NL_072116

46 | July 21, 2016 | The New Lenox Patriot sports
newlenoxpatriot.com
Celtics make it to second game of Lockport Regional
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
It sounded strange to hear
Providence baseball coach
Mark Smith use the term
“uncharted territory” after a
playoff victory last week.
After all, Smith and the
Celtics have only won three
straight Class 4A baseball
state championships.
But those are in the spring.
In the summer season, he’s
usually not too concerned
with the results, he said.
His team, however, got a
winning result in the opening
game of the Lockport
Regional last week. That
came when Providence rallied
for six runs in the top of
the seventh and held on to
defeat host Andrew 11-8 on
July 11 in Tinley Park.
“I told the kids that we
usually don’t get this far; it’s
uncharted territory,” Smith
said following the victory.
“We’re not usually one to
take the summer seriously.”
That showed in the fact
that none of the state champion
Providence teams in the
past three seasons have even
advanced further than the
quarterfinals of the summer
regional.
This year’s didn’t either.
The next day, July 12,
Providence lost to Plainfield
South by the score of 13-1 in
five innings in the quarterfinals
at Lockport. That ended
the summer season for the
Celtics (2-9). The Cougars
(8-3), who scored eight runs
in the bottom of the fourth to
put the game away against
Providence, had their semifinal
game against Joliet
Catholic Academy on July
13 rained out.
“We still got a lot of
questions answered,” Smith
said following the loss to
Plainfield South. “We didn’t
have all our kids here, but
the ones that were got to
showcase themselves in a
tournament format.”
The Celtics showcased
their never-give-up attitude
in the game against Andrew.
True to his philosophy,
Smith brought in sophomore
T.J. Galligani to pitch in the
bottom of the sixth with the
score tied 5-5. The righthander,
who hadn’t pitched
in a varsity game all summer,
walked junior second
baseman Mike McGrail and
junior pinch hitter Tom Mc-
Garry to open the inning.
The two of them eventually
scored on a combination of
passed balls and wild pitches
as the Thunderbolts took a
7-5 lead.
But Galligani settled in
to get a strikeout and two
ground outs to end the inning.
He was eventually the
winning pitcher.
That’s because Providence
scored six runs in the top of
the seventh, five of them after
two were out. After a fly
out started the inning, junior
third baseman Logan Anderson
then belted a home run
to left center to cut the lead
to one. Senior first baseman
Matt Swanson (3-for-4, 2 R)
singled to center, and junior
designated hitter Dylan Gorski
reached on an error.
A fly out to center moved
Swanson to third, but also
moved the T-Bolts within
an out of victory. That never
happened, however, as
sophomore center fielder
Alex Helmin (2-for-5, R,
3 RBI) singled to left to tie
the game. Junior shortstop
Steven Meyer (2-for-4, 2 R,
2 RBI) then walked to load
the bases.
At that point, Andrew
made a pitching change, but
that didn’t matter to Drew
Hunniford (2-for-4, R, 4
RBI). The senior right fielder,
who is the younger brother of
former Celtics standout Justin
Hunniford, hammered a
3-run triple to deep left center.
He then scored on a wild
pitch to make the score 11-7.
“I was looking bad all
day,” Hunniford said. “I had
missed a ball that I could
have caught in right field, so
I had to do something to turn
it around.”
Hunniford said he believes
that the Celtics’ success
is contagious.
“Obviously, we lose a lot
of seniors,” he said of the 19
seniors who graduated from
this spring’s state championship
team — most of them
two- or three-year starters.
“But we’re going to do the
best that we can. Celtics are
known for coming back, so
there wasn’t a doubt in my
mind.”
Andrew (9-5) scored a run
in the bottom of the seventh.
Senior third baseman Joe
Oswald (1-for-3, 3 R) led off
with a single to left. He was
wild pitched to second and
scored on a pair of ground
outs.
The T-Bolts scored three
runs in the second. Oswald
walked to lead off the inning.
Senior Tom Flisk (2-
for-3, RBI) had a bunt single
up the first base line. Junior
shortstop Jake Plastiak (2-
for-3, 3 RBI) pounded an
RBI double to right center,
and Flisk also scored on the
play when the relay throw
in got loose. Senior right
fielder Dan Cryan had a bunt
single, and McGrail knocked
in the third run with a RBI
ground out.
Andrew added an unearned
run in the third. With
two outs and none on, Oswald
reached on an error.
Flisk was hit by a pitch, and
Plastiak pulverized a ground
rule double to left center.
In the fourth, Providence
got on the board with a trio
of runs. Swanson led off
with a single to right. Gorski
walked and junior second
Providence’s Dan Kovach pitches July 11 during the opening game of the Lockport
Regional against Andrew in Tinley Park. Photos by Seamus Scanlan/22nd Century Media
Providence’s Kevin O’Boyle swings at a pitch during the game.
baseman Ryan Kaup singled
to right to load the bases.
Helmin smacked a 2-run
single to right center and
Meyer closed the Celtics
within a run on a fielders
choice groundout.
The fifth brought another
run from for the T-Bolts.
With one out, senior first
baseman Dan Heilbron doubled
to right. One out and a
wild pitch later, he scored on
an RBI double to right center
by Flisk. Providence tied
it in the sixth. Gorski led
off with a walk, was sacrificed
to second by Kaup and
scored on a 2-out single to
left by Meyer. Then Meyer
stole second and scored on
a ground rule double to left
center by Hunniford.
While the Andrew game
was the only one the Celtics
won in the summer regional,
it showed that next spring
could be another successful
one for them.
“I was proud of them,”
Smith said of his team. “We
were down 4-0, 5-3, 7-5 and
we came back. We battled
back, and that’s the Providence
way. We battle until
the last out.”