When Regis opened the CHSAA Intersectional playoffs with a loss to seventh-seeded Stepinac, it would have been hard to picture the Raiders eventually playing for the city title.
But four wins later – including three come-from-behind victories – and the team is just two wins away from its first Division A crown. Last night’s 6-5 win over Molloy at St. John’s University sent Regis to the championship round of the double-elimination tournament, where it will meet St. Francis Prep, who hasn’t lost.
“We were pretty down after that first loss,” said centerfielder Tony Negrin, who scored the winning run on a wild pitch last night. “But we came back.”
Which is something they did again against Molloy, and then, after the Stanners tied it in the top of the seventh, won it with a run in the bottom of the inning.
“It’s the kind of thing we’ve done all year,” said Negrin, a junior. “The more we do it, the more confidence we have.”
And they have made it their specialty recently. Negrin was, again, the catalyst, leading off the frame with a ground ball that he made especially difficult for shortstop Kevin Roberts, forcing him to throw it away.
After Negrin was sacrificed to third, Molloy pitcher Pat Sheehan intentionally walked the bases loaded. Conor Dunn, who drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh against Xaverian on Wednesday, attempted a squeeze bunt, but was called out for stepping on the plate.
That brought up Joe Romano, but Negrin scored on a wild pitch.
“You always know he’s going to make something happen,” closer Rudy Quinn said of Negrin. Quinn relieved Tom Zollo in the seventh and also threw a wild pitch that allowed Molloy to tie the game before bouncing back and striking out the side.
Now the Raiders have an opportunity to win their first A title, but they need to beat fifth-seeded St. Francis Prep twice to do it. If Prep wins tonight, the Terriers will win the crown.
Quinn sat out last year to focus on his academics and watched Regis get eliminated in the same round by Molloy and decided to play his senior year.
“I wanted to be a part of this,” Quinn said. “It was a good decision.”
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Cathedral used a six-run fifth inning to upend St. John’s Prep in the CHSAA B title game yesterday, 8-4. Jeffrey Gonzalez struck out 10 in the win.
CHSAA A SEMIS Regis 6 Molloy 5
