Van Allen gets clutch save as Holy Trinity wins NSCHSAA title

Coming into pressure situations with the game on the line is something to which Richard Van Allen III is accustomed. The 6-6 Holy Trinity righthander had converted six saves, but nailing down No. 7 was going to be an arduous task against St. John the Baptist Monday.

With his team leading by three runs, Holy Trinity starter Alexander Robinson issued two walks to start the bottom of the seventh, and Van Allen was brought in. He allowed an RBI single to Marc Torres, who took second on the throw to third. That gave St. John the Baptist runners on second and third with none out.

"It's nerve-wracking," Van Allen said. "Your heart's racing, everyone's cheering, the blow horns are going off, but once you get settled in and you throw those first few strikes, it's all [good] from there."

It certainly was. Van Allen got a strikeout, a lineout to leftfield and a flyout to centerfield as top-seeded Holy Trinity won the NSCHSAA championship with a 3-1 victory over No. 2 St. John the Baptist at New York Tech. Holy Trinity (20-6) swept the best-of-three series.

Van Allen was named the most valuable player of the championship series. He won Game 1 with a 1-2-3 seventh, went 2-for-4 with two RBIs in that game and was 1-for-3 Monday.

"I just wanted to throw strikes," he said. "That's it. I felt bad for my boy Alex. He pitched a great game. I think he got a little tired and I needed to help him out a little bit."

Robinson, a sophomore lefthander, had his no-hit bid ended in the fifth inning on a one-out infield single by Joshua Sharpe. He allowed three hits, walked five - one intentional - and struck out 10 in six innings-plus.

SEE PHOTOSHoly Trinity 3, St. John the Baptist 1

"The adrenaline was pumping through me," Robinson said of the two walks in the seventh. "I wanted that really bad. It just got away."

But Robinson kept the Titans in the game. He worked through a few jams, with the biggest coming in the sixth, when St. John the Baptist (17-8) loaded the bases with one out. Robinson got a pop-up to second base and a strikeout to escape unscathed.

"He's young, but he's tough," said Holy Trinity third baseman Anthony Brunetti, who was named the CHSAA Player of the Year. "He got into some jams but he got himself out of them. He's a great pitcher."

The game was scoreless until the seventh. St. John starter Thomas O'Neill allowed only three hits and struck out nine through six innings before running into trouble. Kevin Fearon singled with one out and pinch runner Joseph Asaro stole second and scored on an error for a 1-0 lead. Peter August tripled home Joseph DeVito and scored on a throwing error on the same play.

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August had struck out looking in each of his three previous three at-bats. "The first three at-bats, I was thinking too much," he said. "I was a little nervous because it was a championship game. The last at-bat, I knew it was going to be my last at-bat of my high school season, so I went up and swung."

That hit helped the Titans win their first championship since 2003.

"I almost forgot the feeling," Holy Trinity coach Bob Malandro said, "but you never forget it. To beat that team and sweep the playoffs isn't an easy feat. They're a very good team. We're a tough team. Special teams come along once in a while, and this team is special."