The sons of St. Dominic overcame a five-run deficit to win the annual Labor Day Softball classic against the Marians of the Immaculate Conception. A 3-for-3, three RBI performance from Br. Jordan Schmidt, as well as a home run from Br. Leo Checkai and two late inning RBIs from Br. Raymund Snyder helped propel the Friars to victory. To aid in the effort, Brs. Joseph Mary Hertzog and Thomas Davenport each went 2-for-3 on the day.

The Marians and Friars took the field under skies of gray Monday morning at the Dominican House of Studies. Fr. Mark Baron, house superior of the Marian's seminary in Washington, DC, led both teams in prayer before the game. Dominican Master of Students, Fr. Joseph Alobaidi, OP, threw the ceremonial first pitch. Fr. Austin Litke took the mound for the Friars.

After holding the Marians to one run in the top of the first, the Dominicans answered in the bottom of the inning with RBI singles from Brs. Jordan Schmidt and Gregory Pine.

The clouds opened in the second inning and the sky gave way to steady rain through the fourth. Both teams responded to the unfavorable playing conditions with heightened intensity in their defensive play. The infield of Brs. Joseph Mary Hertzog, Philip Neri Reese, Sebastian "the Wizard" White (quite possibly the best Dominican shortstop of all time), Joseph Anthony Kress, and Vincent Ferrer Bagan missed few opportunities to make the infield play. Along with the stellar outfield work of Brs. Leo Checkai, Gregory Pine, Thomas Davenport and Jordan Schmidt, the game was shaping up to be a low-scoring affair in the early innings of play. After a scoreless second inning, the teams exchanged runs in the third, while both pitchers tossed goose eggs in the fourth. The Friars led 3-2 after four.

 

With the showers tapering off in the fifth, the Friars found themselves on their heels. Sparked by a deep two-run single from Br. John Paoletti, the Marians registered six runs in the top of the 5th inning off of six hits. While the Friars managed to answer with three runs in the bottom of the 5th (led by a two-run single from Br. Jordan Schmidt), the score stood at 8-6 in favor of the Marians after the completion of five innings of play.

After holding the Marians scoreless in the sixth, the Friars' offense received a spark in the bottom of the sixth with a lead off home run deep to the left field corner by Br. Leo Checkai. However, an otherwise spectacular defensive performance by the Marians spoiled the Friars' efforts to regain the lead in the sixth and seventh innings. Nonetheless, the Friars' defense recovered after the lull in the fifth and blanked the Marians through the top of the eighth. The score was 8-7 in favor of the Marians when the Friars took up their bats in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Down one run in the eighth, the Friars turned to four first-year brothers to spark the rally. Br. Joachim Kenney began the inning with a single. Br. Joachim's single was followed by hits from each of Br. John Sica and Br. Athanasius Murphy. With no outs and the bases loaded, Marian brother John Paoletti called a time-out and gathered his squad at the mound. Br. Raymund Snyder, hitless in his first at-bat, was next in the order.

The MIC time-out gave Br. Raymund the opportunity to confer with fellow Notre Dame alum and long-time Dominican softball veteran, Br. Justin Brophy. Drawing largely on an analogy from Latin grammar, Br. Justin exhorted Br. Raymund to keep his eye on the ball all the way through the point of contact (the idea being that in Latin translation, identification of the proper case endings is necessary for success - or something to that effect). Anyway, Br. Justin's counsel appeared to have the desired effect as Br. Raymund drilled a line drive single deep to left, bringing home two runs and enabling the Friars to take a 9-8 lead over the Marians.

While Br. Raymund's two-run single provided all of the remaining runs that the Friars would need for the day, the next three hitters did not lay down the bats. Brs. Gabriel Torretta, Raphael Forbing and Paul Marich each reached base on singles. Brs. