CURSE REVERSED! CCHS holds off Oak Grove, ends championship drought

After surrendering a six-run lead during a two-inning span, No. 1-ranked Central Catholic didn’t panic when it came to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning against No. 7 Oak Grove in the Class 1A state baseball championship Saturday.
Instead, the squad rallied and left the field at McMurry Park with the school’s first baseball title since 2005, ending a streak of four consecutive state tournament appearances without a state championship.
Central Catholic (28-4) produced three infield singles to load the bases with no outs before senior Samuel Guarisco ended the game with an RBI-single to centerfield for an 8-7 Central Catholic victory.
Guarisco, who was named Class 1A’s Outstanding Player following the game, finished 3-for-3 at the plate. He also earned the victory on the mound, relieving his cousin, Gregory Leger, in the sixth inning.
For Central Catholic, the bottom of the seventh began with an infield single by nine-hole hitter Adam Dupuis. Stefano Guarisco and Drake Angeron followed with back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases with no outs before Samuel Guarisco’s heroic finish.
The game-winning hit came after a controversial balk by Guarisco in the top of the seventh allowed the tying run to reach third base and it scored one play later on a sacrifice fly.
“To know that I quote unquote balked, the bases loaded, it kind of like made me redeem myself,” Samuel Guarisco said of how it felt to have the opportunity to seal the win. “I … feel like I owed them one, and I have a lot of confidence to know that I could get the job done.”
Central Catholic led 7-1 entering the top of the sixth inning, but Oak Grove began a huge rally in the sixth, scoring four runs to trim their deficit to two.
With two outs and the bases loaded, Oak Grove’s Cole Mathes doubled to the left field wall, scoring two runs to cut the Tigers deficit to 7-3.
Samuel Guarisco relieved Leger at that point, but two more runs scored on an errant throw by Central Catholic’s Stefano Guarisco to first base to trim Central Catholic’s lead to 7-5.
However, Stefano Guarisco, who moved to shortstop after the pitching change, made up for the miscue one batter later, robbing Hayden Waters of a base hit with a leaping catch near second base.
After keeping Central Catholic off the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth, Oak Grove (18-8) tied the game in the top of the seventh.
With one out and a runner on first, Bolding doubled to left field, scoring a run to cut the Tigers deficit to 7-6.
While Samuel Guarisco appeared to have gotten Bolding out at second on a pickoff move to second base that originally was called out, the call was overruled when the first base umpire called a balk on Guarisco. That advanced Bolding to third base with just one out. The run scored on a sacrifice fly by the next batter, Tucker Hibbard, to left field.
Central Catholic escaped any more damage, however, setting up the dramatic finish.
“Look, we blew a huge lead in a game that we were completely in control of. … But it just shows the resiliency of our guys,” Central Catholic coach Tyler Jensen said. “In the seventh inning, we didn’t even think twice about (not) ending this game in the seventh. They didn’t get anybody out and that just goes to show you how resilient and tough our kids are.”
Samuel Guarisco earned the win in relief. In 1.1 innings, he surrendered two runs —both earned — on two hits with one strikeout.
He also led the Eagles offensively with a 3-for-3 performance with two RBIs and a run.
Early on, Oak Grove scored first in the top of the third on a wild pitch by Leger.
Leger made up for the miscue in the bottom of the third when he launched a bases-loaded triple to left field to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead.
Central Catholic added to its lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-RBI single to left field by Mitchell Lemoine for a 5-1 advantage.
The lead grew to as much as 7-1 on Angeron’s run-scoring single and Samuel Guarisco’s sacrifice fly, both in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“Lots of ebb and flow throughout the game,” Oak Grove coach Ty Rollinson said. “Call could have went this way. Call could have went that way and a couple plays. Everything is subject to change depending on what happens in different situations, but one thing I ask our kids to do is just leave it all on the field. That’s all I think they did today. They left it on the field and they had one more hit in their bag than we did.”
Rollinson said they didn’t get hits off Leger earlier in the game.
“If we got a little bit more pressure on the starter, I think it helps us out as far as offensive goes but we just didn’t. It’s part of it. We didn’t give up, though.”
In 5.2 innings, Leger surrendered five runs — one earned — on four hits with six walks, one hit batter and six strikeouts.
Other top offensive contributors for the Eagles included Stefano Guarisco, 3-for-5; Leger, 1-for-4, a triple and three RBIs; Lemoine, 2-for-2, two RBIs and a run; Patrick Barron, 2-for-3, a run; and Angeron, 2-for-4, an RBI and a run.
“It feels amazing,” three-year starter Stefano Guarisco said of the victory. “We’ve had bad luck here the last four years. My freshman year we actually played at ULM, but it’s just all worth it. Bad stuff happens like Coach Jensen said, and we just stayed together. Those last two innings, bad stuff was happening and none of us hung our heads. We just knew we had to get the job done. We were all locked and loaded, ready to go.”
Jackson Wyly led Oak Grove with a 2-for-4 performance with a stolen base and two runs. Other top offensive contributors included Mathes, 1-for-4, a double, two RBIs and a run; Bolding, 1-for-3, a double, an RBI and a run; and Hibbard, 1-for-4, an RBI.
Hayden Waters suffered the loss in relief. In 2.2 innings, he surrendered three runs — two earned — on 10 hits with two strikeouts.
Mathes started for Oak Grove. In 3.1 innings, he surrendered five runs — three earned — on five hits with three walks, two hit batters and one strikeout.
CCHS 1, Hanson 0
Central Catholic recorded a walk-off RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh inning of its semifinal contest against Hanson Friday for a 1-0 victory and advanced to its first Class 1A state championship game since 2013.
Angeron connected on a two-out single to score Stefano Guarisco from second base. Guarisco had preceded Angeron’s at-bat with a two-out double to left field.
“Really, what was going through my mind was I had to let the last three at-bats go, and I had to get my job done,” Angeron said. “Don’t forget about Stefano. I had a big hit, but Stefano came up with that double, and his speed is what won the game. I just hit a routine single, and he ran it to home.”
The game’s dramatic finish concluded a masterful pitching duel between Central Catholic’s Blake Hidalgo and Hanson’s John Guienze.
Both pitched complete games. Hidalgo earned the win as he surrendered six hits and fanned 10 in seven innings. Guienze suffered the loss. In 6.2 innings, he surrendered one earned run on seven hits with two intentional walks and five strikeouts.
“I came out here with the same mindset,” said Hidalgo, who also started the second game of district during the regular season against Hanson that was cut short by rain. “I knew my team got my back. I knew I was going to pitch my best and we just kept rolling. We didn’t have that many hits but we came in clutch at the end.”
Hanson coach Ryan Stoute said, “It was the two best teams in the state. I said that. I’ll say it again. Best teams in the state. I thought we were right there with them. I was hoping we would meet ’em (Saturday), but the good Lord didn’t have it that way. He was going to have us play on the big stage a game before, and our guys competed. Their guys competed. It was everything I expected, probably a little bit better than I expected.”
Adam Dupuis led Central Catholic offensively with a 2-for-3 performance. Other top contributors included Stefano Guarisco, 1-for-3, a double and a run; Samuel Guarisco, 1-for-3, a double; and Angeron, 1-for-4, an RBI.
Offensively, Guienze led Hanson with a 2-for-3 performance with a stolen base.
Hanson concluded its season with a 22-9 record.