By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
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BUENA — In a decade or two, when the story is told by those who were at Buena Regional High School on Tuesday afternoon, the play may come to be known as “Menne’s Mad Dash.”
With two outs and the bases loaded in an 8-8 tie with visiting Holy Spirit in the bottom of the eighth inning, Ronnie Menne — representing the winning run at third base — took a chance. And if you know Ronnie Menne, you know it’s not surprising what he did.
As Spirit catcher Brecken Weiss tossed the ball back to his pitcher, Menne took off like he as shot out of a canon, diving head-first across the plate in a cloud of dust. His bold baserunning play paid off, as he beat the throw back to Weiss to give the Chiefs a thrilling 9-8 walk-off win. You don’t see a walk-off steal of home too often.
“He’s a phenomenal baseball player, and he’s always looking to take whatever the other team is giving,” said Buena coach Dan Caregnato. “He’s a super aggressive base runner. He’s just a really good baseball player who has a high baseball IQ.”
“Big-time players make big-time plays, and we did that all game. We capitalized in big situations — every guy through the lineup, Nos. 1 through 9. Earlier, in a previous at-bat, I saw the catcher throwing from his knees (back to the pitcher), and (the third baseman) was giving me a lot of space down the line, so I decided to try to take advantage of it,” said Menne, a junior center fielder. “Momentum is the biggest thing. It’s been the theme of our whole season so far, we have to keep the momentum going the whole game, the whole season; every week, every day.”
Teammate and third baseman Ricky Bessix said he had no fear when Menne took his big risk.
“I had complete trust in him. I know him, he’s a smart baseball player,” Bessix said.
The winning play capped a rally that saw the Chiefs (7-3, 4-2 Cape-Atlantic League National) score five unanswered runs in the final three innings to wipe out what seemed like a commanding 8-4 Spirit lead. Spirit (8-5, 6-3 CAL National) got a home run from Jack Murray in the top of the first, but Buena answered with a three-run rally in its half of the first.
Holy Spirit took a 5-3 lead in the top of the third on a solo home run by Josiah Rivera, and extended its lead to 8-4 with a couple of runs in the top of the sixth. But the Chiefs got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, then rallied to tie the game, 8-8, in the seventh with a three-run rally sparked by RBI doubles from Jaevon Alexander and Richie Wilson. Alexander went 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and three runs scored to help pace Buena’s 10-hit attack.
“It was a great win overall. We were down by four runs going into the fifth inning, but we just kept the energy high and kept putting our bats on the ball. It was a great team win. I trust my team, and we’re clutch in big moments,” Alexander said. “This game gave us a lot of confidence to keep going at it 100 percent every day, every practice, every game — never give up no matter what the score is, just keep pushing.”
“Going into today, I told them that if we had energy and competed, good things would happen,” Caregnato added. “They answered that from the first pitch. I’m really proud of them setting the tempo. I like this team, they are gritty and they show that they never quit.”
Bessix, a junior, had a big day on offense as well with a double, a run scored and a pair of stolen bases. He raised his average to .394 and now has 12 steals. Last season he had no stolen bases or hits in only two at-bats.
“Ricky catches people on their heels and he’s been a catalyst in our lineup,” Caregnato said. “He’s looking to take extra bases when he can, and every time he comes up he’s looking to do damage to the ball.”
“The big boy has wheels, you know. We had great team energy today. Everybody in the dugout was cheering for their teammates, we were getting hits all over the field. (Alexander) had two big doubles — just big energy today,” said Bessix, who also is a lineman in football and a power forward in basketball. “We were the underdogs in this game, but everyone loves a true underdog story. We were never out of the game, just keep playing and fighting for the win. Our pitchers had a couple bad innings, but overall they did well and we just told them that the defense had their backs no matter what. We gave up two home runs, but we always have their back. No matter what, as a defense we always have our pitchers’ backs.”
Buena has now won two straight and 7-of-9 since a season-opening loss against Oakcrest and has moved within 1 1/2 games of first-place Egg Harbor Township in the Cape-Atlantic League National standings.
“This shows what we’re capable of,” Menne said. “We know (how good we can be). We work our butts of day in and day out at practice, every single day.”
Added Caregnato, “after scoring three in the seventh, the guys just believed. That was the turning point, and it seemed like it was going in our favor, it was just a matter of when. For us, we’re a small group 1 team so anytime we go up against anyone in the CAL National we want to compete. Even if we had lost this game I was going to praise our effort because that’s what we’re going for. This is a big confidence boost and it shows we can hang (with anyone in our division).”
WHAT’S NEXT: These two teams are set to play each other again on Wednesday at Holy Spirit at 4 p.m.
