Kaneland downs Marmion for sectional crown
Leading off from first base in a 3-3 game when Bobby Thorson launched a drive to deep right field, Joe Camiliere put his head down and took off at full speed knowing he represented the go-ahead run in Saturday’s Class 3A Rochelle sectional championship game.
Rounding second base Camiliere heard a noise that told him he could ease up a little. Then he looked up and saw his coach Brian Aversa at third base and knew everything was good.
“As soon as he hit it, once it was over his (right fielder Mike Pipp’s) head I took off and I could just tell from the fans it was gone,” Camiliere said. “That and coach Aversa jumping up and down at third base. That’s usually the indicator it’s out.”
Aversa had plenty of company jumping up and down, the large contingent of Kaneland fans joining him as Thorson’s 2-run home run gave the Knights the lead for good in their 6-3 championship game victory over Marmion.
Now with the first sectional title in school history to go with the first regional championship they won a week before, the Knights (23-10) advance to Monday’s 5 p.m. Class 3A supersectional at Augustana College against Peoria Notre Dame, a 4-1 winner Saturday over Washington.
Kaneland’s power ball wound up prevailing over the Cadets’ small ball. Thorson’s homer was one of three extra-base hits for Kaneland, who outhit Marmion 10-3.
But the Cadets stayed in the game, tying it at 3-3 on a double steal by Connor Riley and A.J. Friedman to cap a 2-run fourth inning and putting the pressure back on the Knights heading to the fifth.
Camiliere started the winning rally with a single after the senior leader helped keep morale up between innings.
“I just kept saying we’re going to get some more runs,” Camiliere said. “I felt we were hitting the ball pretty good. I think we all felt confident. We all had a positive approach, we’re not done, we’re going to get some more runs. Right away we responded with that home run.”
Thorson’s homer, his eighth of the year, came on a 0-1 change-up out over the plate. He hit it to the opposite field, just like he did in the seventh inning of Wednesday’s sectional semifinal win.
“We were trying to pitch him in because the scouting report says he likes to hit everything the other way,” Marmion catcher Kyle Kozak said. “We left it out a little bit and he took it the other way.”
Marmion coach Dave Rakow removed starter Tyler Friel (3-4) after Thorson’s homer. Junior Chris Simon came in and held Marmion to 1 run over the final 3 innings, giving the Cadets a chance to come back.
The Cadets put baserunners on in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings but never scored, first against Thorson and then against reliever Drew Peters in the sixth and seventh innings.
Kaneland shortstop Kyle Davidson turned a 6-3 double play to end the sixth after Marmion had runners at first and second with 1 out.
Davidson then caught two straight balls to start the seventh before making a 2-out error to give Marmion one last chance. But Kaneland’s Brian Dixon charged and threw out Kozak on a slow roller to second base to set off Kaneland’s celebration.
“We knew we had a special team here,” Thorson said. “The goal was a regional championship but we knew we could go further. After the regional we weren’t satisfied. We knew we could get more.”
Thorson gave Kaneland a 1-0 lead in the first when he doubled in Camiliere who had drawn a 2-out walk.
Camiliere’s double to deep right scored Davidson to make it 2-0 Kaneland in the third inning before the Cadets got a run back in their half. Simon, who was a last-minute add to the lineup for Travis Siwiec (sick), led off with a double down the first-base line, moved to third on Pipp’s fly ball and scored on Mitch Sterne’s groundout to short.
A 2-out RBI single between third base and shortstop by Tyler Heinle in the fourth — one of three clutch 2-out RBI hits by the Knights along with Thorson and Corey Landers — put Kaneland back up by two runs in the fourth.
Marmion tied the game in its half of the fourth. Tim Tarter singled and Friedman walked. Friel’s line RBI single to right cut the deficit to 3-2, and Marmion made it 3-3 when Riley and Friedman pulled off a double steal with Friedman scoring on the play.
To Kaneland’s credit, said Kozak, the Knights immediately got momentum back on their side in the fifth.
“You have to give those guys credit,” Kozak said. “We came back and tied it, a lot of teams would get down at that point. They stayed up, they came back. When you have a team that puts up runs every single inning that’s hard.”
Thorson got the win, battling through his 5 innings to improve to 6-3.
“Mental toughness is a huge part of playing the game of baseball,” Thorson said. “Things can be going really badly one second and you can turn it around in an instant. It’s just the nature of the game. That’s why you have to be mentally tough.”
For a school that had never won a regional until last week, Kaneland is a confident bunch heading to Rock Island Monday.
“We’ve all played together since travel ball since sixth grade,” Davidson said. “We know what we are capable of.”
“It’s unbelievable,” Camiliere added. “We just kind of got rolling and put things together. We’ve been playing great baseball. Great pitching, great defense, timely hitting, that’s what wins these games.”
Aversa also credited the team’s nonconference schedule for helping them win when it counts. Kaneland has won 10 straight games starting by beating Morris in its conference finale to tie for the Northern Illinois Big 12 title.
“After the way we played on our spring trip against New Trier, absolutely (I thought we could win a sectional),” said Aversa, who sent his freshman coaches to scout Peoria Notre Dame Saturday. “We knew we’re going to take our lumps. We made our schedule hard this year and it’s paying off.”
Marmion closes its season at 21-9 with consecutive regional and conference championships.
“I don’t think we played a bad game,” Marmion coach Dave Rakow said. “Kaneland just outplayed us today. If you played those guys 10 times, we probably split 5 and 5. Those are evenly matched teams.”