Cardinal Newman Scores Big District Win Over Heritage

Cardinal Newman and American Heritage scored all of their runs in two innings Monday, and when the dust settled, the Crusaders came out with a 6-3 win in 4A-6.

The Crusaders (4-6, 4-2) won a back-and-forth battle and avenged three losses to the Stallions (8-4, 4-2) last season, the last of which coming in the district title game. It’s Newman’s first regular-season win over Heritage in at least five years.

Chris Ferara singled to score Jason Fox to get American Heritage rolling in the top of the second.

The Crusaders came back in the bottom of the inning for two of their own. Brett Steel and Chris Cammarata singled to lead off the inning before Luke Simpson delivered a base hit of his own to score Steel. Chase Romaine then lined a shot to right to plate Cammarata.

Down 2-1, the Stallions charged back to take a 3-2 lead. Jack Campbell singled and went all the way to third on an error that allowed Carmine Lane to get on base. Michael Malinchek delivered a line-drive single to center to score Campbell to tie it up. Heritage then went ahead when Lane scored on Nathan Zuckerman’s flyout.

But the Crusaders weren’t done. Joe Yupp led off the bottom of the third with a base hit and stole second while German Torres was up to bat. An error allowed Torres to get to second and Yupp to score to make it 3-3. Anthony Badala singled to score Torres before Shane Drohan roped a line-drive triple to right to score Badala and Cammarata, who got on with an error.

Luke Simpson picked up the win for the Crusaders Varsity, allowing two earned runs, five hits and two walks in a complete-game performance.

Cardinal Newman Manager Pudge Poston said his team is starting to hit its stride.

“Our pitching has really done a great job making adjustments as the season progresses, being better about getting ahead and making quality pitches ahead in the count,” he said. “As a team we are really coming together playing as unit and playing aggressively.”

Poston said the team also has learned to roll with the punches and will strive to continue improving the mental aspect of the game.

“We’ve been working on staying mentally focused and how to handle adversity. We’ve got a long way to go and there’s no secret to success. It’s starts with hard work and mental preparation. As we are now into the heart of the season, we need to continue getting better at both fundamentals and mental preparations.”

Leave a comment using your facebook account!