Kevin Martir is now the answer to a trivia question
Name the only player to win city championships in back-to-back years in the PSAL and Catholic league.
The Maryland-bound catcher won a CHSAA Class AA intersectional crown last spring with Xaverian and helped Grand Street Campus win its first city championship on Friday, driving in a run in the Wolves’ 2-1 victory over George Washington in the PSAL Class A finals at MCU Park in Coney Island.
“It feels great,” said Martir, who transferred into Grand Street in the fall after he was expelled from Xaverian. “I think I’m the first one.”
At the start of the playoffs, Martir promised Grand Street coach Melvin Martinez the postseason was his time to shine after a solid, if not overwhelming, regular season.
“Playoff time is my time,” he told Martinez said.
He backed up those bold words, with a pair of two-run homers in a semifinal sweep last weekend of John Adams and a first-inning, run-scoring triple on Friday that set the game’s tone.
Martir was a perfect fit for Grand Street after it lost last year’s cleanup hitter, Williams Jerez, who was drafted in the second round of last June’s MLB First-Year Player Draft. He alternated behind the plate and at third base with Ernesto Lopez, just as he did at Xaverian with Elvin Soto, and was one of the team’s captains
“I said it before, when I lost Williams Jerez, God gave me Kevin Martir from the heavens,” Martinez said. “What a gift and I took it.”
Martir provided protection in the lineup for fellow Maryland signee Jose Cuas and was also a steadying influence during the playoffs for a team that had suffered crushing defeats. When teammates hung their head, he was there to comfort them, reminding them there was plenty of game left to play.
“He said we had to play every [playoff] game like it was a regular game,” Cuas said.
Martir said the Grand Street title meant more to him, because it was the school’s first championship and the final held more suspense. Xaverian cruised to the crown last spring while the Wolves had to grind out the win over GW, the defending champion, in front of a larger and louder crowd.
“It makes it more meaningful,” he said.
At this point, Martir has gotten used to winning championships. He doesn’t plan on stopping, either, even if the odds are slim of next spring ending in similar fashion.
“Hopefully,” he said, “I do the same thing at Maryland.”