Monarch Defeats Defending District Champs Northeast 10-4.

Pitching is hard to come by in any level of organized baseball. In high school especially, having more than just that “one guy” to go out and consistently give you quality inning after inning is nearly impossible. Having a three-headed monster in your rotation, well that is just special.

Monarch sent two of their three horses to the mound Thursday afternoon in a 10-4 win over the reigning district champion Northeast Hurricanes.

“This year we have great pitching, we have three aces that can pitch at pretty much any time. Our defense is real good and we can swing the bats,” said the Knights Joey Hennessey, when asked how he feels about his team and the chances of winning a district title this year.

Trying to make an early statement in the season and early in the afternoon Thursday, Monarch started out running. Facing Hurricanes ace Ralph Morel, who held the Knights to one run in the championship game last year, Hennessey led the game off with a different vision for 2014, and promptly reached base. Andy Rohloff followed with a single to left.

As hitting can be contagious through a line-up, the Knight’s Jon Benestad proved that to be true. Going 2-for-4 with three RBIs on the day, Benestad recorded his first hit and RBI in the first.
With the infield playing in early, Nick Ritornato drove in Rohloff for the second run of the inning. Not stopping there, CJ Delbosque delivered the third run for the Knights with a single up the middle.

Receiving the start Thursday for the Knights was senior pitcher Andy Rohloff. After walking the first batter of the game, Rohloff settled down and appeared dialed in. Retiring six of the next seven batters, he gave his team the start they hoped for.

“I started off slow, but then I started getting in the grove. I’m just out there doing what I’m used to.” said Rohloff.

After upping their lead to 4-0 in the second, Monarch felt the first real Northeast threat in the third.

Northeast evened the score with a string of consecutive hits of their own in the frame.

Rohloff, faced with his first adversity of the day, was not able to get out of third unharmed. With no outs and two runners on, Shep Horn went opposite field to load the bases, after two hits had started the rally. Ralph Morel, who was 2-for-3, two stolen bases, delivered the Hurricanes first RBI with a base hit.

The bases still being loaded, Matt Underhill was hit by a pitch to record the second RBI of the inning. A misplayed ball allowed the Hurricanes to score two more runs and tie the game at four.

In the home half of the fourth, the Knights quickly answered.

After a deep fly ball to center, Hennessey started it off for the Knights by hustling down the line for an infield hit.

Giving up four runs isn’t easy to forget about minutes later for a pitcher. Exposing to everyone that he is able to separate hitting and pitching, Rohloff drove a double to the right-center field gap to advance runners into scoring position.

Looking to open the game up, Benestad lined a ball down the left-field line for his second and third RBI of the day, giving Monarch a 6-4 lead. As Manager Joe Franco continued turning to the dugout after each batter, he repeatedly reminded his team, “it’s not enough”, “keep it on”, “they just came back from four down, keep it going”.

Responding to their coaches energetic words of wisdom, the Knights did just that. Adding three more runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 9-4, and Franco went to his bullpen when Rohloff reached his pitch count limit.

“He was at a pitch count today.” Franco said. “Early in the season we have him on a pitch count and he hit his count right at the fifth. We could have left him in, but I have other pitchers on the staff that I’m just as confident in. He’s a senior and we’re going to trust him with the ball. Even without his best stuff, he’s still better then a lot of guys in the county. Then {Nick} Alonzo came in and closed the door, another senior whose been with me four years. He did a great job pounding the zone and pitching to contact.”

Monarch (4-0, 2-0 District 7A-14) has their eyes on big things this year as they start the season strong. After a disappointing district championship loss and first round exit in the playoffs last year, players are focused on going all the way this year.

“Our goal is to make to states, go undefeated in the district tournament and win states.” said Hennessey.

Being young is not an excuse the Hurricanes are satisfied with when hit with a loss.

“Defensively we got exposed today, a couple of holes we have to fix up. Still early in the season and we believe in these guys. We’re going to be alright and we’re going to get it together and see what happens,” said Coach Donnie Motts. “We have to play small ball and execute, offensively at least. That’s what we have to do, we need to move runners and situation hitting.”

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