For Aiden Plick and the rest of the 2020 Cranford graduates, this hastily arranged but remarkably coordinated summer tournament was the last hoorah with longtime teammates that the coronavirus had stolen from them this past spring.
“As soon as we knew we would be playing here, we knew we were in to win it,” Plick said.
For Ryan Jaros and some of the other younger Cougars, it was an opportunity for the precocious rising sophomore to acquire some valuable lessons from the guys he has been looking up to throughout his childhood, and also to show college scouts and opposing teams that the talent pool has hardly run dry in this Union County town.
And for rising junior Joe Carea, this three-week event was a chance for Cranford to flaunt an incredibly deep and talented pitching staff for any high school group, let alone a Group 3 public school.
With its well-balanced and often devastating lineup, Cranford once again was able to supply pretty much all critical elements of the game with equal force as it rolled to a 12-2 victory in five innings over Jackson Memorial for the Last Dance World Series championship Friday night at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton.
“We were very fortunate to be able to play good basbeball throughout this tournament,” head coach Dennis McCaffery said. “We pitched it, we defended it and we were able to have hitting. You do those three areas, you have a shot to win.”
The Cougars built a 4-0 lead in the top of the first and then busted the game wide open with an eight-run third inning highlighted by a three-run double from Jaros. Plick doubled and scored in that frame after singling in a run in the first.
“This means everything,” the Scranton University-bound Plick said after he went 2 for 2 and scored three runs in his final game representing the Cougars. “To be able to have this last chance at it, to be able to come back together to play was just tremendous.”
Cranford won this battle as they had almost every other LDWS game to finish undefeated and send many opposing pitchers with sore arms and necks.
In its final three games, which included victories over non-public powers Don Bosco Prep and Bergen Catholic, Cranford pushed across 34 runs in just 18 innings and quality pitching to boot. Carea, pitching his second LDWS game, allowed four hits, struck out three and walked five, including three in the bottom of the fifth when Jackson Memorial scored its runs.
“I got a little tired, a little fatigued, but I just had to keep persevering,” Carea said. “Jackson is a very good hitting team, so I knew I had to throw off-speed to keep them off balance.”
When he did labor a bit in the hit after sitting so many long offensive innings, Carea found renewed strength in the advice and support from some of the Cougars’ other arms, like rising junior righty Will Gallagher, who tossed three complete games in the LDWS.
“I’m there supporting them when they’re pitching, and they were all with me the whole ride tonight,” Carea said. “I started walking a few kids later in the game, and they had my back the whole time, supporting me, cheering me on, letting me know I could do this.”
Along with moral and technical support from the bench, Carea also benefitted from an offense that worked the counts, ran the bases well and delivered timely hits up and down the lineup. Carea also got a 6-4-3 double play (Gallagher to Jake DeClerico to Plick) to end the third inning and an outstanding over-the-shoulder by DeClerico in shallow right field to end the third.
Jackson Memorial pinch-hitter Matt Feld stroked a two-run single in the fifth to score Christian Pellone and Ryan Lasko after they walked back-to-back with two outs. Andrew Sefick, Carmine Petosa and Tom Cartnick had the other hits or Jackson. Lasko made a brilliant diving catch on Mike Murphy’s sacrifice fly for Cranford’s first run of the third inning.
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Mike Kinney may be reached at mkinney@njadvancemedia.com.
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