Worth the wait: Robbed of a chance this spring, Cranford gets its title at Last Dance World Series
The message arrived and Joe Meola broke down.
The Cranford senior and baseball lifer was home, inside his bedroom, in early May when a text landed in his phone from his coach, Dennis McCaffery, with the devastating news.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic had officially forced the cancellation of the entire high school spring season.
In an instant, Cranford’s season filled with hope and promise featuring a deep lineup, talented pitching staff and top-flight coaching staff was gone.
And Meola’s career, like many of his lifelong friends and teammates from the Class of 2020, was finished, too.
The only thing Meola could do in that moment?
“Cry,” he said. “With my dad hugging me.”
What has transpired since has been anything but ordinary, but every bit as exciting.
Nearly three months have passed since the Cranford boys hoping for – er, expecting – some serious hardware this spring were dealt the kind of blow no high school athlete should ever have to endure.
Especially not this Cranford crew.
Cranford – an exceptional baseball town nestled in the heart of Union County with five Group state titles all-time (tied for seventh-most in state history) – was looking to add “2020” to the left field fence at Memorial Field, which proudly honors the Cougars’ championship teams of years past.
“I just kept telling my dad that this just wasn’t the way it was supposed to end,” Meola said. “I mean, we didn’t do anything last year. We didn’t win a state title. We didn’t really have any accolades other than a conference championship. I knew we had so much more in us. I knew this team could accomplish so much.
“It was devastating thinking we wouldn’t have a chance to show what we could do.”
My, how things change.
Wednesday night – and really, the entire month of July – Cranford has shown exactly what it has been capable of thanks to the emergence of this year’s Last Dance World Series mid-summer tournament.
Taking on Bergen Catholic – a non-public, preseason nationally ranked program – at Skylands Stadium in the LDWS North Regional final, Cranford – a perennial North 2, Group 3 contender – flashed the type of talent that would have undoubtedly had it in the running for multiple championships had the spring season been played.
After playing a near-perfect game against Don Bosco Prep one day earlier in a similar rout in the North semifinals, Cranford proved that performance certainly was no fluke Wednesday with an equally as dominant 10-0 mercy-run victory over the talent-laden Crusaders to claim some hardware the Cougars so desperately coveted.
Though it had to wait longer than expected, at last, Cranford had its trophy as Kings of the North after masterfully navigating a bracket that saw the Cougars take down reigning Group 4 champion Ridgewood, top-seeded Don Bosco Prep and Bergen Catholic in consecutive games.
Cranford, which last won a sectional title in 2017, disposed of three of Bergen County’s finest by a combined score of 30-2, with only Ridgewood scratching out runs before pitchers Will Gallagher and Rob Salvatore fired back-to-back shutouts against Don Bosco and Bergen Catholic, respectively.
Those outside Cranford circles might label the latest wins as upsets, particularly the ones over its non-public competition – a unique twist the LDWS has offered in regards to pitting publics vs. privates in a win-or-go-home type setting, unlike a traditional high school state tournament would (hello, Tournament of Champions?).
But the Cougars haven’t cared much who their opponents have been – they have simply had the look and feel of a team with something to prove.
And they’re proving they can play with – and beat – anyone in front of them, no matter the opponent’s enrollment or talent pool.
“It was almost like despair at first, getting that news our season was gone,” Meola said. “To have something right there for you and have it taken away and you’re thinking you’re not going to get it back, it was devastating. But to have this chance, even if it’s not a high school season, just having this chance fueled us. We got our second opportunity and we couldn’t waste it.”
Cranford, nor Meola, did not waste any opportunity Wednesday.
The Class of 2020 designated hitter, on his way to Delaware to play club ball, was the offensive star of the night in Cranford’s title-clinching win – a game played before a large Cranford crowd decked out in blue and yellow who all made the long 52-mile trek north.
Meola’s two-run single in the first capped a three-run rally – after one of Tuesday’s heroes, Aidan Plick, got Cranford on the board with an RBI single – as the Cougars started hot and never looked back.
Meola finished 3-for-4 with a team-high five RBI, driving home exactly half his team’s runs – including another two-run single in the sixth to push the Cougars’ lead to double digits and bring the 10-run mercy rule into play.
“Just to have this chance to play more baseball with my best friends, that’s what it’s all about,” Meola said. “It’s just been a really crazy experience, but it’s special that we’ve made it this far and done what we’ve done.”
And no matter what happens Friday, when the red-hot Cougars take on South champion and highly regarded Jackson Memorial for the Last Dance World Series title in Trenton, Meola already has done his part in bringing home another championship to Cranford.
And no one involved will be forgetting the town’s title team of Summer 2020 anytime soon.
“Our history is what makes this program special,” Meola said. “It’s all the guys who came before us and built such a great program. State championship after state championship. County championship after county championship. It has built up a fanbase. It has built up a tradition. Everyone cares here. Everyone is with us.
“And that’s what makes this special.”
ANOTHER MASTERPIECE UNDER PRESSURE
Originally, this wasn’t even supposed to be Rob Salvatore’s night on the mound.
Initially, the plan was to hand the ball to the rising senior Tuesday against Don Bosco Prep, but Cranford opted to throw Will Gallagher instead and have Salvatore available in relief.
That, however, proved unnecessary as Gallagher spun a one-hit gem against the top-seeded Ironmen.
With that, added pressure was put on Salvatore with the stakes about to be even higher.
He couldn’t possibly duplicate the performance Gallagher delivered 24 hours earlier, right?
Wrong.
It wasn’t a one-hit shutout, but it sure was close – a complete game, three-hitter with six strikeouts – as the southpaw Salvatore delivered a near-identical outing against a Bergen Catholic lineup equally as capable of doing damage in any spot in the order.
“They told me during the game [Tuesday] that this would be my game,” Salvatore said. “And Will did such a great job against Bosco. I was happy they switched us. Everything fell into place.”
Everything did, indeed, as Cranford continues carrying the torch for public schools in North Jersey.
One day earlier, after Cranford’s 12-0 win over Don Bosco, one scout in attendance told McCaffery – who owns more than 400 career wins at the high school level – that his team had just played one of the most sound games he’s seen in more than 30 years in the business.
Wednesday was more of the same, with Cranford playing a textbook brand of baseball featuring precision pitching, clutch rallies and two-out hitting, loud RBI extra-base hits, aggressive and successful baserunning (7 steals) and several highlight-reel plays defensively.
The Cougars pounded out 13 hits, including three from Meola and two each from Marcus Johnson (2-for-3 with a walk, two runs), Ryan Jaros (2-for-3, two runs, one RBI), Jake DiClerico (2-for-4, one RBI, one run) and Michael Murphy (2-for-3, two RBI, one run). Aidan Plick, who ended the game with one of those web gems on a snagged line drive to double up a Bergen Catholic runner on first, also reached base and scored twice.
Already champions of the North, the Cranford crew will get more go at it Friday with a shot to win it all.
“It’s just been awesome being with these guys and actually getting the chance to play with these seniors,” said Jaros, a future high school star who just ended his freshman year. “It’s my first time with them. But this is their last time, so, this is all for them. … I definitely feel lucky to have grown up with a public powerhouse in my town.”
JJ Conrad may be reached at jjconrad8@gmail.com