60.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Carey back in baseball semis
It’s back to the county semifinals for the Seahawks.
Senior Jesse Montalto went the distance, scattering five hits while striking out four to lead No. 4 Carey to a 4-1 victory and a sweep of its Class AA quarterfinal baseball series with No. 5 Farmingdale. The Seahawks, who improved to 15-6, will take on No. 1 Calhoun, the defending county champions, in a three-game semifinal series.
In the opening game of the series, the Seahawks got three hits including a home run from junior Harry Smith and four RBI from senior Kyle DeMeo as Carey routed the Dalers 20-4. Senior John Daddino struck out 10 over five innings to get the win.
Coach Marc Hedquist hopes his team is set to play its best baseball against a Calhoun team that is 20-1 and swept a three-game series when the teams met during the regular season.
“If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best,” Hedquist said. “Daddino and Montalto are both at the top of their game right now. They’ll have to hit their spots and try to keep Calhoun off balance. They’re a great team. We’re not intimidated, but we have great respect for them. We’ll have to play perfect baseball to beat Calhoun.
Daddino, who will play baseball at Iona College, and Montalto, who has signed with Farleigh Dickinson University, have been outstanding. Daddino, a two-time All-County recipient, is 5-1 with a 1.40 ERA for the season. Montalto is 6-1 with a 1.42 ERA.
The No. 3 starter, Ron Licciardi, has been impressive as well. Licciardi, who has signed on with Briarcliffe College, is 3-1 with a miniscule 1.35 ERA. The righthander has yielded just six earned runs on the season. Both Montalto and Licciardi were named All-Conference honorees.
DeMeo has put an exclamation point on his outstanding career at Carey with a tremendous 2011 season. The two-time All-County shortstop, who will play at Dowling College, is hitting .538 with 35 RBI. He has been struck out just once during his senior season. For his three-year career, DeMeo has a .442 average with 106 hits and 80 RBI over 70 games.
