Holy Cross nears first division title in 24 years

The last time Holy Cross won the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan division title Richard Nixon was in the Oval Office, the Knicks were legitimate title contenders and bell bottoms and platform shoes were in. That was 1972.
34 years later, history is close to repeating itself, as the Holy Cross baseball team’s magic number for clinching the division is just one, after they topped St. Edmund’s Prep last week.
“It means a lot of the sweat and a lot of teaching has finally come to fruition,” said Holy Cross Manager Doug Manfredonia, who was optimistic when the year began but did not think his team would be this good. “I knew we would have a chance to be near the top, maybe in the top two.”
The Knights (15-3, 12-2 CHSAA) have done it with all-around play, led by the two seniors, catcher George Carroll and shortstop Effrey Valdez. But it’s their surprising pitching staff that has carried them. There are no aces on the staff, but a solid bunch, led by Mark Villaro, Roger Pfeffer, Jonathan Costa, and Kevin Kilpatrick.
Meanwhile, after a slow start, St. Francis Prep (8-6, CHSAA) has reeled off five wins in their last six games, including a 6-2 triumph over Brooklyn-power Xaverian in their return to KeySpan Park.
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Perennially one of the city’s best teams, John Adams won a city championship in 1999 and has reached the PSAL final four three of the last four seasons. But this year, the Spartans have hit the skids, losing four straight, including a 2-1 loss Monday to Newtown, when the Pioneers’ Angel Seda two-hit them. At 8-7, John Adams now sits in sixth place in Queens A-West. Manager Glenn Beyer took much of the blame for the slide. “I’m the leader and I’m responsible for the team,” he said.
Still John Adams has lost to some of the city’s top pitchers, such as Long Island City’s Omar Velazquez and Grand Street Campus’s Dellin Betances. Even if the Spartans to drop their division finale to Newtown, they would still finish at .500, and PSAL commissioner Bob Pertsas would be hard-pressed to leave them out of the 32-team field.
Elsewhere, in Queens A-West, Grover Cleveland (9-6, Queens A-West) is probably back in the playoffs after a two-year hiatus on the strength of a nine-game winning streak, capped by an 11-5 thumping of Bryant Monday. Jose Castillo and Ramon DeJesus each drove in two runs and combined for seven hits.