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Renzi, Ready lead a North sweep
Updated: April 30, 2011 5:24PM
PLAINFIELD — Jake Ready readily admits he had a tough act to follow.
When you start Game 2 of a Saturday morning doubleheader after fellow senior right-hander Sean Renzi worked Game 1, it is going to be that way.
But Ready was willing and able to do his part, pitching unbeaten Plainfield North to a 4-1 victory over Plainfield East after Renzi had breezed to a 13-1 victory in the Southwest Prairie Conference opener.
Renzi allowed one hit — Tom Vachon’s second-inning home run — in the five-inning opener. He walked six while striking out 10 and consistently endured long counts in a 102-pitch outing.
Brian Evak hit his fourth homer and drove in four runs for North (18-0, 11-0). Matt Fenza went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Joe Cresta was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
On to Game 2, Ready or not.
East (8-10, 5-6) scored once in the bottom of the first to lead 1-0 and had runners on second and third with one out. But Ready (2-0) struck out the next two hitters to escape trouble.
Same scenario in the second — two strikeouts after the Bengals put runners on second and third with one.
After that, Ready faced two batters over the minimum, finishing with a four-hiter, two walks and 11 strikeouts.
“It was definitely a struggle the first couple innings,” Ready said. “I just kept trying to throw strikes and fortunately got through it.”
The Tigers tied it in the third when Fenza led off with a double off the fence and scored on Evan Whaley’s single off senior right-hander Bobby Tenczar. Then came the real long ball parade.
Cresta belted the eventual game-winning homer leading off the fifth, his fifth. Caleb Kissel led off the sixth with his first homer and Patrick Cashman hit his fourth in the last four games later in the sixth.
Cashman also doubled and went 2-for-3. Kissel and Whaley had two hits as well.
“I definitely rely on my teammates for support,” said Ready, who made his second start. “It was reassuring when we took the lead. It gave me a boost.”
“We’re not going to wow you, but we get the job done,” North coach John Darlington said. “Jake (Ready) threw strikes. Cashman is really coming on with the bat. Somebody always does something to help us get it done.”
The Tigers already lead the conference race by a significant margin. But voting for sectional seeds is scheduled this week, and North and Providence figure to be 1-2 in either order in the Neuqua Valley Sectional.
“This sweep was big,” Darlington said. “Not only are they a rival, but a zero on the end of our record looks a lot better than a one when the sectional seeding is done.”
East also is jockeying for sectional position, and Bengals coach Adam O’Reel noted how his team could have been in position to knock off a heavyweight in Game 2.
“Bobby (Tenczar) really pitched well,” he said. “The homers he gave up were solos.
“But what really cost us was situational hitting. Not putting the ball in play in those situations in the first and second innings is not good baseball, especially against a high level of competition.
“You can’t let a good team off the hook like that. We could have set the tone early and we didn’t do it.”
East will visit North on Monday for Game 3 of the series.
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