John Pals` single to left-center field with two outs in the bottom of the 10th signaled the start of a major-league celebration for the Thornwood High School baseball team Friday.
Thunderbird teammates stormed the field and piled on Pals. They doused each other with ice from their water coolers. They carried the festivities onto their team bus, trading horn beeps with enthusiastic fans.
While all this was fun to watch, Thornwood`s partying will have been academic unless it duplicates the feat again Monday.
It took the Thunderbirds 10 innings to defeat defending Illinois High School Coaches Association Summer League champion Andrew 3-2 in the double-elimination finals at North Central College in Naperville.
Thornwood (29-5) will play Andrew (19-1) for the title at 4 p.m. Monday. The Thunderbirds advanced by eliminating Rockford Guilford 5-1 earlier Friday. Monday`s game will be the third time the teams have met in the tournament. Andrew won 2-1 Wednesday.
Of the 14 games played thus far in the 98-team Summer League finals, Friday`s Thornwood-Andrew matchup was the best. Some observers said it was even more exciting than Andrew`s easy Class AA state-title victory over Belleville West last June in Springfield.
The contest was scoreless after a regulation seven innings. Andrew scored two in the top of the ninth keyed by catcher Steve DeHaan`s two-run single, but Thornwood came back with two in the bottom of the inning.
With one out and a man on first, Thornwood reliever Chris Danko came in to weather a potential 10th-inning rally, setting the stage for Pals` heroics. ”You can only take so much tension,” said Pals. ”It`s time to go home and go to bed.”
Pals was wide awake when, with Bernie Pedersoli on first and two out, Andrew reliever Bill Cusack intentionally walked leadoff man Mike Bouck to get to Pals.
Despite Pals` being 2 for 4 and Bouck 0 for 4, Andrew coach Frank Ganser played the strategy.
”I just wanted an easy base,” said Ganser. ”I figured all you do is knock the ball down and get the out.”
Ganser had enough confidence in pitcher Vince Fiore to let him start the 10th. Although Fiore appeared to be tiring-he allowed a pair of hits and walked one batter in the ninth-Ganser stuck with him.
Pedersoli led off the Thornwood 10th with a single, bringing out Ganser and Fiore.
”Fiore hadn`t pitched much (five innings) in this tournament, and I thought he was fine for the last inning,” said Ganser. ” Pedersoli`s hit was a ball that shouldn`t have been thrown. Fiore pitched an excellent game. Give Thornwood credit. They came back.”
A comeback even some Thornwood players weren`t so sure of.
”After they got the lead, our first reaction was, `It`s over,` ” said Pals. ”But, as the inning went on, it was, `We have a great team. We aren`t dead yet.”
Andrew will come back Monday without several non-starters who, said Ganser, put off their vacation until after Thursday. The Thunderbolts will get back the players they lost to a Colt League regional in Cincinnati; only designated hitter Ryan Dwyer has started.
