St. Charles East stuns Libertyville with 6-run seventh
St. Charles East senior shortstop Jimmy Dale made the most of his second chance Monday in the opening game of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic state tournament at North Central College.
Trailing Libertyville 7-5 in the top of the seventh inning, Dale took a 2-strike pitch on the corner from reliever Riley Gowens that had Dale - and everyone rooting for the Saints - holding their breath.
"I watched a really close one," Dale said. "I looked down at coach (Len) Asquini and he was smiling. I just got lucky. Next one he threw outside corner and I just tried to take it the other way and I hit it down the line."
Dale's 2-run double to right field tied the game at 7. Moments later Dale scored on a Libertyville error to cap quite a comeback for the Saints, who trailed 7-2 with one out and nobody on in the seventh before their 6-run rally gave them an 8-7 victory.
"I did not like how we played most of the game but the last two innings we were better at the plate," Asquini said. "We swung the bats more aggressively like we wanted to do something with the ball. And we got a couple breaks. Wonderful job of our guys staying in it and getting on base."
St. Charles East (28-7) will play Benet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Benedictine University. As long as the Saints don't lose twice Tuesday, they will reach the state semifinals Wednesday night.
It didn't look good early. Libertyville knocked Saints starter Jon Recchia out in the second inning, stringing together 6 singles to take a 5-0 lead.
Tim Calamari, who finished 4-for-4 with 3 RBI, drove in 2 runs with a single to left. Luke Plunkett, Brian Murphy and Ben Kimpler all had run-scoring singles.
Lefthander Niko Klebosits relieved Recchia and kept the Saints in the game, striking out 5 and walking none over the next 4 2/3 innings and allowing only 1 earned run, that on another Calamari RBI single in the sixth.
"My goodness he was tough out there," Asquini said. "He was super. He did exactly what we asked him to do."
The Saints couldn't get much going against the 6-foot-6 Kimpler, scoring once in the third on Dale's RBI single and another single run in the sixth when John Dellostritto doubled and later scored on Anthony Adduci's groundout.
Trailing 7-2 in the top of the seventh, Thomas Adams started the comeback by blasting his fourth home run of the summer over the left-field fence.
"I was just trying to put the bat on the ball and it just went," Adams said. "I hate losing so I wanted to get something going. I wanted to win that game. We wanted to get a little revenge at them (after losing in the 2013 spring and summer state tournaments)."
"There was a little bit of a spark there," Asquini said. "Never give up attitude."
Corbin Marucco and Steve Podany drew walks and Klebosits reached on a bloop single to load the bases and knock Kimpler (6 1/3 innings, 6 hits, 3 strikeouts) out of the game.
After Dellostritto walked to force in a run, a wild pitch plated another and brought the Saints within 7-5, setting up Dale for his game-tying 2-run double.
Adduci was hit by a pitch and the runners moved to second and third on Austin Gift's groundout. The Wildcats looked like they would get out of the inning tied 7-7, but their first baseman dropped a throw after a ground ball to second base that would have been the third out, and Dale scored on the play.
The Saints scored their 6 runs in the seventh on just 3 hits, capitalizing on 3 walks, a hit batter and error.
"We have to be able to throw strikes at that point of the game and make them earn what they are going to get," Libertyville coach Jim Schurr said. "We can't put guys on base. We can't bring a relief pitcher in and walk a guy on four pitches."
Podany came in for the save in the bottom of the seventh. He stranded the tying run at third when third baseman Adams charged a dribbler and threw wide to first, but first baseman Aiden Wright came off the bag to catch the throw and tag the runner for the final out.
"Thomas led off with that bomb and it just got us going," Dale said. "Once the dugout gets going, got momentum, even going out the last inning in the field we felt more confident."