Carmel saves its best for last

Font Size

Email

Bookmark

Black Text

White Text

It took a seeing-eye single up the middle from an a-typical No. 9 hitter to win this IHSA Class 4A sectional semifinal game for the Carmel Corsairs.

Junior Kevin Hendricks's slow-rolling grounder in the bottom of the sixth barely eluded a diving Highland Park second baseman and scored David Venegoni from second base for the lone run in the 1-0 win.

"Kevin is not really what most people think of as a No. 9 hitter," said Carmel head coach Chuck Gandolfi after the game. "He's a really good hitter. We use our No. 9 spot differently than most teams."

Venegoni, who had fanned in his two previous at-bats, singled to start the sixth and was sacrificed into scoring position by Scott Bierman, who laid down a clutch bunt.

Six Highland Park seniors were forsaking their graduation ceremony at Ravinia on this night in hopes of advancing in the state tourney. But the Giants were repeatedly thwarted by the seven-strikeout performance of Jordan Sivertsen before mounting their most serious threat in the top of the seventh.

Shortstop Johnny "The Rocket" Lindquist led off the inning with a ringing double to left-center, only the third Giants hit.

A failed sacrifice bunt resulted in a strikeout, and a ground out to shortstop advanced Lindquist to third.

The next hitter was junior Jon Menke, who had stung the ball twice against Sivertsen, once on a line drive, highway robbery catch by Carmel third sacker Bobby Lyne, and the other the first hit of the game for Highland Park in the fifth inning.

"I was hitting my spots all day," said Sivertsen, who threw primarily fastballs throughout the game. "I was slowing down a little at the end."

Gandolfi replaced Siversten on the hill with his other ace, Lyne, and with the tying run 90 feet away, Menke grounded out to sophomore shortstop Mike Pudlo to end the game.

The only other Giants threat in the contest came with two outs in the fifth. After Menke had singled, pinch runner Eric Manpearl took his place at first. Anthony Kopp then hit a one-hop rope to right fielder Joey Pudlo, who unleashed a strike from medium-right to third baseman Lyne, nailing Manpearl by a good 10 feet as he attempted to advance to third.

Pudlo was mobbed by his teammates as he approached the dugout following the throw Gandolfi described as "a laser."

The Carmel coach later said he was concerned that his team's inability to plate a bevy of runners throughout the game would come back to haunt them. The Corsairs left two runners on base in each of the first three innings, as Menke wiggled out of one jam after another with a breaking ball that kept Carmel hitters from delivering a big blow.

Gandolfi and Carmel fans are awaiting a Corsairs offensive explosion, which they hope will happen in Saturday's sectional championship game at Libertyville.

In its last two games, Carmel (31-5) has left 19 men on base while scoring six runs. They will play the winner of today's semifinal at Libertyville, which pits Mundelein (28-5) and Buffalo Grove (13-14).

Highland Park ended its season at 26-7.