Calvary Reaches Tournament Final Despite Loss To Columbus

It is not often that a team can lose a game and still feel like they have accomplished something, but that is exactly what happened to the Calvary Christian Eagles on Wednesday afternoon at the Flanagan Nike/OTS Tournament.

Calvary Christian had what is becoming a recurring problem, giving up leads in the middle innings, but they still did enough defensively to make it into the championship game of the tournament. Calvary lost 5-4 to Columbus, but gained a date with tournament host Flanagan on Friday night.

On Wednesday, Calvary struck first, much like they have done in all of their games early this year. Taylor Gushue hit a booming home run to right center in the first, giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Calvary then scored two more runs in the third on a walk by Gushue, a single by clean up hitter Dalton DiNatale, and a two run single by Anthony Avila.

Asked whether the level of competition in the tournament, and particularly on this day, was the reason the Eagles came out prepared, Mucerino stressed how Calvary has come to prepare for each and every game.

“We talk all the time about competing against the game, not the team,” said Mucerino. “Whether it’s the Yankees, or any other team, we’re gonna go after it. We try to take the focus off the opponent and keep it on the game itself.”

Starting pitcher Austin Sovay cruised through the first three innings, giving up no runs on one hit. In the fourth, an infield hit by Columbus’ Kyle Prats started what turned out to be a dreadful inning for Sovay. A walk, a couple of wild pitches, and four hits later, the Explorers had scored all five runs they would get in the game.

Calvary then fought back scoring one run in the sixth to bring the game within striking distance at 5-4, but an over-aggressive base running mistake in the seventh sealed the Eagles fate on this day. Seth Natal hit a single to lead off the final inning, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double. Calvary managed to get two more base runners in the inning, however, they were stranded when Jonathan Gregory struck out with runners on first and second to end the game.

Despite the loss, Calvary still came out of their bracket to reach the championship game, thanks to a tiebreaker of least amount of runs given up in their two games. Calvary finished first in the bracket, with American Heritage second.

While Mucerino spoke of not worrying about their opponents, the Eagles may have to be cautious of their opponents in the final game on Friday. Flanagan, the tournament host, has won both of their games by the ten-run mercy rule. The Falcons won their opener over St. Thomas 14-4 in five innings, and defeated Miami Pace 17-1 i five on Wednesday night.

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