New Trier right-fielder Tom Geary realized as all the goose eggs were going up on the scoreboard Tuesday he was playing in a classic high school baseball game.
Yet as lefty Tim Morley of Stevenson and right-hander Eric Willson of New Trier matched one another pitch for pitch, and as errorless defenses of both teams turned dazzling plays, one thought kept nagging Geary.
“We weren’t backing up Eric with our bats,” he said. “He was pitching an amazing game, but we couldn’t get him a single run.”
Geary finally delivered the key hit. It came too late to help Willson, who left the scoreless game after eight innings. But Geary’s 10th-inning double triggered the 2-0 victory that earned the Trevians (32-7) the Niles West sectional title and the final berth in Friday’s state quarterfinals.
Geary, a 5-foot-9-inch, 205-pound junior, drilled the 136th of Morley’s 146 pitches off the left-field fence to put runners on second and third with nobody out in the top of the 10th. Pinch-hitter Jon Corwin brought home one run with a sacrifice fly. Bryan Pritz singled home the other.
In this game, however, plays that prevented runs were as memorable as those that scored them. Geary made nine putouts in the sun field, including one in which he dashed 40 yards to make a diving stab of Todd Reichart’s sinking foul.
In the fifth, New Trier loaded the bases with one out on two hit batsmen and a fielder’s choice. Morley escaped by striking out Geary and Steve Martay.
An inning earlier, first baseman Matt Lottich, New Trier’s baseball-football-basketball star, tagged out Morley, trying to score from second after a third strike eluded catcher Martay.
“A million things flashed through my mind. I decided to run with the ball right at him,” Lottich said.
“We were fortunate at that moment to have the ball in the hands of the best athlete in our school … and maybe in the nation,” New Trier coach Mike Napoleon said.
Willson’s record remained 11-0. Junior lefty Peter Elmer, who pitched the ninth and 10th, improved to 8-0. Stevenson finished its season 26-11.
