By Sean Duncan

CHICAGO - Whitney Young once again reigns supreme in the Chicago Public League.

After a one-year hiatus, the Dolphins claimed their third city title in four years by hammering Taft 12-2 in five innings at U.S. Cellular Field on Monday. The convincing victory not only softened the sting from last year’s gut-churning defeat in the championship game, but it also punctuated a mercurial season that wasn’t the smoothest of the Dolphins’ city championships.

“It was such an up-and-down season for us,” said senior catcher Steven Giannoni, a Northwestern University recruit. “But even so, we knew coming in we had the momentum to win it. There’s nothing better for a city kid to beat his neighborhood school on my favorite team’s field. It’s incredible.”

As he’s done throughout his three-year standout career at Whitney Young, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Giannoni delivered for the Dolphins (21-11). Giannoni went 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBI, which included the run-scoring single that employed the 10-run mercy rule in the fifth inning. Giannoni was the starting catcher last season when the Dolphins fell to Clemente at The Cell.

“It was such a letdown to blow that game last year,” said Giannoni. “We had so many opportunities to win that game. So to come back here and blow them out from the get-go is a great feeling.”

The Dolphins’ usually consistent bats had gone quiet in the playoffs, but the offense certainly responded against Taft (21-7). Left-handed hitting senior first baseman John Schreiber went 2-for-2 with three RBI, including a two-run triple that served as the catalyst in the Dolphins’ six-run third-inning outburst. Junior shortstop Nick Frahm added two hits, including a two-run single, and sophomore third baseman Tim Sonnefeldt scored twice and drove in two with a fifth-inning double.

“We’ve been waiting for that in the playoffs,” said Whitney Young coach Chris Cassidy. “We hadn’t been hitting much in the playoffs. … It’s been a battle just to get the kids to this point. Our defense has jelled so much in the last two and a half weeks.”

After the Dolphins scored twice in the bottom of the second, Taft loaded up the bases with one out. But Whitney Young escaped a big inning when junior right-hander Jarrett James (6-1) rolled a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the jam.

“That was a huge play to take the momentum away from them,” said Cassidy. “Three weeks ago that double play never would’ve happened.”

The Dolphins seized the momentum. In the bottom half of the inning, they erupted for six runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batsman. Ynabon Cabrera-Loos led off the inning with a misplayed triple to right-center field. After Sonnefeldt was hit by a pitch, Giannoni singled in a run and Schreiber ripped a triple in the right-field corner. Matt Otero had a RBI single before Frahm’s two-run single capped the scoring.

“We’ve been waiting all year for this,” said Frahm. “We had some rough patches in the middle of the season, but we pulled together in the end.”

James Flammang and Michael Meersman each went 2-for-2 to lead Taft, which scored both its runs in the fourth inning to make it 8-2.

 

“It was a hard game to figure out,” said Taft coach Rich Pildes, who was making his first city championship game appearance in 26 years at the school. “It was as bad of a game as we played all year.”