Bottom half of order comes through again for JCA baseball

To have the kind of success the Joliet Catholic Academy baseball program has enjoyed for three-quarters of a century, it doesn’t take just nine to bat.

It takes nine to hit.

That stacked top-to-bottom batting order paid off again for the Hilltoppers last week in Livingston County. JCA captured the Class 3A Pontiac Regional championship Saturday – its fourth straight regional title and 28th in school history to go with 14 state appearances and five state championships, including two this decade – and in that regional title game, it was the bottom half of the order that got the offense going.

“We have a really deep lineup offensively, and we have really great guys on the mound,” said JCA No. 9 hitter Matt Simmons, who broke a scoreless tie in Saturday’s regional championship against Ottawa with an RBI single to center field with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. “On a day like today, we know we have a great guy on the mound like Lucas Grant, so we just have to get a few runs across.

“My job, especially with the guys [hitting] behind me, is to get on base, maybe steal a few bases. However it comes – a base hit, a double, an error, a walk – whatever I can do to get on base, help my team win and score."

No. 5 hitter AJ Perez started off the fateful fourth inning with a sharp single against Ottawa starting pitcher Lucas Farabaugh, who had effectively dueled Grant, JCA’s Purdue-bound lefty ace, pitch-for-pitch into the fourth. Farabaugh got a couple of outs to leave Perez at first until No. 8 batter John Curbis tapped a slow roller up the middle, a tough chance that was mishandled to push Perez to second and bring Simmons to the plate.

Simmons delivered, driving in Perez for the first run in the Hilltoppers’ eventual 6-0 victory.

“It’s playoff baseball. You’re going to need that, and everybody’s got to have their moments in big games, right?” JCA coach Jared Voss said. “Big situation there, and it was great to see Matt get that big hit. AJ got the inning going with a base hit up the middle.

“It’s got to come from everywhere. Everybody’s got to be ready to go.”

The scoreless tie broken, Grant settled in after a couple of shaky but scoreless early innings to shut out Ottawa, striking out 18.

“There’s way less pressure [pitching with a lead as opposed to in a tie game],” Grant said. “When the bottom of the order can hit and can score runs and I go out on the mound, it just makes it so much easier to throw.”

The inning immediately following Simmons’ tie-breaking hit, No. 6 hitter Steve Martin and No. 7 Vince Bremner had back-to-back RBIs on a bases-loaded walk and sacrifice fly, respectively.

During its two games in the Pontiac Regional, Joliet Catholic’s No. 6-9 hitters – many of who have batted higher up in the lineup this season – combined to go 7 for 22 with seven runs scored and five runs batted in.

Joliet Catholic now gears up for this week’s Class 3A Metamora Sectional. The Hilltoppers (23-14) play Wednesday against Washington (26-10), the first game of a semifinal doubleheader that will continue with Morris (26-8) versus Dunlap (27-7).