Pine Crest Jumps On Piper Early, Wins Group Three

Two seasons ago, Alex Perez started on the Pine Crest varsity baseball team as an eighth-grader soaking up as much knowledge as he could to play catcher.

Last year, that load was lightened to about 80 percent of games behind the plate. With the coaching staff curious to see what else Perez could do, he began pitching more toward the latter half of the season.

Though the results were not ideal, Pine Crest coaches still wanted to give him another turn after noticing some further development with his curve ball and his ability to locate pitches.

On Saturday, with a second-round berth on the line to determine Group Three’s winner of the HSBN/Perfect Recruits Fall Classic at Flanagan High School, Perez retired all nine batters he faced in order, and Pine Crest run-ruled Piper 15-0 in four and a half innings.

With the Panthers and Bengals each finishing 2-1 in group play, the head-to-head tiebreaker stipulates that Pine Crest advances to the next round.

Although Pine Crest coach Glen Pierson wasn’t there to manage because of an out-of-town trip tending to family obligations, assistant coaches Nick Manganaro and Larry Kashdin were there to gush over Perez’s performance.

“He’s come a long way,” assistant coach Nick Manganaro said. “He throws a curve ball, fastball and change.”

When asked about the adjustment period from catcher to pitcher, Kashdin explained why the transition can be a smooth one.

“You know what?,” Kashdin said. “A lot of guys who start out as catchers, they get a good understanding. They see. They watch the bat speed. They see hands are out. Hands are in.   That’s why catchers call games because everything is in front of them. I think that being behind the plate is a huge advantage. This boy [Perez] is a special talent. His ball/strike radio in his last game was at least two to one.”

Perez, who struck out five, was staked to a huge lead with the Panthers sending eight batters to the plate and scoring five runs in the first inning.

The Panthers (7-5-1) were just getting started though.

In the second inning, they batted around the order and added six more runs.

Senior right-fielder Sam Kava slugged a two-run home run to deep center, and it was followed by a two-run double by catcher Ben Fiedler. Earlier in the inning, left fielder Shea Parikh smashed a two-run double that found the gap and bounced to the fence in left-center field.

Five players (Perez, Matt Rothenberg, Parikh, Kava and Chandler Cissel) scored at least twice, and shortstop Zack Kone had three RBI.

For Piper (8-4), coach Chris Costanzo kept referring to the performance as “flat.”

“Coming off a big win against Flanagan, we came out flat,” Piper coach Chris Costanzo said. “It was a bad time to have a down game. We controlled our own destiny, and we let it go. Too many walks. You can only walk so many people because it catches up to you.”

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