However much time pitcher Daniel Caniano devotes to this game, turning it over in his mind, only he knows.
However many times he rehashes his actions across the summer, seeing the comebacker off of the bat of Kellenberg leftfielder Mike Palladino, turning to his right and planting his feet to pick off Joe Lombardo at third for a double play and seeing the ball trickle into left field as Lombardo crossed home plate, he will eventually have to come to grips with the E1 incurred on his line and the ‘L’ next his name along with the 4-3 final on a sunny Saturday at the East Meadow Athletic Complex.
However many times Brian Trablusi sees that 0-2 curve from Kellenberg submariner closer Thomas Bishop over the offseason, he will eventually have to come to terms with the strikeout in his scorecard box leading to the Firebirds celebrating a few feet from him down the firstbase line.
You tip your hat. You move on. You have to. After all, this is baseball – and high school no less – the end of it at least for the seniors. That doesn’t mean you have to feel right or good about it, you just have to come to terms one way or another, especially with graduation the first weekend in June.
Caniano and Trablusi have no such out in a couple of weeks when 11 of their teammates get their sheepskins; they still have another year left as Flyers, another chance for a championship their upperclassmen when they were in their position.
Some men take it and turn it into a drive, a career’s worth of redemption for that one traumatic snub when they were 17 or 18. Others don’t – they’re the ones ending up horizontal on a chaise lounge talking to some manifestation of Freud, being charged through the nose for an hour of talktime while he scribbles doodles on a yellow legal pad.
“They battled,” Chaminade assistant coach Shaun Manning said, trying to offer a balm that any ballplayer will tell you right now doesn’t do a lick of good when you’re on the outside looking in on the playoffs.
Yes, losses still sting, particularly the season-ending variety – indelible scars marginally healed by the next opening day – but this is not something to pin on any one particular position player, pitcher or play.
That’s why it’s hard – Chaminade had its chances, had Zachary Hieb on third with no outs and couldn’t capitalize. So yes, turn it over, then turn the page.
Sometimes, you just have to.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Chaminade 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 5 1 Kellenberg 2 0 0 1 1 0 – 4 3 3 Chaminade Batting Statistics Player PA AB H 1B 2B SAC BB K RBI Runs BA OB% SLUG SB Bryan Colasacco 4 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 .000 .250 .000 0 Anthony Portannese 4 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 .000 .250 .000 0 Terence Connelly 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 2 1.000 1.000 1.500 0 Brian Trabulsi 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 Robert Vani 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .333 .000 0 Robert Hopes 3 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 .500 .500 1.000 0 Christopher Wren 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .667 0 Ryan Walsh 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 .333 .667 0 Zachary Hieb 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 .000 .333 .000 1 Chaminade Pitching Statistics Pitcher IP H R ER BB K ERA Robert Naughton (ND) 4 3 3 3 3 3 5.25 Daniel Caniano (L) 2 0 1 0 3 1 0.00
