American Heritage Edges Summit Christian In District 3A-13 Clash

Summit Christian celebrates Efren Sanchez’s home run.

In keeping with the rivalry theme of this week’s Power Rankings, American Heritage visited old rival and new district foe Summit Christian.

Right from the start, the fans, teams and coaches teemed energy. The suspense of a close game only added to the intensity as American Heritage took a 5-4 District 3A-13 victory on the Fighting Saints’ home turf.

The Fighting Saints jumped on vaunted American Heritage starter Dylan Silva right from the start. Leadoff hitter Brandon Swass started the bottom half of the first with a stand-up double in the right-field gap and scored the game’s first run when Tyler Dupont drove another double to right. Dupont advanced to third when the ball was misplayed in right field, and Efren Sanchez took care of the rest, hitting a fly ball deep enough for Dupont to tag. A John Silviano single and two walks loaded the bases for the Saints, but Silva settled down and got out of the jam without further damage. Summit Christian led 2-0 when the first-inning dust settled.

After Summit Christian starter Anthony Delaney retired the Stallions’ four through six hitters in order, the Fighting Saints picked up where they left off in the first. Swass got on base again with a one-out single to left, and Sanchez took to the plate two batters later with two down. Sanchez pulled Silva’s first offering foul but connected on the next one, and the high fly ball stayed just fair down the left-field line for a two-run home run. Although catcher John Silviano reached base for the second time with a walk, Silva shut the door on the inning with a strikeout of his counterpart, Delaney.

Working quickly, Delaney surrendered only two hits and no walks through five innings for the Saints. Silva wasn’t as efficient with his pitches, but he managed to strand three more Summit Christian baserunners over the course of his five innings pitched.

With the Saints in control 4-0 and Delaney still on the mound, the Stallions came to bat in the sixth inning. Michael Shepherd stood in, already with one hit on the day. The second baseman Shepherd dropped a bunt down the third-base line and started the inning with a leadoff single.

“I just felt like they are our rivals, and we had to get something started,” Shepherd said. “We had to get a comeback going. So I just did what I had to do.”

Next up for the Stallions was Amfernee Seymour, who drove a double to left. With runners on second and third and none out, Todd Isaacs hit a fly ball to right center, and a miscommunication between fielders led to a dropped ball. The error plated Shepherd, advanced Seymour to third and allowed Isaacs to take two bases. Freshman three hitter Jonathan India drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to left, cutting the Saints’ lead to 4-2. Two batters later, Corey Cohen hit an RBI line-drive up the middle with two outs. A balk advanced Cohen to second, and Heritage head coach Carm Mazza sent in pinch-runner Dylan Arnold. Next up, third baseman Jon Spada hit a hard single all the way to the wall that scored Arnold easily from second and knotted the game at four apiece.

Peter Castillo came in to pitch the sixth for American Heritage. The leadoff hitter for the Saints, Scott Murphy, reached on an error, and Chris Carney successfully bunted the runner over to second. But Summit Christian could not capitalize, and Murphy was stranded on second.

American Heritage head coach Carm Mazza confers with Michael Shepherd before Shepherd’s seventh-inning at-bat.

Delaney came back out to start the seventh for Summit, but after a single by Chris Canavan, John Silviano switched from catcher to pitcher. The first batter he was to face was Shepherd. As Shepherd stepped to the plate, the chatter from both benches and the bleachers seemed to reach a fever pitch.

“That happens when we play them. Both teams get going, and it just gets wild,” Shepherd said of the intensity of the moment.

Shepherd hit a sharp liner to right field with a runner on first. The right fielder attempted to play the ball on a short hop, but the ball bounced by him and rolled all the way to the wall. The throw came home a little off the mark and got by the substitute catcher, Sanchez. Canavan scored from first on the play, and as the ball rolled to the backstop, Shepherd rounded third for home. The throw from Sanchez back to home was right on, and Silviano applied the tag to prevent another run. Seymour followed with a base-on-balls for the Stallions but was caught stealing second before Silviano mustered up a strikeout to end the inning. American Heritage took to the bottom of the last frame with a 5-4 lead.

Sanchez temporarily ignited the Summit Christian bench with a single off Heritage closer Josh Glick. But the Saints’ hope was short lived as Glick induced a rally-killing, 6-4-3 double play before striking out the next batter for the save.

After the game, Carm Mazza talked about his team’s comeback:

“I told the guys all game, ‘We’ve seen [Delaney] before. We just have to put good swings in, get on him early with the fastball, and just put the ball in play to put the pressure on them.’ They did a really good job early, but we responded.”

Delaney was responsible for the five Stallion runs in the loss, but all five runs were unearned.

The defending 1A state champion Fighting Saints have been struggling offensively during their four-game losing streak, scoring just seven runs in their previous three games. But Sanchez provided a much-needed spark in Monday’s game, going 3-for-3 and with a sacrifice fly. He was just a triple shy of the cycle, drove in three runs and also threw out the lone baserunner who attempted to steal on his watch behind the plate.

American Heritage improves to 3-0 in district play and clinches the top seed with its second win over Summit Christian. The teams could meet for the third time in the playoffs.

Shepherd, for one, is happy with the district realignment that brought these teams together as district foes.

“They weren’t in our district before this year, but I’m glad they’re in our district this year because it’s going to be a fun battle,” Shepherd said.

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