Catholic League rallies to beat Chester County in Carpenter Cup quarterfinals

ALLENTOWN - As he trotted out for the start of the ninth inning Saturday, Catholic League leftfielder Shane Williams had a friendly exchange with the third-base umpire, a longtime acquaintance.

Williams: "We're coming back. We're going to win."

Ump: "Oh, you are?"

Williams: "Yeah, did you hear what happened against Delco?"

Ump: "I did."

Williams: "Same thing's gonna happen."

Only time will tell whether Williams, a 6-1, 185-pound sophomore at St. Joseph's Prep, is the heir apparent to Sylvia Browne (or would even want to be), but he made a spot-on prediction and, even better, helped to assure its validity.

CL 9, Chester County 8. In 11 innings.

That was the final result in a stirring Carpenter Cup Classic quarterfinal at Coca-Cola Park, and it meant the CL guys would be enjoying a venue promotion from AAA to the bigs: Today's 1 p.m. semifinal vs. Burlington County (N.J.) will be played at Citizens Bank Park.

"That game against Delaware County gave us a lot of confidence," Williams said. "I knew we were going to do it again."

Hoped or knew?

"Knew," he beamed.

To backtrack: In that first-round game Wednesday, the CL trailed, 4-2, and was one out from elimination when Colin Pyne (La Salle) lashed a two-run single and never stopped running due to a three-base error.

This time, again with two away and with Mike "Zoom" Zolk (Ss. Neumann-Goretti) and Corey Baiada (La Salle) on third and second, respectively, having drawn matching full-count walks before advancing on a fly ball by Joe Forcellini (La Salle), Williams created hysteria by sending a looping, two-run single to right-center.

He wasn't done, folks. Wasn't just getting started, either.

The lefty swinger, a fourth-inning replacement, went 4-for-4 with three RBI - single to left in the sixth, RBI double to left center in the seventh (as the CL posted a four-spot to begin the scramble-back from an 8-2 deficit), aforementioned two-run single in the ninth, and a single to left in the 11th.

That frame got life on a one-out error on Baiada's groundball. Forcellini bunted him to second, but Williams' hit could only advance him to third. No matter. Though seemingly buried at 0-2, Jimmy Kerrigan (N-G), a righthanded hitter, inside-outed a single to right, thus setting off yet another wild celebration.

"I look for the same thing every pitch - fastball. And he threw me one," Kerrigan said. "Actually, I thought I'd get a curve there. I just tried to shorten up."

Of his ninth-inning memory-maker, Williams said, "It was a fastball middle-in. I wasn't quite quick enough on it, so he got it in on my hands. But when I saw it going over the second baseman's head . . . I had a feeling it was going to drop."

Williams, who also plays football (and formerly played basketball), has experienced quite the baseball season. Somehow, though he was almost exclusively the Hawks' designated hitter, the Wallingford resident earned first-team coaches' All-Catholic honors as an outfielder.

"Being a sophomore, I wasn't sure how much I'd even play," he said. "I just hoped I could show the coaches something with my hitting. I had a pretty good feeling when I tried out for this team, but then you think, 'Maybe they'll just keep the older kids.' I wound up being the only sophomore. I'm thankful for that."

When asked whether he'd enjoyed any similarly strong performances during his Prep season, Williams noted, "Well, I did go 4-for-4 against Roman, but nothing competes with this."

The CL experienced a strange occurrence in the very first inning as Mike McLaughlin (Father Judge) managed a two-run infield single. Zolk (double for two) and Forcellini (single for one) drove home the other runs in the seventh. Forcellini and Kyle Gillen (SJ Prep) halved four hits. And please don't overlook the shutout pitching over the last six innings, three apiece, by righthanders Matt Petrizzi (Conwell-Egan, five strikeouts) and Sean McCloskey (Archbishop Wood, no hits).

Meanwhile, before lashing any of his hits, Williams drew attention for providing comic relief.

In the sixth inning, wearing No. 1, Phoenixville's Jack Ashburn (yes, Richie's grandson) lofted a fly ball down the leftfield line. Williams zigged, zagged, semicircled and, oops, came nowhere close to the ball, let alone catch it.

After the game, with the CL players seated in the stands down the rightfield line, coach Lou Spadaccini (N-G) drew major laughter by telling Williams, "You looked like a ballerina out there. That was scary."

"I thought it was a lot more shallow. It wasn't," Williams said, smiling. "I just misjudged it . . . Hey, I was a DH most of the year."