Rosen's fly is the difference as Calhoun wins Class AA crown

When the ball left the bat of Calhoun's Robbie Rosen, it appeared that MacArthur would still leave the bottom of the sixth inning with the lead yesterday. Rosen came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs and the ball had a lot of hang time as it headed toward shallow left-centerfield.

"I was thinking hopefully it would drop in," Rosen said. "When I saw everyone converging I thought it had a good chance. It was definitely a catchable ball, but I placed it well. You need some breaks, but we got some key hits."

The ball went off an outfielder's glove and the play was scored an error and three runs scored as the hustling Jake Thomas scored from first base to cap an eight-run inning and give No. 2 Calhoun an 8-7 win over No. 1 MacArthur to win the Nassau Class AA championship at Farmingdale State. Calhoun (20-5), which trailed 7-0 going into the inning, swept the best-of-three series.

Calhoun will play Lindenhurst for the L.I. Class AA championship at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Farmingdale State.

"I had all but abandoned hope," Ryan Kass said. "It was so improbable that we won."

MacArthur starter Josh Barry allowed four hits through five scoreless innings and pitched to 10 batters in the sixth before leaving with the bases loaded ahead 7-5. Andrew Mege came into to face Rosen. Two of the eight runs were earned as MacArthur (20-5) committed two errors in the inning.

Frank Trimarco and Zach Goldstein each had RBI singles and Kass hit a two-run single with two outs to bring Calhoun within 7-5.

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"We have had quite a few comebacks this year," Calhoun coach Joe Corea said. "We almost expect it from our team. They don't give up. We got lucky. The breaks went our way and we got hot at the right time."

Reliever Joey Saladino came into the game in the fifth inning and allowed two runs before retiring the final seven for the win.

"It's an unbelievable win," Rosen said. "We fought back and caught a lucky break at the end."