By NICK KOSKO
Staff Writer
ABSECON — Holy Spirit saves its best for last.
After already running away with a 6-1 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Spartans tacked on five more to win 11-1 via the 10-run mercy rule over St. Joseph-Hammonton in the Non Public B South quarterfinals on Tuesday.
It was a sweet victory for Holy Spirit, as St. Joes had won two regular-season meetings to capture the Cape-Atlantic League’s United Conference title, and were looking for a clean sweep. Head coach Steve Normane would have none of it, as he had his team well prepared to hit.
“It feels good to win this one,” Normane said. “St. Joe’s beat us twice earlier this year and we jumped out early. It took a couple of innings, but we started to put some runs up and finished them off. It was nice to see everything come together.”
Bobby Spicer was the top Spartan, giving up just one run and striking out three in six quick innings. The senior also scored and drove in a run to help his team come out on top.
“I felt good out there today,” said Spicer, one of the heroes of Holy Spirit’s state championship run two years ago. “I was actually hurt with a hamstring issue a few weeks ago, but I went through the physical therapy. Nothing was hurting and I made some good pitches. My team was behind me the whole day.”
Holy Spirit and St. Joe’s were locked at 1-1 heading into the fourth inning. After some early troubles with Wildcats pitcher Jake Brennan, the Spartans opened it up beginning with a Dan Marczyk sacrifice fly that scored Joe Porpora.
Vince Letizia continued the scoring by reaching on a throwing error, and the hustle paid off as Pat Spina scored to make it 3-1. Spicer added one more with a RBI double that included an acrobatic slide to avoid the tag.
Spicer said he was just trying to do whatever he could to help his team win.
His team definitely helped his arm. In a three-inning stretch, Spicer threw less than 20 pitches due to ground balls and double plays.
“I was pitching to contact today,” Spicer said. “I was hitting my spots and making the guys make mistakes on their swings and that resulted in a lot of pop-ups and groundouts today.”
“Playoffs is where Bobby comes and brings it,” Normane said. “The past three years now, he has been a star for us. We don’t expect anything less. He was all-around the best player on the field today, for sure.”
In the sixth is when the Spartans truly came alive. Tyler Knox got in on the run production with a two-run, moon-shot home run over the left-field wall to make it 8-1.
“I was just trying to hit the ball hard and get it out there,” Knox said. “We’ve lost to them twice and it felt good beating them. We battled all day.”
With a runner on, Matt Rivera hit the second two-run homer of the inning. Rivera’s ball was hit so hard to left field it broke the scoreboard.
“That was funny and pretty crazy,” Knox said.
“Knox got a hold of one and then Rivera hit the scoreboard, which was a good way to go through the inning,” Normane said. “It does look like the scoreboard is broken, so hopefully we can go fix that up and hopefully get another home game here.”
When it was all said and done, Jimmy Pasquale hit an RBI double to end the game via the mercy rule.
With the win, No. 4 Holy Spirit is still alive to win its second sectional title in three years. The Spartans take on either top-seeded Gloucester Catholic, which beat Holy Spirit in the recent Diamond Classic, or No. 9 Immaculata, in the semifinals. Gloucester Catholic hosts Immaculata on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
“We have to come ready to practice tomorrow,” Normane said. “It’s the same thing if we won a regular-season or playoff game. We have to get better and whoever we play on Friday is going to be tough and we have to be ready to go.”
Follow Nick Kosko on Twitter @nickkosko59