Spalding returns to conference title game
Junior Parker Thomas and every returning Archbishop Spalding baseball player has had a sour taste in their mouths for nearly a year. Now, they’re a step away from doing what couldn’t be done last year — winning the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference crown.
With a 7-2 win over Calvert Hall on Thursday, No. 1 seed Spalding will enjoy the fruits of its labor through the weekend, awaiting the winner of Calvert Hall and John Carroll in the MIAA A Conference championship on Monday.
The Cardinals have a chance to redeem themselves Friday in the consolation bracket.
“It still feels like we have unfinished business to do,” Spalding coach Joe Palumbo said. “Last year, we fell short and we’ve done a lot of hard work between then and now to put us into position to finish this year.”
The Cavaliers (26-4) beat John Carroll, 1-0, on Tuesday. According to Palumbo, a rematch against either the Patriots or Cardinals comes down to whether his players make good decisions between now and then.
“We’re going to prepare to win a championship the way we know how,” the coach said. “And that’s with good hard practices and taking care of the small details.”
Thomas unloaded 99 pitches and 11 strikeouts on the Cardinals in 5⅔ innings, holding Calvert Hall to six hits. This came after a difficult first inning.
“I knew I had to dial in, start focusing on trying to get more strikes, see if I could get out of the inning,” Thomas said. “Which, I did.”
After Thomas walked in a run he snapped into his command. The Spalding righthander struck down the next two Cardinals and got the third to fly out to center field. Then, he helped himself out.
Thomas hammered the first pitch he saw from Cardinals starter Ryan Siefert for a three-run home run that sailed somewhere into the woods behind Spalding’s 340-foot fence.
The Cavaliers poured from the dugout, screaming in joy as two other runners and Thomas crossed home.
“With his level of preparation, I think he dug deep there and probably used some of those experiences from last year to stay composed and get some big outs in the first inning to get us the momentum back,” Palumbo said. “And getting himself three runs with a home run showed a lot of maturity and a lot of growth.”
John Carroll 10, Archbishop Curley 2: Win or lose this season, the John Carroll baseball team has stayed consistent. The No. 11 Patriots are aggressive in all phases and remain confident, no matter the score.
So when they trailed by two runs late in Thursday’s playoff elimination game at Archbishop Curley, the Patriots stayed true to form before breaking through in the top of the fifth inning.
They got clutch hits, took some walks, were active on the bases and made the Friars pay for errors. It added up to a six-run fifth inning for John Carroll, which sparked a 10-2 win over the No. 8 Friars in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference double-elimination playoffs.
William Rhine and Austin Hofmann provided the big hits in the pivotal inning and pitchers Kyle McCracken, Griffin Shirk and Ben Pierce combined to limit the Friars to two hits. Shirk earned the win, pitching one inning and allowing one run on one hit while striking out two and walking one. Pierce pitched the final 2 innings to register the save.
John Carroll (15-11) travels to No. 2 Calvert Hall on Friday at 4:30 p.m. to try to keep its championship hopes alive. Friday’s winner will have to beat undefeated Spalding twice in the championship round, which opens Monday with an “if necessary” game set for Tuesday.