See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Patrick McCormack
Brooklyn Daily
The Nazareth Kingsmen’s unexpected title run did not end with a crown.
Second-seeded Kingsmen fell to No. 1 and unbeaten Scared Heart 3–0 last Sunday in the Catholic Class A baseball final at St. John’s University.
The young Nazareth squad, which would have had to beat the Fighting Irish twice, surprised many people around the league by making the title game of the double-elimination tournament.
“We were expected to be kicked out in the first round, knowing that we were facing juniors and seniors,” said freshman centerfielder Shamariah McCullough, “but as the year progressed ,we actually stuck our heads in together and worked as a team and made it to the championship.”
Unlike the rest of the league, Nazareth coach Oggie Quiles knew his team could make it this far.
“I am a very confident guy,” he said. “I get on the field to win championships — that’s my goal. So my expectations were always to be here.”
Nazareth, which has no juniors and only two seniors, came out and showed that it will be a force in the league in years to come.
The Kingsmen and the Fighting Irish (15–0) were scoreless into fifth, when Sacred Heart finally opened the scoring on an Albert Flores RBI single. Later in the inning, Greg Hernandez laid down a successful suicide squeeze to make it 2-0. An inning later, a wild pitch brought Luis Pena home to extend the advantage to 3–0.
The runs were enough for David Hurley, who struck out eight and held the Kingsmen (10–6) to five hits. McCullough knew Hurley had a good curve ball, but saw his team out in front of too many of them.
“We warned each other, but he found a way to strike us out,” McCullough said.
Nazareth put two runners on with two outs in the seventh, but Hurley got a fly out to left field to end the game. Nazareth pitcher William Navarro, who also had two hits, felt his club, which left nine runners on base, was just one hit away from getting back into the game.
“We had our rally caps on. We felt great going in — well, we fell a little bit short,” Navarro said.
Navarro, a sophomore, is confident despite the loss that this young squad will come back stronger next season.
“Through all the pain I am sure I can find it somewhere, to look forward to that point, but right now it just hurts a lot,” Navarro said. “I know we are going to come back ten times better than we were now, ten times stronger and hopefully we can take a championship next year.”