Trinity Catholic 13, South Shore Christian 12: Falcons stage wild rally (05/04/2009)

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By Scott Souza/Daily News staff GateHouse News Service Posted May 04, 2009 @ 01:33 AM The Trinity Catholic baseball team was rewarded for not giving up when things were at their bleakest Friday afternoon at South Shore Christian. Down on pitchers after a busy week, the Falcons were also down on their luck in facing an 8-1 deficit through two innings. Still down, 11-7, entering the top of the seventh, Trinity pulled off a miraculous rally with six runs in the frame on its way to a 13-12 victory. ``An absolutely crazy, crazy game,'' said TC coach Craig Genualdo, whose squad improved to 8-2 with the non-league triumph. ``It was proof that this team will keep finding any way to win.'' Trinity had pulled within 8-7 heading into the bottom of the sixth before South Shore Christian padded its lead with three more runs. Down to their final out with senior Marc Leger on first after a single, junior Andy Medina laced a single that wound up scoring Leger. Then freshman Kyle Manning reached on an error to pull Trinity within 11-9. Sophomore Kevin McAdam stepped to the plate and blasted his second triple of the game, scoring Manning and making it an 11-10 game. That set up Sean Moccia to tie the game with a single. That's when things got even more bizarre in what was already a tense rally. South Shore Christian went to intentionally walk TC senior slugger Bobby Greenwood, but one of the pitches was thrown with the catcher out from behind the plate and Moccia, who had made his way to third on one of 12 Trinity stolen bases, trotted home. Greenwood then doubled and scored a much-needed insurance run off junior Mike Marchionda's single. With Moccia, typically the team's closer, getting the emergency start in the game, Marchionda went to his second inning of work out of the bullpen. He gave up a one-out, RBI double and walked the bases loaded before striking out the final two batters to end the game. Leger was the big bridge in the middle of the game that made the comeback possible. On just one day's rest, he came on in relief after Moccia was chased through two frames and fired three scoreless innings, striking out seven, to help keep South Shore Christian within range. ``He really stabilized the game for us,'' Genualdo said. TC scored its first run in the fourth and began its comeback with three in the fifth and two in the sixth. Moccia and Marchionda had doubles in the comeback, while freshman Bret O'Keefe and senior Elio Espino had RBI singles. The Falcons are back in action at North Cambridge Catholic today.