Cannella comes through for St. Viator
Cosimo Cannella came up to bat in the seventh inning looking for redemption Saturday.
Cannella got it, and now St. Viator’s baseball team is looking for its second straight regional title.
A one-out RBI single by Cannella in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the seventh-seeded Lions (21-13) a 7-6 victory over No. 11 host Highland Park in their Class 4A regional semifinal.
“It was an opportunity to redeem myself and I did,” Cannella said of not coming through in a couple of clutch, game-ending situations earlier this season.
This one put Viator into Monday’s 10 a.m. regional final against No. 15 Deerfield, which stunned No. 2 Stevenson 3-2 on Friday. It also came after Cannella grounded into a double play in the sixth and was hitless his first 3 at-bats.
But an infield single by Joe Rossi, a balk and Cory Kay’s sacrifice gave Cannella another shot and he lined a 2-1 fastball to left field.
“I was going up trying to hit the ball as hard as I could,” Cannella said. “After having a bad day I needed to step up.
“I don’t know what was wrong my first 3 at-bats but my head was kind of cluttered up. I came up to that last at-bat and everyone told me I looked more relaxed and I felt more relaxed.”
There wasn’t much relaxation time for the Lions after Highland Park broke a 2-2 tie with 3 runs in the top of the sixth. After Cannella’s double play in the bottom half, winning pitcher Chris Myjak doubled to right-center and Brian Pichardo and Kevin Patzke walked.
Kole Luthringshausen, who hit a 2-run homer in the second, delivered a 2-run single. He stole second and Brian Wilhite put Viator ahead with a 2-run single.
Luthringshausen and Wilhite both had 2 hits in the bottom two spots in the batting order.
“This year’s team has done a great job of battling back all year,” said Viator coach Mike Manno. “Our kids know they’re going to play until it’s over.
“I give a lot of credit to the kids for not giving up. It would have been easy to do when they were chasing.”
Highland Park tied the game on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the seventh but Viator continued to thrive in close encounters and won for the 12th time in 16 games.
“Everything is starting to click and everyone is doing their job,” Cannella said.