Published: June 05, 2009 12:29 am      

Freshman’s hit pushes McCort baseball into state semifinals

ROBINSON TOWNSHIP — Maybe it’s a good thing that Jesse Cooper wasn’t old enough to play for Bishop McCort last year.

The Crimson Crushers’ freshman wasn’t around for Bishop McCort’s heartbreaking loss to Burrell in the PIAA quarterfinals last season.

Cooper made sure his team didn’t suffer the same fate this year. He singled in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 6-5 victory over Neshannock at Frank J. Marko Field on Thursday afternoon.

The Crimson Crushers (19-4) had blown a four-run lead in the top of the seventh inning - the same thing that happened in last year’s loss - bringing back those painful memories.

“I thought to myself, ‘Here we go again,’ ” Bishop McCort coach Denny Altimore said. “And it happened, but we were able to at least keep it tied and then come back in the bottom of the inning.”

Colin Harrington, who hit a three-run homer in the first and scored the winning run, was also thinking about the Burrell game.

“The same thing almost happened, but we didn’t give up that last run,” said Harrington, who got the final two outs for the mound victory. “I was thinking about it. I was at shortstop, and when we walked that first guy, it was in the back of my mind. But it’s great to be the home team and get that last at-bat.”

Harrington walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh and Eric Lowry followed with a bloop single. Rather than bunt the runners over, Altimore had Zach Vignero swing away, and the catcher popped up to shortstop. That set the stage for Cooper, who had struck out with Vignero representing an important insurance run on third base an inning earlier.

“I wanted to be back in that spot to redeem myself for striking out that last inning,” Cooper said. “I came up in a big spot and it feels pretty good to get the win.”

Cooper got a fastball on the outside corner and went with the pitch, driving it over the head of right fielder Sean Van Der Wal for the game-winning hit.

“That’s a tough place to hit for a freshman, but he did it,” Harrington said of his young teammate. “He’s a great ballplayer, and he’s matured so much this season.”

Bishop McCort starter Braxton Ferre held Neshannock (20-5) scoreless through five innings before Chris Kirkwood’s bloop single with two outs brought home a run. When Bishop McCort answered with two of its own in the bottom of the inning - on an run-scoring triple by Luke Swintosky and an RBI single by Joe Hrbal - it looked like the Crimson Crushers had put the game out of reach.

“I probably should have made the change at the beginning of the (seventh) inning, but when you’ve got a pitcher that’s hot, you don’t want to (pull him),” Altimore said. “He pitched a whale of a ballgame. He kept us in the game.”

After getting the first out in the seventh, Ferre gave up a double to Josh Brown and walked Van Der Wal, Neshannock’s leadoff hitter.

“I told my coach, if you see me in any trouble, just take me out and put someone else in, but I felt pretty good,” Ferre said of how he felt before the inning started.

Altimore had Vignero, who had been catching all game, take the mound because he felt Vignero’s curveball would frustrate Neshannock’s big hitters. But after Vignero walked Jordan Senchak and gave up a two-run single to Ben Bechtol, Altimore summoned Harrington from his shortstop position.

“He’s been one of our main players all year and a team leader,” Altimore said. “I figured we’ll go to him here and either win it or lose it.”

Joe Borelli greeted Harrington with a two-run double to left but got greedy and was thrown out trying to take third on the play.

“He’s a pretty good baserunner, usually good at that thing, and he should have known he’s already in scoring position and we don’t need you to get to third,” Neshannock manager Mike Kirkwood said. “It wasn’t too smart there.”

That error became more critical when Anthony Mott followed with a base hit. Instead of going down a run, Harrington got Chris Kirkwood to fly out for the final out.

Bishop McCort, which will face the winner of today’s game between Serra Catholic and Clarion, had gone up 3-0 in the first thanks to Neshannock’s miscues. Van Der Wal, who started on the mound, committed an error on Mike Kastelic’s popup, then struck out Matt Kastelic only to have the Crimson Crusher reach when the ball got past Bechtol. Harrington made Van Der Wal pay by launching a fastball over the fence in right field.

“I figured he was going to work me away, so with a second pitch fastball right on the corner, I just took it to right field and luckily it got over the fence to give us an early 3-0 lead,” he said.

Harrington put another ball over the right-field fence in the fifth, but it was just foul.

Van Der Wal held Bishop McCort hitless from the first through the sixth, before giving way to Brown, who took the loss.

“He did a nice job,” Coach Kirkwood said. “We just didn’t get the big hit early to get a run here or there. We didn’t do the things we’d normally do. They got it done and we didn’t.”