Baseball: Montini snags breakthrough victory vs. Grayslake Central
Montini needs new T-shirts.
After being stuck on five straight regional championships, the Broncos' baseball team continued its massive breakthrough with Monday's 10-0 five-inning victory over Grayslake Central in the Class 3A North Central College supersectional in Naperville.
Montini (21-11) played true to its motto of "Good to Great," a theme taken to heart with the program unable to push past the sectional in recent seasons. On the heels of two straight five-inning victories, the Broncos are headed to the state semifinals for the first time since 2005 to face Dixon, a 1-0 winner over Dunlap, at noon Friday at Joliet's Route 66 Stadium.
"I guess we got sick of our T-shirts saying 'regional' so we had to do something bigger this year," said Broncos sophomore outfielder Antoine Harris, who ended the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a two-out infield hit that scored Rocco Catalano. "This means so much. We worked long and hard hours to get to this point."
Montini, which won the St. Patrick sectional with Saturday's 11-1 five-inning win over Ridgewood, set a similar tone on Monday off Rams starter Kevin O'Brien when Harris legged out a triple in the bottom of the first and scored on a double play. The Broncos added 4 second-inning runs without a hit on Harris' bases-loaded walk, back-to-back sacrifice flies by Nate Kremkow and Michael Sclafani, and a first-and-third delayed double steal that drove in Harris.
"We wanted to be playing our best baseball right at this time of the year," said Broncos coach Rich Janor. "In a game like this you want to be putting pressure on the defense, and we were able to take advantage of our speed today. Solid effort all around."
The Broncos broke open the game in the fourth inning when Ryan Nelson lashed a bases-loaded line drive off the left-field fence that injured Rams left-fielder Nic Presutti, who exited the game after banging into the fence but returned to bat in the fifth inning. Nelson's inside-the-park grand slam put Montini safely ahead 9-0, allowing starting pitcher Michael Koszewski to cruise to the 5-inning 3-hitter.
"It's the most amazing feeling right now," Koszewski said. "Right now we're on top of the world. We just have to keep getting better and get ready for state."
Grayslake Central (28-8) had chances to chip away while the margin was still manageable. Koszewski, however, stranded Antonio Crews and Marcus Maristella at third base and the Rams failed to score with runners on second and third in the top of the fifth.
The Rams graduate 17 seniors after winning their third straight regional championship and first sectional title since 2014.
"It just wasn't our day," said Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen. "Unfortunately we just didn't get that key hit when we needed it. At the end of the day, these guys are high school kids. They've been great representation for the program and (the seniors are) going to be missed."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit