By Russ Waterman
MaxPreps.com
Bishop Hendricken had to dig deep and rely on its overall depth to finally dash the hopes of LaSalle Academy, 12-10, and win the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Division I baseball championship at McCoy Stadium.
The Hawks (22-2), who depended on strong pitching, defense and timely hitting throughout the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs, depended much more on their bats in their final three victories. By giving up 27 runs in the final three championship series games, Hendricken had to score more and they did, 44 in all.
It was the Hawks' eighth title in the past 15 years under coach Ed Holloway.
La Salle, an eight seed, had emerged as the tourney's giant-killer after eliminating top-seeded Portsmouth and two-time defending state champ Cranston West.
But in what would be the Rams' final game and their fourth in five days, they fell once again to the Hawks in the championship series
Still, the Rams (17-8), trailing 12-6 in the seventh in the finale, almost mounted an improbable comeback. With the Rams scoring four runs in the seventh inning and with the bases still loaded, Hendricken reliever Nick Fontaine came in to strike out the last batter and save the game.
The Hawks, sparked by its tourney MVP, shortstop Dan Gamache, had dealt Cranston West a blow, when his walk-off homer gave Hendricken a 12-11 win in a wild second game that sent Cranston West to the loser's bracket and left the Hawks waiting as the only remaining unbeaten team in the championship series.
But in the championship game, Hendricken relied on less-heralded players to come up with some of the biggest plays.
Angelo St. Laurent, who took over at first base for Chris Costatino when the hard-hitting first baseman was injured, hit a two-run homer. Left fielder Tyler Brennan snared a ball heading over the 325-foot fence to take a potential three-run homer away from the Rams' Rob Giacomo (who had clubbed a 410-foot two-run homer in the fourth) to end a LaSalle threat with two runners on in the sixth.
Baseball Notes
* In the Division II championship, North Smithfield scored five runs in the fourth inning and added seven more in the sixth for an 18-7 victory over the Prout School to capture its first state baseball title. The Northmen (19-6) were seeded fourth in the tournament and Prout (19-7), also seeking its first state crown, was a two seed.
* Ryan Westmoreland of Portsmouth was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the fifth round (172nd overall) in the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound senior, who throws right and bats left and usually played the outfield or pitched, was the first New England high school player selected in this year's draft.
For his career, Westmoreland batted .449, stole 46 bases in 49 attempts, had a 24-0 pitching record with a 0.78 earned run average, and struck out 277 batters in 165 innings. Having made a verbal commitment to attend Vanderbilt University, Westmoreland must now make a choice between going to college or accepting an offer to join the Red Sox' organization.
Boys Lacrosse
North Kingstown captured its second RIIL Division I lacrosse championship in three years at Rhode Island College last Sunday, winning by 13-10 against LaSalle Academy.
After losing twice to Hendricken in the regular season and once to LaSalle, the Skippers (13-3) won three straight playoff games, first against Providence County Day, then over Hendricken and finally over the Rams to complete their successful title run.
"We learned from our first loss to LaSalle how to apply a little more pressure on their leading scorer (Craig O'Donnell) and elsewhere," said coach John Holmes. "We also took possession of the ball and took good shots."
LaSalle struck first with two quick scores in the finale but after North Kingstown countered with six straight goals, the Skippers would maintain at least a three-goal margin the rest of the way.
Dan Ballou, MVP of the final game, scored four goals and had four assists while teammates Greg Fallon (three goals, five assists) and Ben Sternberg (three goals) also paced the Skippers.
For LaSalle, Brendan Rabideau had three goals and two assists and O'Donnell and Andrew Messner each contributed two goals.
Holmes, who has been at the Skippers' helm since the team's start in 2000, called his group of 11 seniors, 10 juniors and two sophomores "a mature team.
"This team has a lot of talent from the ball-handling and stick-handling perspective but it was our group of seniors who worked with the rest of the team and brought them in to work as a unit and be patient that made us so successful."
Among the seniors he praised for their leadership and excellence was Fallon, Matt Maroney, Brad Peterson and Riley O'Brien. Goalie Matt Lamendola was credited with 10 saves, but he could have easily shared the MVP trophy for this game because nearly every shot he turned aside was a gem.
"He has really come in the last two to three weeks," said Holmes.
The coach also cited the play of midfielders Ben Nadeau, Tom Green and Ballou ("He really fell into place as our high scorer the last two weeks," said Holmes) along with Dave Dilustro, Dan Page, Sternberg, Zach Wilmont, Sean Read and Ben Schmidt.
Assistants Brian Trapani, who works as the goalie coach, and Chris Callahan are both helicopter pilots in the Air National Guard and were also instrumental in the team's success.
Sternberg and Fallon were recently named U.S. Lacrosse All-Americans, the first All-American lacrosse players ever from North Kingstown, according to Holmes.
Meanwhile, top seed Prout won the Division 1A boys lacrosse title, 11-5, over third-seeded Narragansett. Narragansett had reached the final with a 10-9 upset of second-seeded Wheeler.
In Division II, Mt. St. Charles upset top seed Middletown, 12-6, to capture the state championship.
Russ Waterman covers Massachusetts and Rhode Island for Maxpreps. He may be reached at rwathoop3@aol.com
