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Prospect edges Caravan for third
Updated: June 11, 2011 7:06PM
Playing for third place is a glass half-full or half-empty proposition, as Prospect and Mount Carmel showed Saturday afternoon.
Prospect welcomed a do-over after losing to Providence in the Class 4A semifinals. But Mount Carmel had a harder time getting motivated for the game at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.
“Not many teams in the playoffs have a chance to redeem themselves after losing in single elimination,” Prospect pitcher Jack Landwehr said. “We had that chance.”
Landwehr and the Knights seized the opportunity, edging past Mount Carmel 2-1.
That capped an unexpectedly big year for Prospect (27-9), which was making its first state tournament appearance.
“As the underdogs in every single game we’re playing, it really took a lot of pressure off,” said the Knights’ Brian Bauer, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI. “It gave us confidence to go out and give everything we had, to leave it all on the field.”
Mount Carmel (34-9-1), on the other hand, had a hard time mustering the desire to play another game after losing to Lyons Friday.
“Would any of you like to come back and play for third place?” Caravan coach Brian Hurry said.
“It was a struggle to get guys up,” said Mount Carmel leadoff man Chris Sujka, who went 3-for-4. “It’s hard to come out and play for third place when we got our hearts broken yesterday.”
That aside, it was a fine line between winning and losing for the teams.
Sujka led off the game with a triple that Prospect right fielder Kevin Miller lost in the sun. But Miller then redeemed himself by throwing out Sujka trying to score on Jerry Houston’s flyout. “It’s a credit to Kevin Miller to bounce back like that,” Prospect coach Ross Giusti said. “That was a big out.”
“It’s eating away at me now,” Hurry said of his decision to send Sujka. “It was a little past medium depth. ... (But Miller’s throw was) a laser.”
Prospect went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first when Matt Molini singled, advanced on a bad pickoff throw and scored on shortstop Jerry Houston’s error.
The Caravan tied it in the third when Houston singled, advanced on a wild pickoff throw and came home on Sam Kint’s double.
But the Knights went ahead to stay in the bottom of the third on a walks to Molini and Landwhr and Bauer’s RBI single.
Landwehr (14-2) did the rest, pitching an eight-hitter with eight strikeouts and no walks.
“They hit the ball hard, because they’re a good hitting team,” the junior right-hander said. “Hitting my spots was key.”
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