| AWAY | Â | HOME | |
|---|---|---|---|
| JOHN PAUL II CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL | VS | HARRELLS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY | |
| 8 | Â | 5 | |
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Paul II Catholic High School | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 5 |
| Harrells Christian Academy | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 5 |
Freshman Quinn McCaffrey delivered a masterful pitching performance in relief as the John Paul II Catholic High School baseball team earned arguably the program’s biggest victory, toppling host and fourth-seeded Harrells Christian Academy 8-5 on Wednesday afternoon in the second round of the NCISAA 2A state tournament.
The fifth-seeded Saints improved to 15-8 overall and will play in a state quarterfinal on Saturday, likely at No. 1 seed Wayne Country Day, which will face Trinity Academy of Raleigh in a second-round game on Thursday. Harrells finished its season 13-6-2.
McCaffrey pitched the final 4 2/3 innings in relief of Dillon Gregory and gave up no hits, one walk and one run while striking out four as he stymied the Harrells batters with his mix of off-speed pitches for strikes with his fastball. He entered with one out in the bottom of the third and a runner at third. The first batter he faced reached on an error, allowing the runner on third to score. The next batter lined out to third baseman Ray Shaw, who doubled up the runner on base to end the threat with JPII trailing 4-3 at that point.
The Saints retook the lead at 6-4 with a trio of runs in the top of the fourth. Caleb Thrift led off by reaching second on a ball hit right back to the pitcher. With Will McMinn in as a courtesy runner for Thrift, James Donofrio laid down a sacrifice bunt, but reached first safely on another error by the pitcher. Donofrio then stole second to put runners on second and third for Cash Daniels-Moye, who doubled both in on a line drive to left. Daniels-Moye later scored on a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Gregory, who reached on an error.
The Crusaders got one back to close to within one at 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth before JPII added single runs in the sixth and seventh. In the sixth, Shaw led off with a walk. After stealing second, he went to third on a one-out single by Jude Wisman-Raven. Shaw scored on a fielder’s choice by McCaffrey.
In the seventh, Christian Marello led off by reaching on a perfectly placed bunt. He later took second on a passed ball, then scored on a two-out grounder by Max Mason that the defense misplayed into another error.
Harrells had the top of its order up in the bottom of the seventh, but McCaffrey calmly and quickly set them down in order on a flyout to Mason at second, a grounder back up the middle to McCaffrey, and a flyout to Marello in right.
The Saints got off to a quick start and took a 3-0 lead in the first. With one out, Shaw and Gregory both walked. Shaw scored on a single to right by Wisman-Raven, and McMinn — in as a courtesy runner — scored when Wisman-Raven stole second and the ball got away from the defense. Wisman-Raven scored on a single to right by Derrion Geddis.
