St. Mary’s defeats Peyton in high-scoring affair to advance to 2A championship
On Friday, Adam Velasquez talked with St. Mary’s coach Bill Percy.
“He said, ‘Coach, if there is an opportunity I want it. I’m ready,’” Percy said. “And guess what? That opportunity happened.”
Velasquez, a senior, is the No. 5 pitcher for St. Mary’s. According to Percy, he’s probably thrown no more than eight innings this season.
But Percy called on him to finish off Saturday’s semifinal contest against Peyton in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Pirates were up by one run, and Evan Neumaier was on third base with one out. Velasquez struck out the next batter, and ended the inning with a pop up to centerfield.
He fell to his knees in front of the mound, and his teammates jumped on Velasquez in celebration.
After an intense, back-and-forth contest, St. Mary’s defeated Peyton 13-12 in eight innings of play to earn a spot in the 2A championship game.
In the second inning, St. Mary’s built a 6-0 lead, and it looked like the Pirates might coast to an easy victory.
Carson Faber brought in the game’s first run, hitting an RBI single to left field. Then, a double scored two more runs, and Cesar Martinez-Diaz hit a single to center field that gave his team a 5-0 lead. After a bases-loaded walk scored another run for the Pirates, Peyton was forced to make a pitching change to get out of the inning.
The top of the fourth wasn’t much better for Peyton, as St. Mary’s tacked on three more runs.
By the time AJ Lashley singled in the bottom of the fourth, recording his team’s first hit, Peyton was already down 9-0.
But the game was far from over.
Lashley’s single ignited the Panthers and they scored three runs to gain ground on St. Mary’s. Then, in the sixth inning, Peyton surged with nine runs. Bryce Gregg gave his squad its first lead, singling to center field and bringing in two runs for a 12-10 Peyton advantage.
The massive momentum swing might have been a gut punch to most team’s but St. Mary’s has played in several back-and-forth games this season.
“We’ve been up and down all year long,” Percy said. “Honestly, we’ve won some games this year that we probably shouldn’t have. And we weathered a lot of storms. The resiliency of this team has really shown itself in the last two days. These kids just keep coming back and coming back.”
And in the seventh inning, that’s what the Pirates did once more.
They were patient at the plate, securing three walks, including one with the bases loaded to get within a run. Then, Peter Ghigleri hit an RBI single to even things up at 12.
In the eighth inning, before Velasquez finished things off on the mound, John Clune gave his team a one-run lead when he blasted a stand-up triple to the centerfield wall.
“When you get into games like this, they are all about big plays,” Percy said. “And there were big plays.”
With the victory, St. Mary’s will play in Saturday’s championship game. Win or lose, it will be the last game of their season. And win or lose, it will be the last game of Percy’s 44-year coaching career.
The longtime coach doesn’t forget much. And he certainly hasn’t forgotten the two State Championships he’s lost. The first was to Cherry Creek in 1992, and the second to Fruita Monument in 1993. Now, 30 years later, he has another chance.
“I never really thought about getting back,” Percy said. “But, I thought maybe, just maybe things are lined up. And now we have the opportunity to do it.”
Correction: St. Mary’s winning pitcher in the victory over Rye was sophomore Peter Ghigleri.