Steinert Baseball Tops Lawrence in Wild 10 Inning Showdown

Michael James Steinert Baseball
Michael James two-out single in the bottom of the 10th gave Steinert Baseball the extra innings walk-off win over Lawrence. Photo by Michael A. Sabo

By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Apr. 6:
Where to even start?

In a game that had more key moments than a locksmith, Steinert’s baseball team escaped with a 4-3, 10-inning victory over visiting Lawrence today, giving the Spartans two wins in two days over the Cards.

Let’s start with Casey Navarro, who allowed no runs, two hits and two walks with five strikeouts in five innings. And then there was Joey Sacco, who allowed just one hit in three innings of relief to get the win.

If big moments are your gig, Steinert staved off defeat when Drayven Kowalski hit a two-out, RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, and then took the victory when Michael James’ two-out single in the bottom the 10th scored pinch-runner Dominic Maglione to empty the dugout. D-Mags was running for Brendan James, who started the rally with his second double and third hit of the game.

Let’s see, have we missed anything?

Ah yes, there was CJ Pittaro’s two-run single through a drawn-in infield that gave Steinert a 2-0 lead. And there was the fact that Sacco had a leadoff-hitter’s dream day by reaching base three times and scoring twice, all while mourning the passing of his grandfather a few days ago.

“Oh yeah,” said Sacco, when asked if he wanted to dedicate to the win to Fred Sacco. “We’ve been playing good baseball, I know he’s up there looking down on us. He loved coming to see us play.”

He would have loved this one, which was not a thing of beauty but contained a lot of nutty moments. Helped by a would-be double-play ball that turned into a bad-hop error, Steinert took a 2-0 lead in in the fifth when Pittaro pulled a two-run single through a drawn-in infield.

Lawrence capitalized on a gift double  (when Brady Plunkett slipped and fell chasing a fly ball), and two errors to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth. Steinert got its own gift in the seventh when Sacco was hit by a pitch, advanced to second and third on a wild pitch and ground out, and scored on Kowalski’s single.

“That was a big hit, and we have confidence in Kowalski,” coach Rick Freeman said. “I felt comfortable with him in that situation and he came through.”

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Sacco took over on the mound and retired all but one batter while striking out four. He got the save a day earlier in relief of Maglione as he is seeing mound duty for the first time in four years on varsity.

“He pitched as a freshman (on the freshman team) when he didn’t play short,” Freeman said. “Then he got called up to varsity and didn’t pitch. We had him warming up last summer (for legion) and never used him. We got a couple side days with him and that’s a good role for him.”

Sacco did make one appearance last summer, in the state tournament. The shortstop, who is no-nonsense on the mound, is excited about pulling double duty.

“I think it would be a very cool role,” he said. “Austin Constantini used to come in from shortstop and he was  the closer. I’m just doing what they’re telling me. I think coach Freeman saw I had the ability to get up there and look the part a little bit, so he gave me the opportunity.”

“I was surprised how good he did,” Michael James said. “But he can throw, so let him throw.”

Sacco’s work followed a stellar effort by Navarro and a solid job by Joe Swindasz, who was victimized by the crazy fielding in the sixth.

“Casey kept us in the game, he put us in a position to win,” Sacco said. “He had a lead, he was throwing strikes, making good pitches.”

“He did a great job,” Freeman said. “We’re used to seeing that from him, he was with us last summer and that was typical of him. He’s a strike thrower; throws three pitches.”

“He did a really nice job,” Michael James said. “He did great. He kept us in the game, he kept the score low.”

And while he got a no-decision, Navarro’s work paid off thanks to the law firm, er, hitting duo of James & James. After Brendan hit his two-out double, Michael’s eyes lit up.

“I was psyched up, I was ready to go,” he said. “I love those moments.”

And Freeman could sense it from the dugout.

“He looked like he was ready for his moment,” the coach said.

He sure was, as James lined the second pitch he saw into left field to plate Maglione. He took the first offering just to size things up.

“He had a little bit of a tail,” James said. “So I was just thinking ‘All right, I probably have to keep this up the middle, probably try to think about (going to) right and the from there I just did what I had to do.”

His effort capped a wild day at Rich Giallella field, which became euphoric for Steinert and heart-breaking for a Lawrence team that looks like it will be very competitive this season.

“It was crazy, but it was kind of fun,” James said. “A lot of things were happening, we had to stay in the game, we had to keep working.”

“It had a little bit of everything,” Sacco said. “It was a great game to be a part of, though.”


Nottingham tops Trenton to move to 3-0

Nottingham needed six innings to top Trenton, 12-2, and improve to 3-0. Jacob Fanning and David Scott each had two hits and two RBI, while Wyatt Baker and Nick Houghton (BI) had two hits each and Brett Hoffman drove in two runs.

Bryce Fremgen and Jeff Wiltsey handled the pitching.


Hornets roll past WW-P South behind Beczo, Springett and Zamora

Hamilton took a 9-2 win over West Windsor-Plainsboro South as David Zamora had two hits and three RBI, Tyler Springett had two hits, two RBI and three runs and Ryan “Mini Dweller” Beczo added three hits and three runs scored. Kiefer Goss added two hits and an RBI.

Tim Sharpley allowed two runs (one earned), four hits and one walk over six innings while striking out three to get the win. Justin Wiltsey fanned two in his one inning of relief. Hamilton improved to 2-2.

About The Author


Rich Fisher has been around the Hamilton Township sports scene for so long that he actually got Rich Giallella’s autograph when Giallella was still a player! Proud product of Hamilton YMCA and Lou Gehrig baseball leagues and former teammate of Jim Maher on a very average Barton & Cooney rec basketball team, Fish graduated from Nottingham Junior High and Steinert High school and has covered township sports since 1980. His goal in life is to convince Maria Prato that Jersey tomatoes are at least 100 times better than California tomatoes.