Taravella Rallies Three Times To Reach District 10-6A Semi-Finals

Taravella celebrates after the game-winning hit by Billy Kleinert.

The Taravella Trojans may have been the higher seed in Monday’s District 10-6A quarterfinal game with Monarch, but for much of the afternoon, it was the Knights that looked like they would be moving on. The Trojans, however, battled back from three deficits to beat Monarch 5-4 in eight innings.

The first three innings featured a scoreless battle between Monarch’s David Webb and Taravella’s Matt Robertson. In the fourth, the Knights broke through for two runs on back-to-back home runs by Andrew Pierson and Kenny Finley.

In their half of the fourth, the Trojans answered right back. A lead-off hit by Nikko Rivera was followed by an RBI double off the bat of Andrew Wallach. Andrew Forrest bunted for a hit, moving Wallach to third, and Greg Feinberg hit a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game.

The teams then exchanged one run and scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth, creating a 3-3 tie heading to the seventh. Andrew Rohloff led off the seventh with a double for Monarch. A balk moved Rohloff to third, and Nick Sposa drove in what could have been the winning run with a single. A tremendous diving play by Taravella center-fielder Vinzenzo Libio saved a second run from scoring in the inning.

In their half of the seventh, Trojans’ third baseman Billy Kleinert led off with a single. After a Joseph Depalo sacrifice bunt moved Kleinert to second, Trojans lead-off hitter Jordan Gleisher lined out to third. Robertson proceeded to hit an RBI infield single to tie the game.

As the tension mounted with Monarch runners on first and second in the eighth, Brian George lined a ball to center, and Libio once again kept a run from scoring with a diving catch.

“It feels great,” said Libio, when describing his game-saving plays and the Trojans come-from-behind win. “I just knew those balls had to be caught. I couldn’t let them drop. They had the momentum and they were up by one in the seventh, and I couldn’t let us go out like that, I had to dive for it. Luckily, I caught it.”

A two-out double by Feinberg, one of the offensive stars for the Trojans, started what turned out to be the final inning of the game. An intentional walk to Libio was followed by the game-winning single by Kleinert, who also picked up the win in relief.

“I was looking for something up and in,” said Kleinert of his last at-bat. “He threw me a first pitch curve ball, and I let it go, and then he threw me a fastball, and I got the hit.”

The loss was a tough one for Monarch Head Coach Joe Franco and his squad, but despite the loss, Franco was pleased with the way his team battled.

“I couldn’t be prouder to coach this group of kids,” said Franco after the loss. “I’m proud to wear the Monarch jersey and represent this school, and I told my kids how classy they were and that I was proud of the way they battled.”

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