Monsignor Farrell’s Peter Kennedy lays down a bunt. (William Thomas)
It was a meaningless game, as far as the standings were concerned. Moore Catholic had already clinched the CHSAA Staten Island title. Monsignor Farrell was locked into third place.
To hear the Lions tell it, however, the win over Moore was the beginning of this run they’ve been on, the two elimination game victories that has sent them to a third-round, best-of-three series with No. 5 St. Joseph by the Sea, which starts with a doubleheader on Monday.
“To beat the team who won the Island, it gave us confidence we can beat anyone,” Farrell’s Peter Kennedy said.
Playing with that confidence, No. 15 Farrell blanked No. 18 Salesian on Wednesday in a first round elimination game and knocked off 10th-seeded Bishop Ford on Sunday, 6-2, at Verrazano Narrows Complex in Brooklyn in a second round elimination game. It has now won five of its last six games, counting victories over Sea, St. Peter’s and Moore during the regular season.
“It’s definitely our best stretch,” Farrell coach Bob Mulligan said. “Before we got to this point, we didn’t show much consistency and we’re getting more of that.”
Behind the pitching of Jason Failla and production from the bottom third of its lineup, Farrell remained alive. Failla got off to a shaky start, allowing a first-inning run, but the Lions responded with three runs in the third and Failla never looked back.
The slight right-hander, an afterthought when the year began, pitched into the seventh before he gave way to Mike Murphy. Working ahead in the count and mixing up his pitches well to each side of the plate, Failla allowed just three walks and three hits before running into trouble in the seventh.
“He’s been great all year,” Mulligan said. “He’s around the plate, he’s got a nice breaking pitch he uses as his out pitch. … He wasn’t really comfortable on the mound, but he battled and he held them to one run until the seventh inning. You can’t ask for more than that.”
By then, he had plenty of room to work with. Kennedy, who had a big day with three hits, made it 4-1 in the fifth with a suicide squeeze to plate Dave Piccolino, who led off the frame with a double. In the seventh, Joe Venturino singled in a run and Phil Ciprello drew a bases loaded walk as Farrell (8-8) built a comfortable 6-1 lead.
Ford (10-8) never got much going. They put on two in the sixth with two outs, but Branley Torres was picked off. In the seventh, Daniel Arroyo drove in a run, but Murphy struck out Nelson Lopez and retired Mark Maguire on a groundout.
“We didn’t expect it to end this way,” Ford coach Mike Hanrahan said. “I think the whole season we were better than our record showed or even today showed.”
The offensive display was encouraging as the Lions have struggled at the plate for much of the year. That the bottom of the order did damage was a good sign as well.
“We think we can score no matter who’s up in the lineup,” Kennedy said. “Everyone’s had big moments.”
The offense has been the biggest change in this recent streak, Mulligan said. Farrell has received solid pitching all year; there just wasn’t enough run support. Now that the Lions are starting to score a few more runs, they are winning more.
Mulligan said he isn’t sure who he will throw in Monday’s doubleheader against rival Sea. The Farrell coach was happy to have such a problem to worry about. His players feel this is just the start of something special.
“Teams get hot at different times,” Kennedy said. “We may be later bloomers.”