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Sports

Baseball: Murphy's Play Saves Day For Waubonsie

Waubonsie Valley 3, Metea Valley 2. Senior's fifth-inning diving catch with bases loaded sets stage for late Warrior rally.

AURORA – Often times, when looking back on a baseball game and its key moments, a big hit or clutch pitching performance is usually what winds up being the important part of the outcome.

Every once in a while, however, a defensive gem changes the complexion of the game. Waubonsie Valley senior Mike Murphy provided that moment in Tuesday’s 3-2 Upstate Eight Valley win over district rival Metea Valley, a win which completed a three-game season series sweep for the Warriors.

Metea had just tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth and had the bases loaded with two outs and Ryan Solomon at the plate. Solomon lofted a deep drive to the left-field corner, a shot that wound up being about two feet into fair territory and two feet in front of the fence.

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Murphy came flying toward the line in from about 20 yards out and caught the ball on the jagged warning track with a full-on dive to end the threat. In the top of the seventh, Waubonsie took the lead and held on for the win.

“At first, I thought it was going to go foul, but it kept staying fair,” Waubonsie junior pitcher Mitch Stefani said. “He saved my butt. I was so happy. Without that catch, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

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Stefani (4-1) had his only really rough inning in the fifth for Waubonsie (13-11 overall, 12-7 UEC Valley). Singles from Will Doiron, Andrew Fox and Billy Sheeren set up the big inning for Metea (10-11-1, 6-11-1), and bases-loaded walks to Brendan Serra and Kenny Obendorf tied the game 2-2. But Murphy’s heroics stopped the rally there.

“That’s one of the better catches I’ve seen in a long time coaching high school baseball,” Waubonsie coach Dan Fezzuoglio said. “That’s such a huge play. If that ball gets down and trickles into the corner, they score three runs. That’s what you want out of a senior captain and senior leader.”

Station-to-station baseball got the lead for Waubonsie in the seventh. Harry Vickers led off with a single off of Metea starter Tom Bolle (3-1), advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, moved to third with some shrewd baserunning on a Stefani infield single and scored on a fielder’s choice.

After allowing a one-out double to pinch hitter Jake Charuk in the bottom of the seventh, Kyle Limanowski came on for Stefani to record his second save in as many games to secure the win for Waubonsie.

Waubonsie took the lead with at two-run third. Eric Josupait singled in a run and scored to open a 2-0 lead.

After a 0-6 start to the season, the Warriors are making a late run that has become their hallmark in recent years. They enter a crucial three-game series with Neuqua Valley on Thursday having gone 13-5 since the slow start.

“Pretty familiar territory,” Fezzuoglio said. “I just wish we could get off to some better starts so we can get a better seed and not have to work so hard in the tournament.”

The Mustangs dropped all three games to coach Craig Tomczak’s former employer, Waubonsie, but the last two games of the series were both one-run affairs, giving the young program hope.

“This was the first game where we played with a good team and gave ourselves a chance to win, and that’s all you can ask for,” Tomczak said. “It stinks for [Bolle] that we don’t walk out of here with a win. But if he keeps throwing like that, he’s going to give us a chance to win a lot of games.”

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