Prairie Ridge ace T.J. Swank wasn’t his usual dominating self on the mound, but the senior still managed to factor significantly in the Wolves’ first state championship.
The Coastal Carolina-bound right-hander drove in two runs, including the game-tying triple that propelled Prairie Ridge to a 3-2 victory over Oak Park in the Class 4A state championship game Saturday night at Joliet’s Silver Cross Field.
“If I can’t get it done on the mound I wanted to give everything I could with the stick,” Swank said. “I just tried to give my team the best chance to win.”
Prairie Ridge, appearing in its first state tournament, finished its dream season with a 32-8 under first-year coach Dave Haskins.
Trailing 2-1 against Northern Illinois-bound Kyle Glancy, who had allowed two hits through five innings, the Wolves managed to push two runs across in the sixth to seal the win.
Nick Martini led off the inning with a single, then scored his second run of the game on Swank’s towering blast to center field. Kevin Kaczmarski came in to pinch run for Swank, and he soon scored on junior Nolan Jacoby’s sacrifice fly.
Martini earned the win by throwing two innings of scoreless relief. Martini also got the win in Prairie Ridge's supersectional win in relief. Swank, who came into the game with a 10-1 record, allowed three hits and three runs, struck out four, walked two and hit two batters.
“This is just an unbelievable feeling,” said Martini, who struck out the final batter of the game.
Oak Park, playing in its seventh state tournament, finished 29-10.
“I asked the kids a few weeks ago to leave this program better than it was when they got here and it is,” Huskies coach Chris Ledbetter said.
Oak Park standout shortstop Jo Jo Maldanado continued to swing the hottest bat in the state tournament. He followed up his 4-for-4, two-home run, six-RBI performance in the semifinals with another stellar all-around showing in the title game.
The 6-foot, 180-pound junior staked Oak Park to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he drove a double to deep center field to score junior Sam Picchiotti, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the first. In the fifth he scalded a single so hard that it broke third baseman Mike Butler’s glove.
Maldanado also showed off his defensive skills in the early innings. In the first he made a leaping grab to snag Nick Martini’s line drive with a Prairie Ridge runner on third base. Then, in the second inning, he made a phenomenal diving catch to his left, popped up and fired a laser to first base to double the runner off.
Prairie Ridge tied it 1-1 when Glancy issued his first walk of the game to Martini in the fourth. Martini proceeded to steal second, advance to third on a wild pitch and scored on Swank’s groundout to shortstop.
Swank and Prairie Ridge dodged a big inning in the bottom of the fourth. The Huskies were the beneficiaries of two hits, an error and two walks, but only managed one run on Swank’s bases-loaded walk to Picchiotti. Swank, who was helped by catcher David Mitroff throwing out a base-stealer at third base, induced a groundout to third to get out of the inning.
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