PSAL PLAYOFFS

Dan Carela was a little-used pitcher as a sophomore when George Washington made it to the PSAL title game at Shea Stadium two years ago.

That game did not go well for the Trojans, as another sophomore, Monroe’s Danny Almonte, shut out GW 4-0 to win the championship. GW’s hitters made Almonte look better than he was that day, consistently swinging at pitches that were out of the strike zone.

If GW manages to return to Shea this year, Carela, now a hard-throwing senior, thinks things will be different. “That experience, even though we lost, will help us a lot,” he said. “We won’t be intimidated by a big game because a lot of us have already played in them.”

Carela got the Trojans within one win of a chance at redemption, stifling second-seeded Tottenville in a 6-2 GW win yesterday at the Old Boys High Field in Brooklyn.

The victory in the first game of the best-of-three semifinals gives No. 3 GW a chance at closing out the Pirates, who won it all last year, when the teams meet again tonight at St. John’s University at 7 o’clock.

Monroe also got a step closer to winning another ring. The top-seeded Eagles won their semifinal game against No. 5 Beacon, 13-0, also in Brooklyn.

Proving that Monroe is more than just the controversial lefty Almonte, Delgis Soto shut out Beacon. Monroe coach Mike Turo doesn’t plan on using Almonte unless a third game is necessary tomorrow. The teams meet at St. John’s today at 4.

“We’ve got plenty of other pitchers who can win for us,” said Turo, who had Almonte in center field yesterday. “Especially if we can hit like this.”

Monroe didn’t score until putting up six runs in the bottom of the fourth and then piled it on. GW had a similar eruption in its game.

Tottenville’s John McNeil had a no-hitter through five innings until the Trojans finally broke through, scoring all six of their runs in the sixth. The biggest blast came from leadoff hitter Esterlin Perozo, who homered to left.

“I wasn’t worried about not scoring,” said hurler Carela. “I knew we would come around. I told [Esterlin] before that at-bat that he was going to get a good pitch to hit and that he would take advantage of it. When that pitch came in to him, it looked like a beach ball.”

“It was just a matter of time,” Perozo said.

Now the Trojans want to finish the job tonight, and Carela put them in position to do so.

“Now we’re here and I know I can do it,” he said. “I think the rest of the team is like that, too.”