sduncan posted on June 13, 2009 00:54
By Drake Skleba
JOLIET- No. 2 St. Rita, behind the complete-game shutout pitching performance of junior left-hander Shane Conlon, blanked No. 4 O’Fallon 4-0 in a Class 4A semifinal Friday at Silver Cross Field.
Conlon (9-1), who pitched out of two bases-loaded jams, scattered four hits and struck out five. With the win, St. Rita (35-6) advances to Saturday night’s 7 p.m. Class 4A championship game against No. 5 New Trier (31-7). O’Fallon (31-10) will meet Cary-Grove (31-9-1), Saturday at 4 for third place in Class 4A.
St. Rita didn’t waste any time in jumping on O’Fallon senior pitcher Jon Levin (9-4). Mustang leadoff man RF Dan Dispensa launched a rocket off the base of the left-field wall for a double. Dispensa would go to third on a fly out and scored on junior CF Mark Payton’s laser off Levin’s leg for an RBI single. Levin was able to continue to pitch into the third inning.
“It felt good to get the leadoff double and get us started in the first inning,” said Dispensa. “I had been struggling at the plate recently and it was good to contribute. This was a great team win; so many people played great today. We are one win away from our goal.”
St. Rita added a run in the third inning on a clutch two-out, RBI single by LF Angelo Burrage. O’Fallon went to the pen and brought in junior right hander Alex Young to relieve Levin.
O’Fallon loaded the bases in the fourth inning against Conlon, but the crafty junior wiggled out of trouble.
In the bottom of the fourth, St. Rita catcher Sean Scaduto walked to lead off the inning. After two out, Dispensa launched a drive to center. O’Fallon RF Sonnie Rollins ran down the drive only to have it glance off his glove, which was ruled a questionable error by the official scorer. The third run crossed the plate and Dispensa, who is a football tailback in the fall, raced all around the bases only to be gunned at the plate for the final out of the inning.
In the O’Fallon fifth, the Panthers had the situation they dreamed for. With two outs, the Panthers loaded the bases again against Conlon. Up to the plate stepped catcher Nick Tindall. Tindall, a 17th round draft pick up of the Minnesota Twins, had all season been the man for the Panthers, evidenced by his 18 homers and 65 RBI. Conlon induced the powerful Tindall to hit a grounder to SS Justin Kopale, who flipped to 2B Kyle Stearns for the force and ended the final Panther threat.
In the Rita fifth, Payton launched a bomb that carried over a building well beyond the right field fence for his 12th round-tripper of 2009. It was the third hit of the day and second RBI for the Arizona State University recruit. The blast gave the Mustangs a 4-0 lead.
“I was looking for a fastball during the at bat,” said Payton. “I got ahead in the count 3-1 and got a fastball I got a good look at. I had a pretty good swing on it.”
Conlon shut down the powerful Panthers in the sixth. In the seventh Conlon allowed a walk after one out ands then finished off the last two Panthers, the final one on strikes to close out a gem of a pitching performance.
“It’s all about throwing strikes.” said Conlon. “I was able to throw a lot of first pitch strikes today, which forced O’Fallon to hit my pitches. My defense was fantastic today.”
“Shane Conlon was magnificent today,” said St.Rita coach Mike Zunica. “When you consider he had this great performance in a semifinal game it even ranks higher. Also, Shane gave us a big pick-up from the Sandburg win. Even though that game was Monday, it took a lot out of me and the club. Mark Payton had a typical Mark Payton day.”
“We just have to tip our hats to St. Rita,” said O’Fallon coach Jason Portz. “They made all the plays today and we didn’t get the big hits we have been getting all season.”