Alex Fiore (left) of CBA is greeted by teammate Colin Hoverter after hitting his 8th-inning home run.
By Sean Reilly
Alex Fiore made a trip to Diamond Nation on Tuesday afternoon that he’ll remember for the rest of his life.
Fiore was ninth batter and right fielder for Christian Brothers Academy, which visited ‘The Nation’ to face Immaculata in the semifinals of the NJSIAA South Jersey, Non-Public A tournament.
It almost ended in major disaster when he came to bat for the first time after Parker Hughes drew a leadoff walk in the third. Fiore squared to bunt, but the pitch caught him half on the left side of his face and half off the ear flap of his batting helmet.
He sprinted around the third base side of foul territory, partly in shock and also in pain. He nevertheless took his base and remained in the game.
The game was still scoreless when Immaculata had runners on second and third with two out in the bottom of the fifth. Owen Rivenbark of Immaculata hit a ball deep toward the right-field corner, but Fiore made a spectacular diving, sprawling catch near the foul pole to end the inning.
As notable as those plays were, as was a have-no-fear sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning after the prior scary at-bat, they couldn’t match what happened when he led off the top of the eighth inning of a still scoreless game.
After taking a curveball for a strike and then a fastball to even the count, the junior sent the next pitch, also a curveball, over the fence in left-center field for the first home run of his high school career.
The home run gave fifth-seeded Christian Brothers Academy a 1-0 lead and eventually the victory over top-seeded Immaculata.
“It was something I never experienced before,” Fiore said. “It feels absolutely amazing. It was the best game I ever played in my life.”
It was an incredible flip from what could have easily been a trip to the hospital about an hour earlier. Even after the game, he handled his post-game interviews holding a bag of ice against his left jaw.
Starter Cole Raymond allowed two hits over 6.1 scoreless innings for Immaculata.
“It hurt a lot,” he said. “It was weird. It was definitely a shock and kind of scary, but I knew I was fine once I started hopping along the third base line.”
The pitching on both sides was exceptional.
Dan Pardini started for CBA (18-8), and allowed three hits over 4⅔ innings, struck out six and walked, plus hit a batter. Pardini has now thrown 25⅔ consecutive innings without yielding an earned run.
He was relieved by Declan Doogan when Immaculata (22-6) had two men aboard with two out in the fifth. The first batter he faced was Rivenbark, who hit a 0-2 pitch deep to right, only to be caught by Fiore.
Doogan wound up throwing 3⅓ innings to earn the win. He allowed two hits, struck out one, walked one and hit two batters.
On the Immaculata side, Cole Raymond pitched 6⅓ scorless innings, allowing two hits, with four strikeouts, three walks and two hit batters.
Raymond was relieved by Bryson Auten with a runner on first with one out in the seventh. Auten’s first pitch resulted in a 6-4-3 double play.
Both teams also had several scoring chances. Christian Brothers left six men on base, while Immaculata stranded nine.
Immaculata almost won the game in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Labrador doubled to right field with two out, and Owen Schilling was intentionally walked. The runners advanced on a wild pitch before Doogan induced an inning-ending pop out to shortstop.
Dan Pardini, who pitched 4.2 scoreless innings, delivers pitch for Christian Brothers Academy.
Fiore then led off the eighth inning with the home run.
“He’s a hard-nosed kid,” said CBA coach Marty Kenney, Jr. “He’s the ninth batter, but he’s a sneaky kid. He’s got power.”
Immaculata had one last shot to at least extend the game in the bottom of the eighth. Nehemiah Diaz led off and was hit by a pitch for the third time in the game. The next batter bunted into a 5-4-3 double play, and Doogan got the next man to ground out to shortstop to end the game.
Luca Catanzarite, the leadoff man for Immaculata, went 2-for-4 and was the only player in the game to finish with multiple hits.
NOTES: Christian Brothers will travel to face second-seeded St. Augustine in the sectional final on Thursday. The Hermits used a walk-off grand slam from Alex Weingartner, the Gatorade State Player of the Year, with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh to beat third-seeded Red Bank Catholic, 7-4, in the other semifinal on Tuesday.
… CBA, which began the season losing three of four games on a trip to California, was 7-8 as late as May 1. The Lincroft team has gone 11-0 since, capturing the Shore Conference Tournament championship along the way. … Immaculata ended the year with 10 wins in its final 12 games. Its other loss in that streak was also a 1-0, eight-inning result, against Watchung Hills in the Somerset County Tournament final on May 22.