Baseball: Joliet Catholic edges Plainfield Central for 1st WJOL title since 2006

JOLIET – The last time Joliet Catholic won the WJOL Don Ladas Memorial Baseball Tournament some of its players weren’t even born yet.

But the 17-year drought now is over for the Hilltoppers, as they edged Plainfield Central 6-5 in the title game Sunday evening at Duly Health Stadium.

Trey Swiderski earned the tournament MVP, going 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs. Tommy Kemp hit the go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the sixth, and Aidan Hayse shut the door with two scoreless innings of relief as JCA won its first tournament title since the initial WJOL in 2006.

“We’ve been around long enough to know that to be the top team out of the eight here and finish as champions in this baseball-rich area, we should feel pretty proud,” JCA coach Jared Voss said. ”And we do.

“We have bragging rights for a year.”

The Hilltoppers (6-1-1) do have that thanks to some good pitching and timely hitting throughout the tournament, which was pushed back a day because of inclement weather.

With the score tied 5-all, freshman shortstop Lucas Simulick walked to lead off the sixth. He moved to second on a balk and to third on a sacrifice. That brought up Kemp, who finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored, and he knew what the Wildcats wanted to throw him. When the pitch didn’t find its desired location, the senior second baseman pounced on it.

“I heard them say to keep the ball down, they were hoping I’d hit a ground ball,” Kemp said. “The first pitch was a curve. So I was looking fastball, and it was a little more up in the zone than they wanted, and I was able to put a good swing on it.”

The hit fell cleanly into left-center field and Simulick scampered home.

“We gave up one big inning, but with the lineup we have we know if we make solid contact we can be in games,” Kemp said. “When [Hayse] came in I felt good because he’s a tough pitcher.”

Hayse, a junior right-hander, made his second relief appearance of the season. He struck out four, walked two and gave up a hit. He struck out the first two batters in the top of the seventh but issued a two-out walk to senior second baseman Phillip Carlton.

Junior designated hitter Gavin Garnica (2 for 3, RBI) then singled to right to put runners at the corners with two outs. Junior left fielder Danny Doherty hit a shot that appeared headed for left-center to tie the game, but Simulick had other ideas as he made a sliding stop to his left, got up and fired a strike to Jake Troyner at first base to nip Doherty and end the game.

“That was a beautiful play, a next-level play, and he’s only a freshman,” Hayse said of Simulick. “To win this feels great. We’ve had a lot of fun and had high expectations coming in here. We hear it a lot about only being in 2A, but we play a tough schedule and can compete with anyone. We have a bright future with our pitching.”

Plainfield Central (7-2) also has a bright future. After knocking off four-time defending tournament champion Lockport 11-9 in an opening-round game last Thursday, the Wildcats blanked Joliet West 10-0 in six innings at Lewis University in the first semifinal Sunday.

“We’ve got a great bunch of hitters who do a great job swinging the bats,” Plainfield Central coach John Rosner said. “That’s the game of baseball. We took advantage of mistakes and scored our five runs. We had other opportunities but had some tough luck, and that’s a credit to [JCA].”

With two outs and none on in the top of the third, the Wildcats got an infield single from senior center fielder Caleb Coberley (2 for 4). He went to third on a failed pickoff attempt and scored on an errant throw when shortstop TJ Augustyniak reached on a dropped-third strike.

Taylor Kujak, a senior right fielder who went 2 for 4, then hit a high popup that wasn’t caught and fell for a single. First baseman Colin Bailye then ripped a two-run double to left to make it 3-1. Carton crushed an RBI single to center, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single to left by Garnica.

The Wildcats, who had at least one baserunner in every inning except the second, stranded two runners in the fourth, fifth and seventh and left eight men on in the game.

“I like where we are at,” Rosner said. “We were 27-10 last year and have most of our lineup back. We have a lot of new guys on the mound, but we are swinging the bats.”

Swiderski drove in the first run with an RBI single in the first and hit a two-run double to center in the bottom of the third.

In Plainfield Central’s semifinal win, sophomore right-hander Ryan Perry pitched a complete-game shutout. Carlton was 4 for 4 with a home run, while Kujak went 3 for 3. Bailye, Carlton, Kujak and Perry were all-tournament selections for the Wildcats.

In the second semifinal at Lewis University, JCA defeated Minooka 11-1 in five innings. Designated hitter Graham Roesel and Kemp each had two of the Hilltoppers’ nine hits, and senior lefty TJ Schlageter (1 ER, 4H, 4K) pitched five strong innings. Kemp, Michael Tuman, Schlageter and third baseman Vinny Spotofora made the all-tournament team for the Hilltoppers.