East Rowan coach Jeff Safrit figures his right fielder, NickLefko, kept him waiting about four years.
Better late than never.
Lefko’s mission-impossible catch and some precision pitching by Julian Sides steered East to a 4-1 win over rival West Rowan in the third-place game in the Cliff Peeler Baseball Classic on Monday afternoon.
Sides was clinging to a 2-1 lead at Newman Park when West’s Ryan Schenk opened the top of the sixth with a sinking liner toward right-center. Had the ball fallen — with Schenk’s speed — West would have had the tying run at second. But it was not to be. Lefko came hurtling through the air like a hungry hawk and snatched the hit away from a shocked Schenk.
“I’ve had a lot of balls hit to me this year,” said Lefko, “but that’s the first one I’ve got to open up on. Usually (center fielder Adam) Cornelius takes control of everything. But this time, I got to lay out. I just did snag it with the end of my glove.”
It was Lefko’s finest moment with the leather since he leaped at the Staton Field fence to erase a homer against South Point in last year’s 3A state playoffs.
“That was good, but this is the first time Lefko’s given me one of those catches,” chuckled East coach Jeff Safrit. “I’ve seen him do it in eighth grade and for the (Rowan American) Legion team. But not for me. He really laid out there. It was just a great play.”
Lefko’s defensive gem loomed incredibly large when two Falcons reached later in the inning, but were stranded by Sides.
“I’m thinking, ‘Man, if I don’t catch that ball, they might have scored some,’ ” said Lefko.
Sides (3-3) didn’t give the Falcons many chances to scratch. He scattered five hits, walked only two.
“The big thing was that Julian was facing West for the third time,” said Safrit. “The third time around, they know exactly what you’ve got. But he held ’em. That’s a tribute to him.”
“West knows me,” agreed Sides. “So I didn’t try to overpower ’em. I was consistent. Just did what I had to do to get out of each inning and my defense made the plays. Lefko made a heck of a play.”
Sides helped himself at the plate, as well. He hasn’t hit for average this year, but reached three straight times against West starter Cory Ruff. Sides singled, walked and was hit by a pitch.
“I think Julian was hitting good and that helps his pitching,” theorized Lefko. “Trying to hit and pitch at the same time is a hard thing to do, but it seems like when he hits good, he pitches good.”
The first three runs in the game came on sac flies. Justin Graham handed West a 1-0 lead with one in the second, but East got rare back-to-back run-producing flies from Drew Davis and Spencer Steedley in the third for a 2-1 lead. Good baserunning by Chad Sansbury (courtesy running for Sides) was a key. He tagged and went from second to third on Davis’ drive to get in position to score on Steedley’s fly.
It stayed 2-1 forever, with West turning sharp double plays to get Ruff out of the fourth and fifth. Bobby Parnell started an around-the-horn twin-killing in the fifth to lend Sides a hand.
Lefko’s sparkler held the Falcons at bay in the sixth. Then East finally gave Sides some insurance in the bottom half, scoring a pair on doubles by Lefko and Cornelius, Parnell’s single and a wild pitch.
Matt Morgan, a lefty hitter, spanked two hits off the southpaw Sides to pace the Falcons (12-8). Lefko, Cal Hayes Jr. and Parnell had two hits each for the Mustangs (11-7).
“I’m hitting in the four-spot, but I know I’m not a home run hitter,” said Lefko. “I go up there just trying to do the job — get on or move them around — like Brett (Peiffer) did last year.”
It was a crisp, efficient game similar to Davie County’s win over West in the semifinals. Again the Falcons hit the ball hard. Again, they had precious little to show for it.
“It was a good ballgame,” said West assistant Frank Shepherd. “Some close calls didn’t go our way and some balls didn’t fall for us. That ball Schenk hit — that would have been a big one.”
But that’s when Lefko decided he’d kept Safrit waiting long enough.
And when Lefko delivered, it was worth the wait. It was a catch worth its weight in gold.
“You know we were gonna come out and play some today,” grinned Lefko. “This was West Rowan.”
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NOTES: The win gives East a tiebreaker edge on West as far as SPCTournament seeding if the teams finish the regular season tied. “I told our guys that we didn’t play to our potential Saturday (an 8-7 loss to South), so now we had to play a conference game with West. This was a conference game,” said Safrit. ... Both teams are 7-6 in the SPC, so the tiebreaker edge could prove meaningful. ... Ruff was outstanding, pitching into the sixth and hitting three balls on the nose. And this was after he had pitched two scoreless innings in the semis. “We took Cory out —not because they were hitting him, but because he was tired,” said Shepherd.
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