Sports
Panthers To Play for Division II Title
Johnston finishes its semifinal series with a flourish Friday, June 3.
The Woonsocket Villa Novans recovered from a Game 2 loss to grab a lead in Game 3, but the Johnston Panthers absorbed the WHS surge and responded with seven unanswered runs to win the series finale at , 7-4.
With Johnston trailing, 4-0, in the third inning, Ryan Geraghty lined a two-run double to left, plating Stephen Almagno and Gian Bianchi. Then, in the fifth, sophomore Michael Pennachia ripped an RBI-double into left-center field, and freshman Joe Bongiovanni delivered a two-run single to cap the comeback.
The Panthers tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning, and Bongiovanni pitched a scoreless seventh to secure the victory. He tossed three shutout innings and picked up the win for Johnston after replacing sophomore Steven Perfetto with a two-run deficit in the fifth inning.
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With the victory, Johnston improves to 21-3 overall, and moves on to play the Prout School Crusaders for the Division II crown.
“I feel bad for [Woonsocket head coach John Marsella], because he’s a good friend. That’s a class act,” said Johnston head coach Stephen DeMeo. “His team is a good bunch of kids. I wish we could’ve played Woonsocket at McCoy.”
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Woonsocket’s 2011 campaign ends with Friday’s loss in East Providence. The ‘Novans maiden D-II voyage included 20 wins, eight losses and five meetings with the Panthers.
“It was a genuine pleasure to go to practice and be with these guys. They love playing with each other on the baseball field,” Marsella said. “It’s a really close-knit group, one of the better groups I’ve coached.”
After , Woonsocket rebounded to take back-to-back games from the Panthers, including Wednesday. The , but they pounced on the Panthers in Game 3, scoring two runs in the second inning and two more in the third en route to the four-run advantage.
Cody L'Heureux initiated the Woonsocket offense Friday with an RBI-single in the second inning, and after a defensive miscue produced another run for the ‘Novans, Andreas Brackett doubled the advantage with a two-run blast to left.
But the Johnston rally began shortly thereafter with Geraghty’s two-bagger, and the assault on Woonsocket’s Kory Lawrence continued into the sixth inning.
“When the kid hit the home run, you could feel, the sideline, the bench, was kind of quiet,” DeMeo said. “Those first two runs were big, because then it gave us the confidence that we could score on this guy,” he said.
“We tried for three [wins]. They got their third, we didn’t,” Marsella said. “I’m real happy for Coach DeMeo over there. Stevie’s a great guy, and I’ll be rooting for them at McCoy.”
