Neumann-Goretti rolls into state baseball final

ALLENTOWN - A repeat trip to the PIAA Class AA state championship game was nowhere in sight for Neumann-Goretti when it dropped five of seven games to start the season.

"We had six guys in the lineup that had never started a varsity game before this year," manager Kevin Schneider said. "We knew there were going to be some growing pains. We believed in the kids enough that they would figure things out."

The young and once-downtrodden Saints rebounded, surprisingly captured the Catholic League title as the No. 5 seed, and are again on the cusp of earning statewide glory for the first time.

Jeff Ciocco fired a two-hitter with seven strikeouts as N-G ousted District 11's North Schuylkill, 3-0, in a semifinal contest Monday afternoon at Parkland High.

After losing by 9-0 to Neshannock in last year's final, the Saints will get a shot at redemption when they take on District 6's Bishop McCort for top honors at 11 a.m. Thursday at Penn State's Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

"Unfinished business, that's what it is," senior centerfielder and leadoff man Brian Verratti said matter-of-factly.

Riding the arms of Ciocco and fellow senior righthander Ethan Pritchett, who will take a 5-2 record into the final, N-G (18-6) has won 12 straight and 14 of the last 15.

On only 26 pitches, Ciocco mowed down the North Schuylkill order in 1-2-3 fashion in the first three innings. "It definitely saved my arm, kept my energy up," he said.

Ciocco, who is 8-1 with 59 whiffs in 641/3 innings, mixed a fastball, curveball, and change-up. He fired 92 pitches, with 62 for strikes.

"I knew this was going to be the last start of my high school career, so I had to bring everything I had to the table," the Western Kentucky recruit said.

The Saints gained a 1-0 advantage in the home third on R.J. McGettigan's leadoff single to right field, Ciocco's sacrifice bunt, and Verratti's RBI double to left-center.

The Spartans (21-5) loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but Ciocco, recovering from a walk and a hit batsman, escaped by drawing a routine liner to McGettigan in left. "I like to keep things interesting," Ciocco said with a laugh.

N-G added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom half. Aidan Baur's two-out double to left plated Colin Eiser (leadoff single) and Lou Testa knocked in Baur with a tough-hop single over first base.

North Schuylkill 000 000 0 - 0 2 0

Neumann-Goretti 001 002 x - 3 6 1

WP: Jeff Ciocco. LP: Bob Grigas. 2B: NS-Scott Grigas; NG-Brian Verratti, Aidan Baur.