Dempsey Delivers Knockout Punch : Crespi Reliever Stops Notre Dame Rally Cold in 8-7 Del Rey Win

Crespi High reliever John Dempsey finally accomplished what teammates Dan Carroll and Chad Nichols--and the Notre Dame defense--were unable to do Wednesday at Valley College. He finished off the Knights to pull Crespi within a half-game of second-place Notre Dame in the Del Rey League standings.

Crespi defeated Notre Dame, 8-7. But the Celts (12-9, 4-4 in league play) had to hang on after building an 8-0 lead, the result of a 10-hit assault against Mike Peterson (7-4) and Bill Jay and six Notre Dame errors.

After Notre Dame (14-9, 5-4) scored four runs in the fifth and three in the seventh, Crespi Coach Scott Muckey brought in Dempsey with one out and the tying run at second. The right-hander responded by retiring the final two batters to end the game.

Dempsey relieved Nichols, who relieved Carroll (7-2) in the fifth.

“It was only the tying run on second,” Dempsey said. “I still had confidence in our offense if they scored.”

Crespi built its lead on hard hitting. The Celts scored twice in the second inning and three times each in the third and fourth.

In the fourth, Mark Cavaretta’s second double, two singles and some sloppy throws by the Notre Dame infield provided the margin of victory. Mark Maurizi singled to score Cavaretta, who led off the inning, and scored all the way from first on successive errors by third baseman Jeff Antoon and shortstop Tony Ljubetic on a ground ball by Nichols. Nichols then scored the winning run on a single by Scott Barton.

Four teams in the league have four losses and stand either one or 1 1/2 games behind first-place Loyola (6-3 in league play).