Danny DiFillipo couldn’t do much of anything the last few weeks of the regular season – let along pitch his team out of a game-saving jam.
The Stepinac senior right-hander has been battling the effects of mono, missing three weeks and losing 15 pounds. He made his first start since then last week in a non-league game against White Plains and threw a bullpen session three days ago and looking good, according to Crusaders coach Pat Duffy.
It was DiFillipo who got the ball with a three-run lead and runners on first and third with one out in the fifth when starter Christian Huertas’ back tightened up and he lost his velocity.
“Playoff time,” DiFillipo said. “You have to come in and shut the door.”
He hit Bishop Ford’s Jonathan Pineiro after striking out Dan Arroyo to load the bases before inducing a ground ball that first baseman Greg DiGiacinto flipped to him at the bag to end the threat. The No. 15 Falcons didn’t get a hit over the final two innings and No. 10 Stepinac held on for a 4-1 victory in a second round qualifying game for the CHSAA Class AA championship tournament Saturday afternoon in White Plains.
“It means a lot,” the three-year varsity player said. “Sitting out for three weeks, can’t do anything to help your team to come back with a little less strength than I had before. I gave it everything I had.”
The Crusaders (11-8) struck first in the second when Nick Euvino reached on an error, and stole second. He came home with two outs when Ford third baseman Manny Torres ended up throwing low to first instead trying to tag Euvino. The centerfielder gave Stepinac a much-needed cushion in following inning, ripping a Zach Calabrese pitch down the right-field line for a two-out, two-run double to extend the lead to 3-0.
“Euvino is a streaky hitter and he has been hot lately,” Duffy said. “He’s a football guy. So I love the football guys when it comes to pressure.”
Stepinac got its final run in the fourth when Pineiro’s throw from short pulled Branley Torres off the bag, allowing Vincent Narog to score. Ford (9-10) began threatening Hurtas (three hits, six strikeouts) in the fourth with runners on first and second and no outs. Pineiro was tagged out in a rundown between second and third on an attempted double steal and Huertas struck out the next two batters. The Falcons lone run came thanks to an Andrew King double to the wall in right-center in the fifth.
“We got too comfortable with the lead,” Euvino said. “You can’t do that.”
DiFillipo made sure the lead stayed exactly that – comfortable. He said he is feeling back to 100 percent and with his experience, he will be a dangerous weapon moving forward. The Crusaders now start a three-game third-round series with Xavier, last year’s runner-up at noon Sunday at Fordham University’s Coffey Field.
“I feel like I’m exactly where I should be,” DiFillipo said. “Perfect time, it couldn’t come any better.”