Baseball: Dixon can't cool off red-hot Montini
Pitching always matters in baseball, but sometimes it matters just a little less.
Montini kept swinging hot bats while advancing to the Class 3A title game with Friday's 5-1 victory over Dixon in their semifinal matchup at Joliet's DuPage Medical Group Field.
In search of the program's first state title, the Broncos (22-11) will play St. Laurence (35-5), an 8-2 winner over Waterloo, at 11 a.m. Saturday in Joliet. Montini fell to the Vikings 15-12 in a nine-inning Chicago Catholic League crossover in April.
"We've tried to play the best schedule we possibly could," said Montini coach Rich Janor. "There's obviously great pitchers in this tournament, but it's nothing we haven't seen throughout the season. On Day One we prepare to face an ace pitcher. That's how we prepare our hitters, and obviously we expect to see a good arm from St. Laurence (on Saturday)."
Dixon (26-5) starting pitcher Payton Lawrence entered the game with a 10-0 record, 103 strikeouts and a 1.37 ERA, but the Broncos touched him for 9 hits and all 5 runs. That came on the heels of consecutive five-inning, 10-run victories as Montini won its first sectional and supersectional since 2005.
No matter who's on the mound, the Broncos are thriving on the challenge.
"We knew it was going to be a battle," said Montini senior Ryan Nelson, who went 2-for-3. "We knew we had to put the ball in play to win the game. We couldn't rely on freebies."
Montini starter Michael Sclafani quietly put together a dominant complete-game outing. Lawrence struck out 10 and seemed to get stronger as the game progressed, but Sclafani was masterful while striking out seven, walking two and scattering 5 hits in front of an errorless defense.
The junior right-hander allowed a run in the top of the first inning on an RBI groundout by Isaic Sanchez, but that was it. Only one other runner made it past second base against Sclafani, who reached his pitch-count limit of 115 on the game's final batter.
"You don't know how bad I wanted to finish that," Sclafani said. "It happened a couple times this year where I got a little rocky in the seventh inning. I wasn't going to let it happen this time."
After quickly falling behind 1-0, Montini just as quickly claimed the lead on Nelson's 2-run double in the bottom of the first. Nelson later scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1.
The lead grew to 4-1 in the third inning when Michael Koszewski scored on a first-and-third double steal. Estevan Moreno scored the fifth run on a sixth-inning wild pitch.
"We had big games circled on our schedule," Nelson said. "To come here and win this game, it's unreal."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit