Calhoun battles into title series

Calhoun extended its winning streak on the diamond to 11 straight completing a two-game sweep of top-seeded Massapequa in the semifinals of the Nassau Class AA playoffs on May 23-24.

The No. 4 Colts (20-3 overall) battled back twice in the clinching game, a 5-4 win, with senior designated hitter Nick Savarese driving in senior Tom Viverito with the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fifth. Senior pitcher Alex Vargas, who went the distance, allowed just one hit and one walk over the final three innings.

“He just threw strikes,” Calhoun coach Joe Corea said of Vargas. “He only gave up one big hit and hung a curve to the cleanup hitter. He got stronger as the game went on.”

The Colts, who won the Nassau Class AA championship in 2010, are back in the final series for the second time in three seasons. They were set to square off against No. 2 MacArthur in the best-of-three championship series. If necessary, the final game was scheduled to be played Friday at Farmingdale State with the first pitch coming at 4 p.m. “It’s going to be an interesting series,” Calhoun said, noting the matchup of his lineup against a Generals staff whose top three starters tossed 10 shutouts in its first 20 games.

Junior Tommy Joannou’s double followed a single by Viverito in the fifth with senior Alex Rodriguez walking to load the bases. That set the stage for Savarese’s infield single between first and second base.

The one pitch the Chiefs took advantage of was turned into a home run by James Ott that helped stake Massapequa out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third. But the scoreboard edge didn’t last long, as the Colts answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Seniors Zach Goldstein, Frank Trimarco and Viverito each had RBI singles to help Calhoun pull even. After the Chiefs tacked on a run in their next at bat, Rodriguez tied things at 4-4 with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth. “They’re a scrappy bunch,” Corea said of his team. “They keep coming at you.”

That scrappiness was evident in the first game, a 3-1 road victory, keyed by two seventh inning runs that pushed Calhoun over the top in a pitcher’s duel. Joannou scored the tiebreaking run on a wild pitch and an error and Rodriguez drove in an insurance run with a sacrifice fly, as the Colts turned two singles into two runs. Trimarco, like Vargas, went the distance, allowing just six hits and a walk with six strikeouts. “He hung in there,” Corea said. “We made [a few] errors but he didn’t let anything bother him. He kept everything down and kept them off-balance.”

Trailing by a run in the sixth against Massapequa’s Ryan McCormick, Calhoun got on the board with Savarese scoring in a single by Goldstein.