By Patrick McCormack
Archbishop Molloy fell a few wins short of the CHSAA Intersectional Class AA baseball title last season. The team wants to write a different ending for itself this time around.
“I think the goal is always win the championship,” second-year Stanners Coach Brad Lyons said. “Win the Brooklyn/Queens and then win the cities.”
This will be a challenging task for the Stanners, who lost four key players in Donovan Armas, Chris Piteo, Greg Boyle and Danny Giatan. Three of those four are currently playing at Division I colleges.
During early season scrimmages, Lyons has seen this year’s seniors looking to fill in for those losses.
“We have had a bunch of scrimmages, and we have played pretty well so far,” Lyons said. “We are a senior-heavy team, so we rely on those guys for their leadership. I think we’ll have a pretty good year.”
He said senior right fielder Karl Keslin, pitcher Anthony Cantinella and John Young, a first baseman and pitcher, are key to this season’s squad. Cantinella took the mound for the Stanners’ first league game and gave up one unearned and struck out two in four innings of work against division rival Xaverian.
The game was suspended due to rain with the score tied 1-1 after six innings. Young, who Lyons said has “surprised” him, also pitched against the Clippers, striking out three batters and not allowing a run in two innings.
“I thought all three pitchers who pitched today threw the ball pretty well,” Lyons said of his players’ performances.
Young also showed what he could do at the plate when he drilled an RBI triple to deep center field, scoring Keslin, who led off the inning with a single, to tie the game at 1-1. Young has a simple approach at the dish and on the mound, but he showed how effective it can be when executed properly.
“Just make contact with the ball and get it in play to get the guy over or in,” Young said. “They’re a good team. They fought off pitches, but I just tried to throw strikes and not let anybody on base.”
Through the first game of the season, Lyons saw the Stanners holding their own with a top team in the league.
“It is always a close one-run game whenever we play,” Lyons said. “We took advantage of some of their mistakes and they took advantage of some of our mistakes.”
Make no mistake, however, about what Molloy’s final goal is this season.
“We want to win a city championship,” Lyons said.
