By Rich Bevensee
Hard to believe someone could pitch like Michael Castagno did Sunday night after not having picked up a baseball in close to five months.
Yet there he was, holding the Slim’s Chance Bulldogs lineup to a single base hit over six innings in a championship game and basically looking like a pitcher who had not missed a day of training.
Fueled by Castagno’s improbable return to the mound, Power Pitching and Hitting Blue capped its fall season with a 9-1 victory and the Monster Mash 17/18U Wood Bat title on Sunday at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
“Coach called at 5 p.m. today and said, ‘Do you want to pitch for me?’ and I said, ‘When and where?’ ” Castagno said. “I always feel I can throw strikes. It’s like second nature to me.”
It bears repeating that Castagno had not touched a baseball in nearly five months – 143 days to be exact. On June 5, he threw 10 pitches in one-third of an inning of relief for South Plainfield and recorded the final out in a 5-4 win over Colonia in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 2, Group 3 championship game.
That was the last time Castagno threw a baseball – until Sunday.
And this is who Intili, an assistant coach at Division 2 Georgian Court University in Lakewood, chose to pitch in a championship game.
To the uninformed, Intili acknowledged that his decision may have appeared to border on ridiculous. Castagno’s performance made people forget about the decision and shake their heads in amazement.
The 5-7, 150-pound righty allowed one unearned run on one hit and no walks and he struck out seven. It was a masterpiece.
“If I were anyone else who didn’t know him, I’d be stunned, too,” Intili said. “But that’s Michael. It does blow my mind and it doesn’t, because I’ve gotten so used to it. You know exactly what you’re going to get every time he steps on the field. He’s pretty incredible.”
It’s not like Castagno was an afterthought on the South Plainfield bench. As a senior he pitched to a 3.65 ERA over 38.1 innings with 24 strikeouts against 13 walks.
But since last spring when Castagno graduated from South Plainfield, he’s been making deliveries for an auto parts store and, in his own words, “sitting around watching football.”
Attending a trade school is a possibility, but college is not in his plans, and neither was baseball until Intili called.
“Honestly I just wanted to forget about it, just drop it,” Castagno said about baseball. “But when Coach called, I wanted to play. I’m a little surprised by tonight, but I’m pretty confident with what I got. I threw mostly fastballs, a few curveballs, maybe one changeup. I haven’t thrown a curveball in I don’t know how long. Everything hurts.”
How do his teammates explain Castagno’s ability to bounce off the couch and throw a one-hitter against a team of varsity high school ballplayers? The tournament’s Most Valuable Player, PPH shortstop Julian Satterthwaite, who’s known Castagno since their Little League days, had an answer.
Tournament MVP and PPH shortstop Julian Satterthwaite went 3-for-3 with two RBI in the final.
“He’s Mike Cool. He has no high or low,” Satterthwaite said. “Michael is the most mentally strong person I know. He’s just a dog. It’s insane. It’s what I love about him. Mentally he’s just perfect. There is no one I know more mentally locked in than him.”
Intili was going on reputation as much as he was on Castagno’s resilience when he took the mound.
“Michael helped put our 17U team on the map,” Intili said. “For the 2025 class, he was the guy. We built around him. So we said, today, let’s finish it out with Old Reliable. Michael is always down to pitch.”
Castagno received help from the PPH bats as much as he did from the Slim’s Chance defense, which allowed three unearned runs and allowed PPH to take a 4-1 lead through four innings.
Satterthwaite was the hitting star, going 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI, including the game-ending RBI single in the bottom of the sixth which capped a five-run rally and brought about the eight-run mercy rule.
Next fall Satterthwaite will join Intili at Georgian Court.
“Julian is just clutch,” Intili said. “He always finds a way on base, it’s timely hitting, he steals bases, always creates chaos, and he locks it down at shortstop.”
“I learned so much from Dan and the coaching staff,” Satterthwaite said. “They helped me so much throughout the whole process. They made me the player I am today. It’s such an honor just to be here.”
Also for PPH, which draws most of its players from Middlesex County, Matt Levitt had two hits and two RBI and Jon Nugent had an RBI single.
Garrett Bohn had the sole base hit for Slim’s Chance, based in Bear, Delaware. Carter Bean struck out 12 in his five innings pitched. He allowed four runs, one earned, on three hits and four walks. Kaden Wyatt pitched the sixth and allowed five runs on five hits and three walks.