MCC Wins Fourth Straight Region 21 Title

MCC Wins Fourth Straight Region 21 Title; Cougars Texas Bound For NJCAA World Series

Niedzwiecki and Sutherland Combined for Shutout; Lentini Scores Game’s Lone Run

MANCHESTER – MANCHESTER CC (24-22) won its fourth consecutive NJCAA, Division III title with a 1-0 victory over Northern Essex CC (22-12) Sunday afternoon in Manchester. Kyle Lentini (Southington, CT) scored the game’s lone run in the top of the seventh inning on a throwing error.

Matt Niedzwiecki (Bristol, CT) pitched 8.2 shutout innings and Jesse Sutherland (Montville) struck out the final batter with the game tying run on third base with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Cougars were 7-19 after an April 11 loss to Northern Essex on the road, but went 17-3 the rest of the way, winning nine of their last ten regular season games, then sweeping through the tournament for a third consecutive year. MCC has won 10 consecutive Region 21 tournament games.

“We knew were good, but it took so long for us to get it going,” twelfth-year head coach Chris Strahowski said. “I didn’t know if it was ever going to turn around.”

Strahowski will take his team to the NJCAA Division III World Series in Tyler, TX for a fourth consecutive year and will play the District C (Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico) champion on Saturday, May 21 at 4PM Central Time.

“We had some question marks halfway through the year with the lineup,” Strahowski said. “It took us a little time to find that starting nine that we absolutely needed to get it finished.”

Niedzwiecki and NECC’s Keegan Pafford (Portmouth, NH) were locked in a pitcher’s duel through six innings. Pafford, who pitched six innings in the tournament opener on Friday, threw 113 pitches on one day rest before giving way to Mike Patane in the top of the seventh.

Lentini (2 for 3, HBP) greeted Patane with a single and was moved to second on A. J. Silberman’s (Meriden, CT) sacrifice bunt. After Kyle Holland (Montville, CT) made the second out of the inning, Sutherland hit a grounder to short that could have ended the inning. But Ray Roman (Lowell, MA), who was having an outstanding day in the field, threw the ball past first baseman John Faia (Sandown, NH), allowing Lentini to score easily from second with two out. Roman had six assists and a putout and started a 6-4-3 double play in the third inning.

Niedzwiecki was just short of brilliant, scattering four hits in with two walks while striking out five. He retired the first two batters in the ninth before Domingo Cruz (Manchester, NH) hit his 87th, and final pitch into the gap in right-center for a triple.

“He was fantastic,” Strahowski said of Niedzwiecki who evened his record at 3-3 and lowered his ERA to 3.27) “He threw nothing but strikes and is a gamer. He’s from Bristol, wins a lot of ballgames and knows how to come out and take it.”

Sutherland, who led the Cougars with five homers and a .402 average during the season, was called in from shortstop to get the final out. He was pitching in his sixth game and had a staggering 11 strikeouts over six innings and was clearly in the game to strike out Anyelo Roman (Lowell, MA) who went to the plate with three strikeouts on the day. Sutherland threw nothing but fastballs and after seven of them, the Cougars were on the field celebrating.

“We left a dozen guys, maybe more over the course of the game,” Strahowski noted while giving credit to Northern Essex. “They were fantastic. We just couldn’t get that big hit. Fortunately they gave us one.”

Strahowski will be bringing a team to Tyler, TX for a fourth consecutive year and hopes to build on success from the previous three visits. In 2008, MCC went home without a victory in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament but picked up one win the following year. In 2010, the Cougars won a pair of games, losing to Gloucester County College, the eventual champions, and runner-up and host Tyler Junior.

“We know where to go and what to do,” Strahowski said shortly after the awards ceremony. “We’ll see if we can get incrementally better from last year. We are a little bit different. I think we pitch more and we bunt more with this team. They’re not going to beat anybody with long ball. Maybe that was partially why it took us so long to get started. And it took a while for me to figure out how to use their talent in the best way.”