Fearon lifts Holy Trinity to 1-0 series lead

With two strikeouts and a groundout, Kevin Fearon was having a rough day at the plate. But when he stepped up with two runners on and one out in a tie game in the bottom of the seventh inning Sunday, the Holy Trinity senior had a chance to turn things around.

The Titans are an aggressive team, so a squeeze play was possible. Sending the runner from first base and forcing the defense to make a decision was an alternative.

Instead, Fearon was given the chance to swing away - and he delivered, ripping a line-drive single to leftfield to drive in pinch runner Joseph Asaro. His walk-off hit gave top-seeded Holy Trinity a 5-4 win over No. 2 St. John the Baptist in Game 1 of the best-of-three NSCHSAA championship series at NYIT.

Game 2 is at 11 a.m. Monday, with Game 3, if necessary, to follow.

Fearon has been in and out of the starting lineup but has started in each playoff game. "I was struggling all game with the bat," he said. "If they were going to throw me a strike, I needed to swing the bat and give us a chance to win. He threw me a strike and I ripped it into left."

"If he squeezed and misses it, too many bad things can happen," Holy Trinity coach Bob Malandro said. "He's a senior, so I let him do the job. He's been coming on lately. He's a tough kid and he showed something today."

Holy Trinity (19-6) displayed great patience in the final three innings, drawing five walks. Javier Rodriguez drew his third walk to lead off the bottom of the seventh and Asaro ran for him. Sachin Kirtane squared around for the sacrifice before Asaro stole second base. Kirtane then walked and Richard Van Allen III hit into a forceout at second before Fearon won it.

Holy Trinity began a two-out rally in the fifth with two walks, and a double steal put both runners in scoring position before Van Allen's two-run single gave the Titans a 4-3 lead. SJB answered in the sixth when Jonathan Tenaglia led off with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out single by Brian Hunter.

Van Allen, a closer with six saves, needed only eight pitches in a 1-2-3 seventh and got the win. "I've been coming into tight games all season," said the 6-6 righthander. "I just wanted to throw strikes."

SJB (17-7) took a 1-0 lead in the first and the Titans went ahead 2-1 in the third on an RBI single by Anthony Brunetti and a sacrifice fly by starting pitcher Maximo Almonte. SJB took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on four consecutive two-out singles, with Anthony McQuade and Joseph DiGiaimo picking up RBIs. But it wasn't enough, and Fearon couldn't have been happier.

"It's a relief," he said. "Now I know we only have to win one."