Since the Catholic League began competing in the PIAA during the 2008-2009 school year, only seven baseball state championships have been won by PCL schools. Neumann-Goretti now owns three of them. The Saints are tied with La Salle atop the list and the only other school to win one was Father Judge last year.
Special things and special circumstances need to happen to bring a trophy home from Penn State University in June. The Saints did it this year, so let’s take a deep dive look at how they accomplished it.
The Arms Race
Big three senior hurlers Jayce Park, Santino Pharma and Joe Gallagher brought their A-game to the state playoffs. In four games (24 innings pitched) the trio combined to allow just three total runs (one apiece). Park took the bulk of the workload, throwing 12 innings (17 strikeouts) and Pharma was just as good in 10 innings (10 Ks).
“The whole year, they were fantastic,” said coach Nick Nardini. “Santino and Jayce were our two dogs down the stretch. They were the two horses we really relied on.”
Gallagher was effective in his two postseason innings, striking out two, but also earned a great deal of respect after battling injuries pretty much all season. He adapted to a relief role that helped the Saints through a few tough stretches.
“Gallagher was great at the beginning of the season and was trying to pitch through an elbow tightness and soreness,” Nardini said. “He finally came to me and was honest about it. We didn’t know. So we shut him down. He started coming in relief for us later on and did a great job for us in that spot.”
Takes One to Know One
Every pitch thrown by a Saints pitcher this season was delivered in the direction of senior catcher Jimmy Gallo, who caught every single inning behind the dish. It’s no surprise he received high praise from the coaching staff, which includes three members from the Nardini family (Nick, Eric and Tommy), who all played catcher at Neumann-Goretti.
“Jimmy Gallo never even asks for a day off,” Nardini said. “He wants to be in there and he’s one of the best defensive catchers I’ve seen. And I played that position. He’s as good as it gets. He’s been knocked up, hit, but never even wavers. Just tough as nails. He was battered and bruised but you wouldn’t know it if you watched him play.”
Offensively, Gallo contributed 13 RBIs, 19 hits and 16 walks this season. Only Will Gural earned more free passes to first base (18) than Gallo, who will attend Rowan College of South Jersey Cumberland.
No Walks in the Park
Jayce Park, who threw five innings in the state championship and allowed just one hit, finished the season with a pretty incredible strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Old Dominion University signee struck out 86 batters this season while allowing just 16 walks in 65 1/3 innings. Park never feared throwing a strike when needed as he had a solid defense behind him. The Saints committed just 18 errors in 27 games.
“We had less than 20 errors as a team,” Nardini said. “It’s pretty remarkable. Obviously our pitchers were great but the guys behind you have to pick you up. Nothing fell in the outfield. We probably had the best outfield I’ve seen in quite some time. The speed and the instincts out there were incredible. Then our infielders were solid, too. It lets the pitchers fill up the strike zone. It’s definitely a recipe for success.”
Up the Gut
One guy who certainly deserves some recognition for his glove is senior second baseman Billy Smith. The Holy Family commit was perfect on the year with 27 putouts and 38 assists. He also helped turn three double plays.
“It’s pretty cool to not have an error all year,” Smith said. “It’s all about preparation. It’s all about seeing the play in your head. Nardini tells me all the time that the best players have a great imagination. I try to do that a lot and most of the time it works. I guess this year it worked all the time.”
Nardini didn’t seem surprised.
“He’s probably our best hands and footwork guy on a defensive side,” Nardini said. “He’s a true shortstop but his arm was bothering him some of last year and into this year. We put him at second base last year and he was so good there, we just wanted to keep him there.”
That opened the door for junior Richie Rosati to slide in at shortstop. It’s just one of the positions he was overly qualified to play.
“He was just phenomenal for us,” Nardini said. “He can play any position on the field. He can pitch, catch, play all four infield spots, and I’m sure he could play outfield if I asked.”
Bottoms Up
Neumann-Goretti’s bottom half of the lineup was a baserunner factory during the championship game. Six-through-nine hitters Will Gural, Chris Meitzler, Billy Smith and Anthony Coppola scored seven runs, which included six walks, a pair of hits and a hit batsman in 12 combined plate appearances. The four players each had a walk in the huge seven-run fourth inning that brought in the game’s first three runs via bases-loaded walks. They turned the lineup over, setting the stage for a big blast.
McDouble with RBIs
Senior right fielder Evan McCoach is known for his big swing, and arguably none were bigger than his bases-loaded double in the fourth inning of the state championship game, which broke the game open.
McCoach was coming off a huge junior season but was starting to become the guy opposing pitchers would rather avoid than attack. It can be a frustrating spot for a slugger, not seeing many pitches.
“I feel like I could have handled it in a better way,” admitted McCoach, who is signed to play at Rutgers University next year. “Sometimes I got myself out in certain situations where I tried to do too much or try to take over a game when I didn’t need to. I did best when I just tried to let my real game show and just be a kid and play baseball again. It came down to a mindframe of just having fun.”
