Cardinal Newman Earns District Win Over St. Andrews

Photo Gallery

The Cardinal Newman Crusaders evened their district record following a big 12-1 win at St. Andrew’s on Monday afternoon. Newman (2-5) improved to 2-2 in 4A-6 in a game that was called after five innings, with starting pitcher Luke Simpson going the distance for the complete-game victory.

“We have been working on our approaches at the plate. We did a better job of getting into hitters counts and today it payed off for us,” Cardinal Newman Manager Pudge Poston said. “Luke did a great job for us on the mound, especially considering we have three games this week. So his ability to finish it out really can help later this week.”

Simpson took the mound for the Crusaders in the bottom of the first and allowed a lead-off bunt single by the Scots Jon Frechter, and a ground-out followed before Jason Otis drew a base on balls. But Simpson settled down and got a strikeout to end the threat before any real damage could be done. Simpson allowed a walk and a single to begin the second inning but quickly settled back in and got a ground ball that Chris Cammarata, Richard Joy and Anthony Badala converted for a nicely-turned double play. A ground out later and Simpson was out of the another inning without any real damage.

“It was great to have a lead, as it really helped me settle in and throw strikes,” Luke Simpson said. “I still walked too many but I got a couple of big double plays by my team to help get me through the tougher stretches.”

The Crusaders struck for two runs in the first inning after a lead-off walk to Richard Joy that was quickly followed by a single by Joe Yupp and an RBI single by German Torres. Cammarata reached on a fielders choice, allowing another run to cross for the visiting Crusaders. Brett Steel then reached on an infield single and was quickly followed by another single by Simpson to give himself a 2-0 advantage.

Another single from Richard Joy got the second inning going, as the next four batters also reached base. Joe Yupp doubled down the left-field line to place runners at second and third for German Torres.  After working the count to two balls and a strike, Torres laced a double to deep left-center field to push both runners across to double the lead.  Cammarata followed with a double for his first RBI of the game. Brett Steel continued the barrage with another double, this time down the third-base line to plate another run for the visitors.

“If you’re not ready to play from first pitch to last, good luck with that,” St Andrew’s Manager Brandon Kloess said. “We gave up lead-off walks and we didn’t make the plays we should have behind our pitchers. You keep giving them free base-runners, it makes it easier to score runs.”

Scots starter Scott Gellman held the Crusaders at bay in his next time on the mound, getting a couple of strikeouts and a ground out to quickly get his team back to the plate. His teammates didn’t let him down, as Jon Frechter led off the inning with a walk and proceeded to quickly steal second and third base. With a potential scoring chance for the home Scots (2-5, 0-4), Jason Otis stepped to the plate and laced a single to right field to get the Scots on the board with what would be their only run of the game.

The Crusaders quickly added to their lead in the top of the fourth. A solid single by Joe Yupp brought German Torres back up, and once again he did not disappoint his team as he laced a triple down the right-field line and collected his fourth RBI of the day.

“Overall our approach was good tonight, especially with runners in scoring position,” Torres said. “I just tried to attack on fastball counts and was able to hit a couple of balls well to help my team.”

The Scots got a lead-off single by Gellman to start the fourth inning, but an attempted steal of second base resulted in the first out of the inning. Nick Chiappetta reached base, but an inning-ending double play was called on base running interference.

Maxwell Costello took over for the Scots in the top of the fifth inning, but he was unable to keep the hot bats of the Crusaders at bay. A lead-off single to Shane Drohan was followed by infield error and a passed ball that advanced Drohan to third base. A ground out was followed by a walk to Richard Joy and a second infield error proceeded to place runners on second and third. Torres made them pay again with a deep sacrifice fly to center field to push across another run. Chris Cammarata singled to plate another run and Brett Steel put the finishing touch onto his teams day with a triple that plated the last two runs.

Leave a comment using your facebook account!