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Catholic League shuts down Public League
Updated: June 13, 2011 8:14PM
Collin McEnery’s emotional roller-coaster ride continued Monday afternoon at U.S. Cellular Field.
Less than 48 hours removed from absorbing a frustrating loss in the Class 4A state championship with his Providence teammates, McEnery was wearing his Providence green for the last time in the annual Catholic League vs. Public League all-star game.
The Indiana University-bound lefty made the most of the experience, pitching three shutout innings to help the Catholic League win 4-0.
“It’s awesome,” McEnery said. “I’ve been a (White) Sox fan my whole life. I never thought I’d be able to get a chance to go out there and pitch at U.S. Cellular.”
He was part of a dominant effort by Catholic League pitchers. St. Laurence’s Mike Chimera started and worked three innings, allowing one hit and no walks while striking out one. Next came McEnery, who gave up two hits and no walks with two strikeouts. Mount Carmel’s John Kravetz, who threw a six-inning complete game in a loss to Lyons in the Class 4A semis on Friday, came back to throw a hitless seventh with one walk and two strikeouts.
McEnery, who didn’t pitch in the state tournament, had some butterflies at the prospect of working off a major-league mound. “After I threw my warmup pitches, I settled down a bit,” he said.
More difficult, perhaps, was getting over the season-ending loss on Saturday night at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.
“The past few days have been pretty tough, pretty emotional for me,” McEnery said. “But you have to move on. We had a great year. You can’t win every game. That’s baseball. ... We just have to keep our heads high, moving forward.”
McEnery’s Providence teammate Sam Travis, who hit .504 with 17 homers and 75 in 41 games this spring, picked up where he left off offensively. His RBI single on an 0-2 pitch gave the Catholic League a 1-0 lead in the top of the first and he finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
St. Ignatius’ Bill Boyle provided the next two runs with one swing, slugging a two-run homer into the left-field bullpen in the top of the fourth.
“I was down 1-2,” Boyle said. “The first thing on my mind was at least hit it somewhere. I hit it and saw it going. I couldn’t believe it and then I saw the left fielder stop running.”
Unlike McEnery, Boyle is a Cubs fan in a family of Sox fans. But that didn’t diminish the thrill he felt.
“I’ll remember it forever,” Boyle said. “My last at-bat in a high school uniform was hitting a home run at U.S. Cellular Field.”
Young’s Mark Brown went 2-for-2 to lead the Public League. Starter Chris Simon of Clemente took the loss, allowing one run on two hits in two innings, striking out two and walking one. Von Steuben’s John Negron pitched two shutout innings for the Public League, allowing two hits and two walks with no strikeouts. Lake View’s Yasen Santiago worked a scoreless seventh, fanning two.
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