In a pressure spot, McCoach came to the plate with two outs and bases loaded. He ripped a double over the centerfielder’s head to clear the bases to make it 6-0. Right before he walked up to the batter’s box, he had a moment of clarity thanks to a chat with a couple teammates.
“Before my at-bat, I was talking to Christian Cerone and Vinny Marazzo and they were telling me to take a deep breath, look around, have fun, realize where you’re at and be that guy,” McCoach said. “They told me to have all the confidence in the world to do it.”
Dank You Very Much
In the state semifinal, senior Andrew Dankanich was able to experience the incredible feeling of hitting a walk-off grand slam as the Saints defeated Trinity 11-1. It’s something rarely seen in baseball and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those fortunate enough to accomplish it. Dankanich did it again four days later.
“I didn’t think of it like that,” Dankanich said. “I’m just playing a game. When you really look back and look at it, it really is awesome. I try to be humble about it, but sometimes it’s OK to recognize it, like damn, I did that, especially after achieving our end goal of winning a state championship. I’m fortunate enough that both of them are on video so I’ll have that forever. It’s pretty awesome.”
In Stitches
Championship runs oftentimes create folk heroes. The courage and contributions of junior first baseman Anthony Coppola certainly wrote notable tale.
In the Saints’ first playoff game against Salisbury, Coppola was bloodied with a fastball to the face and was forced to leave the game for medical attention. A hospital visit was next and his status for the quarterfinal three days later wasn’t looking promising.
“I didn’t think he was even going to be able to play,” Nardini said. “After that game, he went straight to the hospital. As I’m driving home, I call his mother and she said he’s going to get stitches but at least his jaw and teeth were fine. It just ripped his face open pretty good and needed stitches inside and outside his mouth. I saw a picture. It looked really bad. Two days later he’s back at practice. He toughed it out. To play with 15-20 stitches in your face and have a mask on is really something. And we needed him. He’s a phenomenal defender.”
Coppola batted in the nine-hole most of the season and wasn’t largely depended on for his offense thanks to a robust Saints’ lineup that had no trouble producing runs. But that didn’t matter to Coppola. Wearing a mask, he went 2-for-2 with two RBIs in the state championship game.
“For him to get two knocks with a big face covering and not being able to really open his mouth, it just shows the toughness and the character of that kid,” Nardini said. “He’ll do anything for us to win.”
Limpin’ Ain’t Easy
Another player who battled through injury was outfielder Christian Cerone, who sat out the first game of the playoffs as a precaution because of a nagging hamstring. Had he been needed, Cerone was more than willing to step in.
“It was hard for him to even run,” Nardini said. “We were getting ready for the playoffs and he hit a ball down the line in practice and had to pull up. I’m thinking, ‘No, not right now.’ We figured we could get away without playing him in the first game. He told me he could swing if needed. He got back in and was incredible. Playing on one leg, he was ridiculous.”
Cerone, a Millersville University commit, went 6-for-9 in the playoffs to complete a season where he batted .429.
Champions League
Aside from the normal grueling PCL schedule, the Saints certainly didn’t dodge any powerhouses on the way to building a 21-6 record. Aside from playing PCL champ La Salle twice, in which they earned a split, the Saints took on Friends School League champ Friends Central, New Jersey Non-Public A state champ St. Augustine Prep, Public League champ Central and PIAA Class 4A champ Holy Ghost Prep.
“As soon as we got to our state championship run, we took a step back and knew that we had seen everything that’s come at us already,” McCoach said. “Nothing was going to be a surprise. We saw 90 miles an hour on the mound. We knew we’ve been there before and we’ve beaten teams like that before. We had the confidence to beat anyone that steps in front of us.”
Skipper and his Mates
Neumann-Goretti could just about field every position with its rather large coaching staff. But that’s just a small example of the amount of dedication that goes into a winning program. The Saints’ staff is deep with former players. And there are no passengers out there. Everyone plays a role.
“All these hands on deck shows you how much people care about our program,” Nardini said. “We never used to have a staff this large, but so many people want to be involved. I love it. The more guys we have, the better. There’s so much experience of guys that played at a high level. The knowledge and the care towards these kids is just awesome.”
There are seven coaches listed on Neumann-Goretti’s website but that number grew as the season progressed. It was a group with high standards when it came to work ethic, but they held a great balance to make a long spring season a fun one. The sense of camaraderie and respect between players and coaches was truly a special bond.
“You know how our team is all best friends and can talk forever?” Dankanich said. “Well, the coaches are the same way. They’re all boys. They all went to the school together and they’ve won championships together. They are best friends. And we think we have the best coaching staff around. The energy they bring and the love they have for this program is unmatched. The personal connection we have with all these coaches is something I don’t think a lot of other teams have. It really is something special. A lot of these guys don’t get paid and they put in so much time and effort. I owe everything to them.”
