Hendricken 11, N. Providence 7: Hawks soar to Div. I baseball title
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, June 13, 2010
By JOHN GILLOOLY
Journal Sports Writer
PAWTUCKET — The wake-up call came last Saturday and the Hendricken bats never went back to sleep.
The Hawks, the perennial Rhode Island high school baseball power who had been living on the edge since losing in the opening round of the double-elimination Division I Final Four state tournament last Saturday, completed their comeback to win another state title Saturday morning as they posted an 11-7 victory over North Providence in the winner-take-all final game of the Pawtucket Red Sox/Amica Insurance tourney at McCoy Stadium.
For Hendricken it was the fourth straight tourney victory in a do-or-die situation and also the fourth consecutive time it posted double-digit run totals. In the four games, which included victories over La Salle, North Kingstown and two straight over North Providence, the Hawks scored a total of 47 runs.
The victory not only gave the Hawks their third consecutive state title, but also their sixth crown in the last eight years.
“Without a doubt,” Hendricken All-State shortstop Tom Verdi said about the Hawks receiving a wake-up call from the 8-1 loss to North Kingstown in the opening round.
“That was one of the worst offensive performances we had had all year long, but it gave us motivation,” Verdi continued. “After that, we just came out and played our game. We knew we had the team to come back from the losers’ bracket. Everyone said how hard it is to win that many more games and it is, but we had a complete-team effort. We put together some hits and it became contagious.”
Indeed, in the four victories over the seven-day period the Hawks received hits up-and-down the lineup and Saturday’s may have been the most-balanced performance.
Once again Verdi was the offensive leader as he completed an MVP tournament performance by collecting four hits in four at-bats and scoring two of the Hawks first seven runs. The four hits gave Verdi a .867 tournament batting average in addition to nine RBI and 10 runs scored.
But while Verdi, the Hawks No. 2 hitter, was producing at the top of the batting order, the bottom of order also was making a big contribution. Sophomore Tom Pannone, the No. 8 hitter, drove home five runs Saturday with three hits, including a two-run homer in the fifth inning. Six of Hendricken’s 11 runs were scored by the final four hitters in the order.
“One through nine, it’s incredible,” Verdi said about the Hawks’ balanced attack. “We had 13 incoming guys on varsity this year. We didn’t have a lot of returning players and the new guys really stepped up.”
Unlike in the game on Thursday when previously undefeated North Providence turned in an admittedly poor performance in a 15-1, six-inning, mercy-rule loss to the Hawks, on Saturday the Cougars and Hawks treated the approximately 1,000 fans that turned out for the 9 a.m. showdown to a morning of exciting baseball.
There were three lead changes in the first four innings and only a sensational play by Hendricken All-State center fielder Jeff Roy prevented North Providence from forging a fourth-lead change in the top of the fifth.
Hendricken was holding a slim 6-5 lead when Roy took off after a blast into deep center by the Cougars’ Rob Castellucci with runners on first and second and only one out. The ball was hit so deep that both runners, expecting the ball to go over Roy’s head, began running. But the speedy Roy made a diving, off-the-shoulder grab of the ball, not only preventing the hit but also preventing any advance of the runners as he quickly got back on his feet after the catch and fired a strike into the infield.
“That was a great catch,” said Hendricken coach Ed Holloway. “That’s what we said all year, we have to play good defense to help our pitching and everybody came through.”
Roy’s play enabled the Hawks to get out of the fifth without giving up a run and the Hawks then jumped out to a 9-5 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth.
But even then North Providence cut its deficit to two with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth.
Hendricken, however, came right back with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth for its eventual four-run margin of victory.
North Providence had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first when senior Sean Wheeler singled home two runs. Hendricken tied the score in the bottom of the second when Pannone’s single and an outfielder error allowed two runs to score.
North Providence didn’t waste any time regaining the lead, however, as the Cougars scored three runs on two hits. Rob Borden’s two-run single was the big hit of the inning.
Hendricken cut its deficit to two with a run in the third then the Hawks forged their 6-5 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth on only two hits, one of which was a run-producing single by Verdi.
It was just an unbelievable experience,” Verdi said of his amazing tournament performance. “It’s an absolute blessing. I couldn’t have dreamed about it, any better.”
jgillool@projo.com