By Joseph Staszewski
Anthony Catinella took the mound knowing full well he had a chance to dominate. Things just felt so right for the Archbishop Molloy righty while warming up that he had little doubt.
“When I came out of the bullpen I felt good and everything was working so I came out here with that confidence,” Catinella said.
He proceeded to be sensational for the Stanners baseball team during an important 2-1 win over visiting St. Francis Prep Monday afternoon in a battle for first place in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens division.
Catinella held SFP to just three hits, struck out four and allowed just seven base runners. The Terriers’ only run came on an RBI ground out by Jordan Santiago in the fourth inning after a catcher’s interference call negated a double play.
Second-year Molloy Coach Brad Lyons expected nothing less from Catinella.
“He’s pretty much been that way all season for us,” Lyons said. ‘He’s been great for us. You could see early, he was going to be pretty good for us today.”
Catinella needed to be.
St. Francis Prep starter Dylan Lawrence surrendered only two first-inning runs and just two of the Stanners’ six hits came after the opening frame. Lawrence said he had to get over some first-inning nerves before he settled down. He threw just 75 pitches in the old-fashioned pitchers duel.
“You know that you have to work hard with every pitch you throw,” Catinella said.
The Stanners understood early runs would be important in a tight game, and manufactured two in the opening inning. Nick Morici singled to get the frame started. He was bunted over by Liam Slattery and moved to third on a wild pitch.
Karl Klesin’s RBI ground-out brought Slattery home for the first run. Chris McGee then doubled deep into the right centerfield gap and came home on a run-scoring single by Virgilio Jimenez to make it 2-0.
“We know when we face a good pitcher, we need to get runs anyway possible,” Jimenez said.
Molloy took advantage of St. Francis Prep mistakes on the bases. Connor Magee was thrown out at home trying to score on a wild pitch in the first inning, Alex Villano was picked off third base in the third inning when Sean Cunningham did not get a bunt down and Matt Buete was picked off first after being hit by a pitch to start the fifth. SFP had runners on first and second with no outs in the fourth, but scored just the one run.
“It drains the momentum,” Lawrence said of the outs on the bases. “It gives the momentum back to them. There were times where they gave us momentum, too, and we just didn’t capitalize.”
Molloy (6-1), on the other hand, seized its opportunity to move into sole possession of first place in the division after falling 3-1 last week to last year’s winner Xaverian (5-2) in the completion of a suspended game. Molloy saw the game against the Terriers (5-2) as a near must-win if it wanted to control its own destiny.
“It’s huge because we know we are in first place and everyone is looking up to us,” Catinella said.
