3rd Annual Southside Conference Challenge action

By Drake Skleba

CRESTWOOD - With Celtic teammates on first and second in the top of the seventh of a 1-1 battle with Benet Academy, Providence senior C Dan Potempa strolled to the plate. In the nightcap of the 3rd Annual Southside Conference Challenge, played  at Standard Bank Stadium, home of the Windy City Thunderbolts, Potempa ripped a rocket to left field, scoring junior Zak Kutsulis with the lead run and vaulted the top-ranked Celtics to a 3-1 thrilling victory.

?I hadn?t had a good day at the plate,? said Potempa. ?I just wanted to get the ball in play and get on base. I was fortunate to hit the ball hard and drive in the lead run.?

Providence would tack on another run in the seventh on a ground-out by 1B Collin McEnery to score fellow Indiana University-bound 3B Sam Travis, who had walked.

With the win, the top-ranked team in Illinois and the 18th-ranked team in the country improved to 9-0. With the win Central Michigan-bound LHP Matt Trowbridge improves to 2-0 on the mound. Trowbridge struck out 11 and allowed a run and two hits in his masterful 112-pitch, six inning performance. Trowbridge walked nine Benet batters.

?I am not happy about all the walks, but it doesn?t matter because I have great teammmates,? said Trowbridge. ? My defense was great and I knew our offense would come back and we would win the game.?

The game was a terrific pitchers? duel between Trowbridge and Benet junior LHP
Chris Sanderson. Benet (5-5)  scored the first run of the game when Trowbridge walked Redwing catcher Matt Dorsett with the bases loaded. Nick Moore (2-for-4), who had led off the inning with a single, scored the lone Redwing tally.

Sanderson took a no-hitter into the Celtic fifth.  Notre Dame-bound 2B Kevin DeFilippis with one out, walked. With two out, Travis crushed a Sanderson pitch for a double, scoring DeFilippis and tied things at 1-1. Potempa singled, McEnery walked and LF Nick Gould crushed a Sanderson pitch down the left-field line but was robbed by a circus-running catch by Benet LF Zac Lewinsky.

?We really battled to the end,? said Travis. ?We are all really focused on this team and we work hard through the whole game which allows us to repeatedly win close games. I was just looking for a pitch to hit and I was able to hit the ball hard on the game-tying double.?

Benet?s Sanderson was magnificent, pitching five innings, allowing one run and three hits. The junior lefty struck out six and walked six. Sanderson was replaced by Redwing reliever Jim Lynch after giving up a leadoff single to Central Michigan-bound SS Joe Houlihan (1-for-1; 2 BB) in the top of the sixth.

Celtic senior Dan Wetzel replaced Trowbridge in the bottom of the seventh and fired a scoreless inning to record the save. After two outs and a walk, Houlihan robbed Lynch with a beautiful 6-3 play to end this battle.

?This was a great baseball game,? said Providence head coach Mark Smith. ?The key play in the game was the big double by Sam Travis. The Sanderson kid had us concerned since we haven?t trailed too often this year. Sam?s hit restored our confidence. Matt (Trowbridge) is a great competitor. He threw 112 pitches and still wanted to go out there in the seventh. Dan Potempa came up with the big clutch hit for us in the seventh. It was great to have Joe (Houlihan) back from injury. What a great play he made at short to end the game.?

The win put the Chicago Catholic League up two games to one over the East Suburban Catholic League in this best of seven series for conference bragging rights. Four more games Sunday starting at 10 a.m.

10 a.m. - St. Ignatius vs. St. Patrick
1 pm -  St. Rita vs. Notre Dame
4 pm -   St. Laurence vs. Joliet Catholic Academy
7 pm -  Mt. Carmel vs. Marist (Hosts)

In other games at Crestwood:

Marian Catholic 14, De La Salle 10
In the opening game of the 3rd Annual Southside Challenge, Marian Catholic (9-2) scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth to hand De La Salle (8-1)  its first loss of the season. Marian Catholic junior Brett Lilek, the No. 1-ranked player in the Class of 2012, drove home five Spartan runs. In the big eight-run sixth, Lilek hammered a bases-clearing double to pull the Spartans within 10-9.

?I knew we could come back,? said Lilek. ?I was seeing the ball really well. I was really pumped in the seventh to finish up the game on the mound.?

Spartan senior 2B Joe Leppellere singled home the tying run, his second single of the game.

?It was good to come back today,? said Leppellere. ?I failed to get the bunt down and then just concentrated on getting the ball in play.?

Spartan senior RF Richie Cervantes followed with another clutch RBI single and the Spartans were ahead 11-10.

?We kept our composure and we were never down,? said Cervantes. ? I hit the ball really well on the game-wining hit. We are really happy about the 9-2 start and hope we can continue to play great baseball.?

Leadoff-man  Robert Cifelli iced the game with a booming bases-clearing double, his second hit and second, third and fourth RBI of the game.

?This is huge for us on the big stage here,? said Marian Catholic head coach Phil Wail. ?This was a big win for our conference the East Suburban Catholic League.
Brett (Lilek) just has to keep it simple and had the big double for us. He?s a tremendous talent and sometimes tries to do too much. He came in the seventh and threw strikes for us. When he throws strike he is almost unhittable.?

De La Salle was led by its senior catcher Mike Munizzi, who had a perfect 3-for-3  day with three  RBI. Marian Catholic SS Bryan Munoz chipped in with three hits and an RBI.

Brother Rice 8, Carmel 4
Brother Rice (3-5) evened up the Southside Challenge by defeating Carmel 8-4. Arizona recruit junior RHP Ryan Koziol (2-0) fired six strong innings, allowing two runs and three hits to pick up the win on the mound. Koziol added a pair of doubles and an RBI for the Crusaders.

?I threw strikes. I really wanted to win tonight and break our three-game losing streak,? said Koziol, who?s the No. 2-ranked player in the Class of 2012. ?I really love hitting and did a good job at the plate. I pitched pretty well but left a couple of pitches up late in the game.?

The Crusaders scored six times in the second inning, highlighted by a three-run double by junior 2B Brian McQuillan. Koziol doubled in a run and junior 3B Mike Yacko singled home the final Crusader tally of the inning.

?We played well and Ryan (Koziol) pitched well for us,? said McQuillan. ?We needed a big hit in the second and I was happy to provide it for the team.?

Crusader C Connor Sullivan opened the inning with a booming triple and doubled in a run in the fourth.

?We scored early and late to get this big win,? said Sullivan. ? i was seeing the ball really well tonight. I really hit the ball hard . Ryan (Koziol) pitched a phenomenal game for us. We really reach a higher level whenever Ryan pitches.?

Carmel (3-5) was led by seniors, LF Brian Serio and senior RF Timmy Hendricks. Serio had two hits and an RBI and Henricks tripled home a Corsair run and had two hits.

?It?s never easy,? said Brother Rice first-year coach Dan Szmergalski. ?The kids played well today and Ryan Koziol pitched an outstanding game for us. We really needed that six-run second. We have had a rough stretch and it was good to get the big lead.?