Top-seeded Don Bosco survives major scare in North Round of 16 in Last Dance World Series
Charlie Granatell just wanted to keep on ‘dancing.’
And Tuesday, the Don Bosco Prep rising senior made sure his team gets at least one more song.
Locked in a 5-all tie in the bottom of the sixth at Yogi Berra Stadium in the Last Dance World Series Round of 32 – after the top-seeded Diamondbacks (Don Bosco) had clawed their way back from a five-run hole against upset-minded and 16th-seeded BH/Mountainside White Sox (Governor Livingston) – Granatell stepped in the box as confident as ever, despite three previous strikeouts on the day.
“The confidence never wavered,” he said. “This is what we prepare for all winter – 15-20 minutes in the cage as a team every day putting ourselves in pressure situations. We talk about and practice for moments like this.”
Granatell proceeded to rip a bases loaded, two-run single for the go-ahead – and eventual game-winning – runs, moments before Don Bosco Prep’s Caden Dana came on in relief in a dicey seventh inning, which included a contentious near game-tying balk (more on that below) and ended via strikeout with Gov. Livingston stranding the tying run 90 feet away and go-ahead run at second.
In the end, Don Bosco survived a massive scare, completed a comeback in impressive fashion for a tension-filled 7-6 victory and is now one of eight teams left in the North.
It will continue dancing.
“We didn’t have a season with these kids,” Don Bosco Prep coach Mike Rooney said. “It’s impossible to go over all those ebbs and flows of a baseball game with no season. It’s like you’re cramming for a test. The score today says we crammed and we passed, but hopefully we don’t have to cram again. It’s never an ideal situation to have to do that more than once, but we got away with it today and it says a lot about the belief in each other that these kids have. Our school has created a brotherhood and they understand it’s about the next guy.
“And in the baseball world, that’s a great mentality to have as an offensive approach.”
That approach was never more evident than it was during the game-changing bottom half of the sixth, with Don Bosco Prep staring at a 5-1 deficit with six outs to work with or else their tournament – and in some cases, baseball careers – would be ending.
They didn’t need the six outs.
A four-run deficit turned into a two-run lead after Dana (walk), JP Kuczik (reached by error) and Nick Carr (walk) set the table to load the bases. Michael Dreznin cut the deficit to two with a two-run double and Kevin Stefanski tied the game at 5 with a two-run single, one batter before Granatell gave Don Bosco Prep the lead for good.
The team that’s been together for four official games was forced to grow up quickly in the face adversity – and they delivered when they had to.
“It shows a lot about our confidence as a team,” Granatell said. “We know a game can change in a matter of five minutes, especially up here in North Jersey baseball. It showed a lot about us, that there’s no quit in this team.”
Tempers flared with two outs in the top of the seventh, with Don Bosco Prep clinging to a one-run lead and Gov. Livingston, which already scored once in the inning on a wild pitch, threatening with two runners in scoring position to potentially tie or reclaim the lead.
Gov. Livingston coaches, which already saw its own pitchers twice be called for balks earlier in the game, claimed Dana had balked – which would have sent the tying run home and potential go-ahead run to third. After three umpires converged in the infield, however, no balk was called, much to the dismay of Gov. Livingston fans, players and coaches.
Three pitches later, Dana secured a game-ending strikeout to send his team to the North Elite 8.
“If time was in, he did balk,” Rooney said of the controversial no call. “But the batter wasn’t in the batter’s box at the time, so the ball wasn’t live.”
Don Bosco Prep will take on Jefferson, a 5-3 winner over Bridgewater-Raritan, in Wednesday’s North Round of 8.
And while the breakout of Covid-19 denied this bunch an opportunity to avenge last year’s North, Non-Public A sectional final loss to Delbarton this spring, a state title of a much different variety is now four wins away for Don Bosco Prep.
“This all feels like high school baseball again,” Granatell said. “Except… it feels like high school baseball just skipped right to the postseason. Game 1, can’t lose, just like a state tournament. We just had to make an adjustment, because nothing like this has ever happened, but that’s what it’s all about. We’ve just got to keep chipping away.”
GAME NOTES: Gov. Livingston took an early 2-0 lead in the first when Michael Shaffer delivered an RBI double and Nick Gold followed with an RBI single off Don Bosco Prep’s Villanova-bound Devin Rivera. … It would remain 2-0 until Gov. Livingston tacked on three in the fifth, with Michael Labisi scoring on an error on a potential sac bunt, Michael Delsordo scoring on a wild pitch and Shaffer delivered an RBI single. … Gov. Livingston started Ryan Devenney worked out of threats unscathed in each of the first four innings, with Don Bosco Prep leaving runners stranded in scoring position each time.
JJ Conrad may be reached at jjconrad8@gmail.com