THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280297
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 28 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Anyone agonizing over the loss of baseball would have loved the middle schools city championship game.
The game started on Thursday, Oct. 20, and ended the following Monday afternoon. Heavy rain forced postponement of the contest with Great Neck Middle School leading Larkspur, 10-6, in the bottom of the fifth inning.
When the downpour started, Great Neck was at the plate with one out and runners on first and third base. The Gulls had scored five runs to come from behind.
When the action resumed, Great Neck pushed across five more runs to take an insurmountable 15-6 lead. They added three more runs en route to an 18-7 win and the city championship.
Both teams entered the game with 6-2 records. Great Neck won three straight titles in the late 1980s. Larkspur fared well in its first season, winning the southern division title.
``Everybody expected to put up a `W' when they played us. We were in our first year,'' Larkspur coach John Carasella said. ``We surprised some people.''
The Lions may have surprised Great Neck at the start. They scored four runs on three hits and an error to take a 4-1 lead in the top of the second inning. Left-handed pitcher Matt Liffick held Gulls hitters to two hits through the first two at-bats.
But hurt by two errors, Liffick surrendered five runs in the third inning as Great Neck took a 6-4 lead.
Gulls right-hander Larry McDonnell settled down after the shaky second inning and held Larkspur scoreless through the third and fourth.
``Larry got big wins for us all year,'' Great Neck coach Ron Moore said. ``He transferred to us from the Eastern Shore and was a big asset to our team.''
Carasella brought in his own big right-hander - Mike Filipak - after Liffick faltered, but he also failed to silence the Gulls bats. It seems only Mother Nature could halt Great Neck's deluge at the plate. But the Lions contributed to their own downfall with walks and errors in the field.
On Monday afternoon, the teams returned to the Kempsville Middle School field to play under sunny skies and 70-degree temperatures. That wasn't the only difference.
``Mike (Filipak) wasn't in school today. He was sick,'' Carasella said before the action continued. ``We're going to pull Shawn Neronski from shortstop to pitch.''
Neronski suffered control problems from the start - throwing six consecutive balls to begin his stint on the mound. When Neronski found the strike zone, the Gulls hitters found pitches they liked. Second baseman Ross Moore singled to drive in two runs. Designated hitter Brian Barnett tripled to the alley in right center field to bring home two more. The damage was done.
As Moore had said when play resumed, ``All we need now are six more outs.''
His pitcher, McDonnell, accommodated - yielding a single and then retiring the next six batters in a row to pick up the win and Great Neck's fourth title.
Carasella huddled his team together on the bench and told them: ``I'm proud of each and every one of you. No one expected us to get this far in our first year.''
Moore called his team ``a great group of kids. We hit the ball real well today and all year. And my assistants, Tyree Brown and Bobby Gunther, contributed to the program more than they realized.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
Great Neck shortstop Scott Hartin draws a bead on a grounder in the
championship game against Larkspur.
by CNB