The sounds of baseball are unlike the sounds of any other sport: the crack of the bat, the whiff of the swing, the smack of the ball in leather.
On Friday afternoon, those sounds provided the soundtrack to an entertaining day baseball game between the Saints of St. Mary’s high school and the Vikings of Smith Vocational high school, with the Saints emerging victorious 9-1 in what may prove to be a defining victory for their 2012 campaign.
With junior Matt Plasse making his first varsity start for the Saints, who entered the game 2-3, the St. Mary’s faithful had confidence that their boys would perform well. But even they couldn’t have foreseen the action that would take place at Bullens Field.
What began as a pitchers’ duel between Plasse and Smith starter Aubrey Partyka was blown open in the bottom of the third inning, as Saints first baseman Mike Sheridan would score on a Brandon Geiger sacrifice fly.
St. Mary’s slugger Noah Parker stepped to the plate next and with no outs and two men on base, would receive a fastball inside from Partyka, which the shortstop would rake with extreme prejudice, hitting a deep fly ball that bounced once before clearing the de facto centerfield wall.
But what appeared to be a ground rule double was instead ruled a homerun, giving the home team a 4-0 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the day.
After the Saints’ explosive third inning, in which they would tack on another run on a wild pitch, Plasse was given the cushion he needed to further demoralize the Smith Voke lineup.
The junior righthander wouldn’t give up a run in his four innings of work, only giving up three hits and fanning five while exploring the strike zone with a steady fastball and unleashing a vicious curveball on several strike threes.
After Plasse’s final frame of work, the fighting Saints got right back to punching, with Parker clubbing a triple and then scoring on a Felix Chapdelaine double. Felix the Cat would continue to perform in the inning, as he would score on the most dramatic play of the day, stealing home to up the St. Mary’s lead to 8-0.
Following the Saints’ second big offensive output of the day, junior Joe Lubanski stepped in for relief and promptly shut the door on any Viking momentum by bring new meaning to the phrase “bring ‘em up, sit ‘em down” by striking out the side to bring the Saints up again.
While the Saints would score one more run in the inning on a Lubanski sac fly, Parker would drill a single, leaving him one double short of the mythical hitting cycle (single, double, triple and home run), which would’ve given him his second of this young season.
Smith Voke would try to close the gap in the sixth inning, scoring one run off of Lubanski, but they couldn’t get any closer, as poor base running caused two Vikings to be thrown out at home plate for the second and third outs of the frame.
Parker continued his do-everything heroics in the top of the seventh, as the versatile junior stepped in to get the save, which he did in dominant fashion, striking out the side to put an exclamation point on a big afternoon for the Bartlett street boys.
Saints coach Troy Collins was on cloud nine following his team’s effort.
“This is a nice team victory,” the skipper said, “our pitching was great. Plasse, Lubanski, Parker, they all did well. Noah has come back really strong from his sickness, as you can see.”
Parker, who Collins called a “pleasure to coach”, was ecstatic over his team’s performance. “We’re back on the right track,” the slugger said, “getting our three losses this early in the year, we realized we weren’t going to be able to coast this year. So this is a good win in that regard.”
When asked of the infamous ground-rule homer in the third, Parker tried his best to keep a straight face. “A home run is a home run,” he said with a sheepish smirk, “ you hit the ball so hard, sometimes it looks like more than it really is.”
Plasse was also pumped for the victory, as he notched his first varsity pitching win in a Saints uniform. “I felt good out there today, really good off the mound,” he said, “our fielding was phenomenal. Infielders, outfielders, everybody played well.”
The Saints improved to 3-3 on the year, while Smith fell to 0-6.
