Bearcats top Gators as playoff hopes rise
CONNELLSVILLE TWP – It was “Senior Day” as Geibel Catholic hosted Bentworth Monday afternoon in a Section 1-A contest that saw both teams give in to a little pressure with both fighting for their playoff lives. Bentworth holds on to second place with a chance to catch California for the section title.
The Gators recovered from a slow start at the beginning of the season to fight their way into the thick of the playoff race, trying to gain ground on Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan.
Bentworth got a solid pitching performance from Derek Jansante, and Mike Ciarochi fought to keep the Gators within striking distance.
However the teams combined for 11 errors and the Bearcats were able to capitalize on their chances to take a 5-2 win.
“We’re normally a sound defensive team but we didn’t show it today,” Bearcats coach Dion Jansante said. “I think the most errors we’ve had in a game this year was two and today we had five.”
The Bearcats (10-3, 13-3) took a 1-0 lead in the first. Isaiah Manfredi led off with a single before Chase Roman put down a sacrifice bunt.
Ciarochi hustling off the to make a diving tag to get Roman, but Manfredi was able to move to third on the play. Derek Jansante laid down another sacrifice bunt, scoring Manfredi.
Bentworth picked up two more runs in the top of the second. With one out, Taylor Young was hit by a pitch, George Lucy was safe on an error at first, putting two on, and Tim Reid picked up a hit to lead the bases.
Jason Jansante’s ground ball allowed Young to score. The play the throw to get the force out at second went into right field, allowing Lucy to score, giving the Bearcats a 3-0 lead.
The Gators (7-5, 8-8) got one back in the bottom half off the inning. Mick Betler led off with a double, and Tyler Charles grounded to third. The throw from first to get Betler went into left field, allowing the runner to move up a base. Tyler Erdely drove in Betler with a ground ball to third with Erdely safe on an error at third. He managed to steal second but was stranded when Jansante struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
Ciarochi got out a jam in the third when he gave up a base hit to Ryan Anderson, a double to Lincoln Gibson and walked Young to load the bases with one out. He Got Lucy to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Geibel cut the lead to one when it scored again in the fourth. Betler had a one-out single for his second hit of the day. Charles followed with a hit, moving Betler to third, and Erdely flied to center allowing Betler to tag from third.
“Mike did a great job for us today, but Jansante shut us down again. We couldn’t get anything to fall in today.” Gators coach Mark Riggin said. ” The second time through I thought we would get something going but we couldn’t get the big hit today. My hat’s off to Bentworth. They deserved to go to the playoffs last year and didn’t make it. This year it looks like they’re going to go. They did a good job today.”
Bentworth added another run in the fifth inning when Anderson singled. Gibson doubled, putting runners at second and third. Young singled to drive in Anderson. The Gators escaped further damage in the inning when Lucy tried a squeeze bunt to bring in Gibson, but Ciarochi’s throw to Charles at the plate cut down the runner. Ciarochi then got Reid to hit a short fly to center, and struck out Jason Jansante to strand a runner at third.
The Gators missed a chance to score in the bottom half of the inning. With two out Phil Mariani was safe on an error at first. Brendan Costantino hit a grounder to third. An error on the play put runners at the corners. Jansante got out of the inning when he got Ryan Craft to fly out to right.
Bentworth picked up one more run in the sixth. Chase Roman had a one-out double. Derek Jansante grounded to third for the second out, Anderson hit another grounder to third, and an error allowed Roman to score the Bearcats’ final run.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game today so we worked hard to manufacture some runs,” Jansante said. “Derek did a great job for us. He didn’t have his best stuff, but had great location on his pitches to keep them off balance. The kids were feeling a little pressure today because we needed to win to stay alive in the playoff chase and for a chance to catch California for at least a piece of the section title.”
The Gators at still in the running for the playoffs but need some help. Most important for Geibel is to stay focused on the business playing at California today and Frazier Wednesday.