Before They Drew X's and O's, BB 2010-11

Before They Drew X's and O's . . .

As you can imagine, many of the head coaches and assistants currently associated with city
leagues' basketball teams are former players. Since I'm ancient (smile), I wrote stories about
many of them during their high school careers.
We hope you enjoy this new feature.
Would you like to see a story about someone who played in the Public, Catholic or Inter-Ac
leagues and is now a coach (assuming I did one on him)? Send me a note at silaryt@phillynews.com.
Thanks,
Ted

This story was written in May 1992 about Neumann P-OF Lou
Spadaccini, who's now the head coach at Neumann-Goretti.

SPADACCINI TRIGGERS NEUMANN'S SUCCESS

May 29, 1992

by Ted Silary, Daily News Sports Writer

Hitting and pitching account for only two-thirds of Lou Spadaccini 's responsibilities for St. John Neumann's baseball team.

The rest involves inspiration.

"I don't know what it is with this team," said Spadaccini, the captain and a star pitcher-outfielder. "We're always dead for six innings. We'll be trailing by four runs, say, then we'll wake up and make a comeback. It has happened so many times.

"When I came in for the (bottom of the) seventh inning, it was the same old story. I had to do something. I started yelling, breaking down the fence. "

At the time, the Pirates trailed St. James, 3-2, in a Catholic South second-round playoff at Textile. They then inched within one strike of extinction before accepting a gift-wrapped 4-3 win.

Senior righthander Bill Dechant struck out the first two batters in the inning, but Ray Russo provided life with a scratch infield single. After Spadaccini walked on a borderline 3-2 pitch, Rocky Fogarino hammered a grounder that skipped through the legs of shortstop Scott Green. Russo scored to make it 3-3, then Dennis Romolini won it with an RBI single to left.

As the Pirates charged to the plate area and swarmed Spadaccini, Green, who had made a sensational, deep-in-the-hole play in the fourth inning, trudged to the deepest part of centerfield, and then into right-center, with his head in his hands.

Assistant George Wallace, the first person to reach Green, was unsuccessful in consoling him. Finally, the tearful player walked toward the bench with coach John Mooney as the Bulldogs' fans stood on a hill and applauded.

"I told him, 'You can't stay out here. That's part of life. That's baseball,' " Mooney said.

"He dropped down to field it because he didn't want to miss it . . . And that's when he missed it. "

As Spadaccini spoke with reporters, he snuck occasional glances at St. James's bench.

"That's tough," he said. "They played a great game. I feel bad for that shortstop. "

Spadaccini, a senior lefthander, had experienced his own agony on the mound in the top of the sixth. Jim Buggy's single, Matt Wright's RBI double, a walk to Tim McLaughlin and John Mullan's RBI fielder's choice had vaulted St. James, a decided underBulldog, into a 3-2 lead.

Neumann had scored two in the first on Rocky Fogarino's two-run triple. St. James had halved the lead in the fourth on Tim McLaughlin's blast of a home run over the fence in right-center.

Neumann was 11-3 during the regular season. St. James was 8-6 and did not clinch its playoff spot until Dechant pitched a two-hit shutout on the final day against Neumann, which was locked into second place behind Roman.

"I didn't think it would be this close," Spadaccini admitted. "I wouldn't say that we weren't looking past them. "

Spadaccini, who might choose as early as today between Temple and Maryland, considers himself an outfielder who happens also to pitch.

Although he went 0-for-2 yesterday with the walk and a hit-by-pitch, he is batting .510 in league play with 17 runs batted in. His brother, Tony, an outfielder from St. Joseph's Prep, just finished a productive career at Textile after originally playing for Drexel.

"I do like pitching, though," Lou said. "It puts the game in my hands. "

With four games left in the regular season, Spadaccini suffered a muscle pull in the lower right portion of his back. He played through the injury for three games, then watched the finale.

"The pulled muscle affected me for a while," he said. "Today I played on adrenaline. "

That adrenaline, of course, was coursing through Spadaccini's body at a furious rate when he took the 3-2 pitch in the seventh. Dechant's fastball was slightly low, but a strike call would not have been unjustified.

"It was real close," Spadaccini said. "I probably should have swung. I was looking too much for something to crack into the gap.

"After I walked, I went down to first and just waited for something to happen. "

In Catholic North playoffs:

KENRICK 9, LA SALLE 5

In a wild second-round game at La Salle University, Kenrick scored twice in the visiting eighth after both teams had scored twice in the seventh. First baseman John Kelemen, previously 0-for-3, had an RBI single in the seventh and a two-run double in the eighth. Catcher Scott Lawler preceded Kelemen's eighth-inning hit with a two-run single.