“It’s been amazing,” said Bradburn. “Basketball, baseball … it’s been one of the most memorable years of my life, and I’m grateful for every moment.”

Seton Catholic, a school with fewer than 75 students, got the benefit of eight errors by Wes-Del to win Saturday’s regional opener 11-1 and took a 14-12 record into the championship contest.