MacArthur vs O’Connor had all of the makings for a great second round series. O’Connor was a listed 21-1-1(W-L-T) and 1st in the city, while Mac was 19-5-1 and 6th in the city. The series was dominated by stellar pitching in all 3 games. The two teams combined to score merely 10 total runs over the 3 games. In a series this close, every decision was magnified late in games as a coach would either play defensively and take runs or go out of their way to construct runs.
Game 1 was taken over by pitching, senior Derek Stallworth pitched a terrific game through 5 innings only allowing 1 run until the 6th inning where a very good O’Connor team exploded for 3 runs. The O’Connor pitcher only allowed 2 hits and was continuously impressive throughout the game, leading to a 4-0 O’Connor win.
In game 2 the roles were reversed as Josh Jung pitched for Mac and only allowed 1 run. He constantly avoided giving up runs in tough situations, which allowed 3 runs to be enough for the Brahmas in their 3-1 win.
Game 3, the tiebreaker, proved to be far more intense than one could expect. Both teams had opportunities to score, however, 5 and a half innings went by with only zeros on the scoreboard. Then O’Connor made the game, and series, winning plays with their bats as they put up 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th resulting in a 2-0 O’Connor win.
Seniors, Derek Stallworth, Steven Cardone, Jacob Sandoval, Isiah Dennis, and Tyler Clark, will all be tough to replace, but the team will reload and be threatening again next season.
