Stephen Alemais played six innings at shortstop and, for a second consecutive day, was called upon to get a save to extend All Hallows surprising playoff run.
Playing his fourth game in five days, the sophomore was running on fumes and Iona Prep, which rallied for five runs in the sixth, had the tying run at the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
“This team has more chemistry than every other team, we have more heart,” Alemais said. “We’re fatigued and tired, my arm was killing me, but that’s when the heart kicks in, when you’re able to pick yourself up in a game like this.”
Alemais did just that, snagging Jimmy Foley’s lined shot back to the mound and doubling Nick Salzano off first to send All Hallows to its first-ever CHSAA Class AA championship tournament final with an 8-6 win last night at Kaiser Stadium.
“This feels great,” Alemais said. “For me, being a sophomore to make a championship game is great for me. We have chemistry, we have heart and we’re a family. No one can break that up.”
Fourth-seeded All Hallows, which staved off elimination in three straight games of the double-elimination tournament, will take on top-seeded Xaverian in Friday night’s title game at St. John’s. An All Hallows win forces a decisive second game on Saturday.
“This feels good,” said All Hallows coach Ed Gutierrez, who guided the Gaels to the ‘A’ final in 2006 and was doused with a bucket of ice water after the game.
With the game tied at 1, All Hallows (17-8) scored two runs in the second, one in the third and appeared to break the game open with a four-run fifth inning as 5-foot-5 Joe Morel crushed a bases-clearing triple to center to give All Hallows an 8-1 lead.
“I just decided to hit the ball hard anywhere and the ball just decided to fly off my bat into the gap,” said Morel, a transfer from Monroe HS, a perennial PSAL powerhouse. “It felt great, the sound of the bat, everything. It was awesome.”
Third-seeded Iona Prep (17-7) scored five runs in the sixth on three walks, two passed balls, a hit by pitch, an error and a wild pitch, but Alemais found a way to stop the bleeding and send All Hallows into the final.
“That was mostly on adrenaline,” Gutierrez said of Alemais’ outing. “But I knew he wasn’t comfortable after he threw the last inning the other day and playing short these four games.”
Now All Hallows will take on a Xaverian team that earned the top seed for the tournament, has a gaudy 20-2 record and has rolled through the playoffs without a loss.
“They’re showing a lot of courage and a lot of heart, but the truth of the matter is a lot of those mistakes we made in those last four games, we can’t make them against Xaverian,” Gutierrez said. “We have to play almost perfect baseball against those guys.”