Blown chances doom Stanners in final

Six times Molloy faced elimination this post-season, and on each occasion, the Stanners received clutch hitting and stellar pitching to advance. In the CHSAA city championship Saturday, June 10th at Fordham University, they got the hurling, but their bats failed them as they left the bases loaded twice. That, more than anything else, doomed Molloy as they fell to LaSalle, 4-2. It was the first baseball title for the Cardinals since 1960.
LaSalle (15-9) earned their reputation of giant-killers by defeating top-ranked Farrell, unbeaten during the post-season, McClancy and Holy Cross. Andrew Varella cemented that status by pitching six innings of one-hit ball while striking out 10. It didn’t come without a fair share of anxiety though Varella walked the bases loaded in the sixth, but whiffed clean-up hitter Ariel Amory and Greg Conway before inducing a groundout from Andrew Lontos. “I just blocked out the crowd and the feeling and concentrated on the hitters,” Varella said.
In the seventh, Varella was relieved by ace Gabriel Duran when Molloy loaded the bases again. Joe Silvestri, the Georgetown-bound shortstop, knocked in their first run with a single and Amory walked to force in another. However, with the tying runs in scoring position, Duran struck out Conway to end the threat.
“Two chances we had the bases loaded, we didn’t get the big hit with nobody out, myself included,” a disappointed Dennis O’Grady said of the pivotal inning. “If we got that one big hit that could fall in the gap, it would let everybody run loose around the bases, but we didn’t get that tonight.”
Pitching for Molloy (18-8), O’Grady was stellar in his own right, allowing just four hits in a complete-game effort. He matched Varella pitch for pitch until the fifth, when the game’s momentum turned.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the decisive frame, Matthew Arvelo singled up the middle to score two runs, and Varella helped his own cause with an opposite field, run-scoring single. Anthony Carnacchio’s throwing error allowed Arvelo to score the Cardinals fourth run.