By Phil Murphy
Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
**Check below the story for video highlights. Re-live the win in 7 minutes, 39 seconds.**
Almost nightly, a pitcher will have a momentary mental or physical lapse and throw 17 balls in a single inning.
But on McLean’s Senior Night, Langley junior Joey Zarella, the team-leader in walks allowed, threw a 69-pitch complete game and — in a matchless act of precision — recorded just 17 balls in the entire outing.
Zarella scattered four hits, struck out eight and walked none as the Saxons scored an abbreviated, five-inning victory over the Highlanders, 12-1, on the road on Thursday. Zarella faced only five batters more than the minimum in the win.
“I wasn’t worried about who I am facing or who was up at-bat,” said Zarella, who held McLean’s No. 4 through No. 9 batters to a combined 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts. “I just saw in the catcher’s glove and threw it. I wasn’t worried like, ‘I have to make this pitch,’ or anything. I was just loose out there.”
Added Langley Coach Jeff Ferrell: “We had been working some kinks out of his mechanics from a couple weeks ago. He’s been a lot more aggressive with his front side and it’s showing.
“He’s throwing strikes, he kept the ball down, outstanding movement with his off-speed … it’s the best I’ve ever seen.”
Beyond Zarella’s pin-point pitching, the Saxons pelted the ball offensively. They scored multiple runs in every inning except the fifth and sent fewer than six batters to the plate in only one inning — the first.
“I’ve been trying to take the ball to the opposite field,” said lead-off batter Daniel Bergamesca, a .196-hitter who finished a double shy of hitting for the cycle. “I had a problem trying to pull off the ball. So I tried taking it opposite field and it worked out.”
Zarella helped his own cause at the plate, as well, adding a bases-clearing double in fourth. He finished 2-for-3 with 4 RBI.
The offensive surge was byproduct of a week-long focus on two-strike and two-out production, something the Saxons (12-7 overall, 9-5 Liberty District) had struggled with in recent weeks.
“We’d been striking out a lot this year,” said Ferrell, in his eighth season at the helm. “We haven’t been doing a good enough job with two strikes. We’ve seen some really good pitching — Stone Bridge and Madison. We got ourselves in a situation where we were going down with two strikes, not putting the all in play.
“That’s what we’ve worked on in practice the last few days.”
The one-sided road win ends a brief two-game skid for Langley, a 2007 Northern Regional semifinalist. Contrarily, McLean will need an offensive turnaround of its own during the early stages of next week’s Liberty District tournament if it hopes to extend its season. The Highlanders (14-6, 9-5) have scored just two runs in their last two regular-season games combined.
“For whatever reason, we’ve been probably a little tight for the last couple games,” McLean Coach John Thomas said acquiescently. “That comes from the top. The sky is not falling or anything, it’s just that we play a certain way. We pride ourselves on trying to say that we’re the tougher team every night. That’s how we got to 14-and-4, that’s how we beat a lot of teams.
“That hasn’t been there as much the last two nights. I’m not 100-percent sure why, but it’s something we’ll have to come together and try and see what happens … We’ll have to work on baseball, but we’ll also have to make sure that everyone is sticking together.”
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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Langley 222 51X X 12 12 0
McLean 001 00X X 1 4 2
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