Shepard outlasts Oak Forest

Sunday, May 28, 2006

By Pat Disabato, The Star

To win or lose a game at the high school level is not a life or death ultimatum. However, if Shepard coach Frank DiFoggio's decision to remove pitcher Ramie Hamdan with two outs in the seventh inning would have backfired, it's unlikely he would have lived to explain his rationale. Shepard fans, both young and old, both male and female, were ready to burn DiFoggio at the stake. Fortunately for DiFoggio, the decision to bring in junior Mike Recchia to close out the game worked out, but not without some heart-pumping dramatics. After allowing a run-scoring double to Matt Kucharski that cut the Astros' margin to 4-3, Recchia struck out Charlie Johnson on a high heater to end the drama and preserve Shepard's second consecutive regional championship in Palos Heights Saturday. Shepard will now play Brother Rice at the Richards Sectional Thursday at 4:30 p.m. "I was stunned," said Recchia of DiFoggio's decision. "I thought Ramie was pitching his best game of the season. To have the guts to bring me in was stunning." "I was thinking, you've got to be kidding me," said Hamdan, headed to Bradley University in the fall. "I felt great. But we have two guns and I knew Recchia was ready." Hamdan cruised into the seventh inning with a three-hitter and a 4-2 lead. With one out, Zac Charbonneau reached on an error, bringing the tying run to the plate. Hamdan then struck Jason Musto looking for out No. 2, bringing the Shepard faithful to its feet. That's when DiFoggio made his move, summoning Recchia, who had fired a complete game win over Eisenhower last Tuesday, to the hill. "What was I thinking?" retorted DiFoggio. "He was at 115 pitches and he's had some arm trouble this year. Maybe it's just me, but I don't want to hurt the kid. Maybe he throws only four more pitches. But I have two guns. Recchia is a stud. I had to go with everything I have. Mike was the right guy at the right time." The Astros launched three solo home runs off Oak Forest ace Dave Norkus to grab a 3-0 lead. Kevin Rudolph went yard on an 0-and-1 fastball in the second inning, Sean Carlin added a shot on an 0-1 curveball in the fifth and Don Selby crushed a first-pitch offering in the sixth. Each drive sailed over the left-center field fence. The Bengals rallied in the sixth and trimmed the deficit to 3-2. With one on and two outs, Anthony Maziur hit a dribbler in front of the plate and just beat catcher Selby's throw to first base. Matt Kucharski scored from second base on the five-foot single. Norkus then sliced a double down the left field line, scoring Maziur to cut the gap to 3-2. Norkus advanced to third on the throw home. Next up was John Koschnitzky and after falling behind 0-2 in the count, pinch-runner Ryan Gorney took off for home plate. Koschnitzky, however, made contact and grounded out to first base to end the inning. The Astros (21-15) added what turned out to be a huge insurance run in the sixth. Sean Carlin led off with a double, advanced to third base on Mike McPheeters sacrifice bunt and eventually scored on a safety squeeze by Yoshio Piediscalzi on a 1-2 count. "That was a big run," DiFoggio said. "It turned out to be the decisive run." The Bengals (28-6) shot themselves in the foot on more than one occasion. In the first inning, Kucharski tried to score on a wild pitch but was tagged out at the plate by Hamdan. In the third, Jason Musto hit what appeared to be a one-out double. However, the Astros appealed that he didn't touch first base and the man in blue agreed, signaling Musto out. In the fourth, Oak Forest had runners at first and second base with two outs. But Hamdan caught Anthony Maziur leaning off second base to end that threat. "I knew he was going to get a big lead," said Hamdan, who walked three and struck out nine. "I got him on that move the last time we played. It was the same guy in the same situation." "Oak Forest is a great team," DiFoggio said. "It took everything for us to get the win. This is our second regional title. We're tied with 'Hap' (former Shepard coach John Harasen) and we better see him at our game next week."

Pat Disabato may be reached at pdisabato@starnewspapers.com or (708) 802-8837.

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