Baseball: Morris Hills 2 - Par HIlls 1 (4-5-07)

Mirabella, Kestel lead Scarlet Knights past Vikings

By Dave Roberts for MorrisCountyVaristy.net

Rockaway, NJ - With Morris Hills ace Luke Mirabella toeing the rubber against the Parsippany Hills Vikings, the match up of Iron Hills heavyweights was a low-scoring affair. Striking out six while only walking two, Mirabella was in control the entire game bringing a no-hitter into the 4th.The Morris Hills offense provided early run support in the bottom of the 1st when a burly clean-up hitter named Kestel but also known as “Fudge” hit a hard grounder to the left fielder. The bouncing ball eluded Cory Elias and allowed Mirabella to score. With a 2-0 lead, Mirabella was cruising showing a good fastball and mixing in a nice variety of changeups and curveballs. In the 4th, the Vikings showed their first signs of life when Tommy Barbarite laced a single to break up the no-no. Barbarite followed it up in the bottom half of the frame with a web gem nominee when, at his third base position, he backhanded a short hop, then threw across his body to get the speedy Danny Meude.As the 5th inning came about Mirabella began showing signs of fatigue. “Usually you have all this energy to start the game and in the middle innings it fades some,” said the ace. Elias started the inning off with a perfect bunt which was then followed by a Brad Turner seeing-eye single. With 1st and 3rd and two out Mirabella surrendered a wild pitch and Elias scored. After yielding a walk and an infield hit, the Parsippany Hills bench looked energized. With the based loaded and two out Morris Hills right fielder James Castellano came barreling in to make a sliding grab in foul territory. A much relieved Mirabella commented with a wry smile, “for a sophomore, that Castellano is a pretty good player.”Still, there was more excitement to be had in the hills of Morris. In the bottom of the 6th, Mike Halbach came on in relief for the Vikings. He inherited bases loaded with only one out and managed to get out of the inning without surrendering any runs.With one out to go in the game I asked the Morris Hills coach if I could speak to the pitcher after the game. He said that it would not be a problem, just in the future ask after the game is over because it can be a jinx. The next pitch, Par Hills’ Rich Paluzzi hit what looked to be a home run but stood as a triple. Mirabella then reached back and got a pop-up to end the game. “I wasn’t nervous at all in the 7th…I enjoy it!” says Mirabella.After knocking off Par Hills, Morris Hills looks to their Wednesday match up against West Essex. A very talented Par Hills teams is now 0-2 and will meet Dover on Wednesday.

Monday, April 9, 2007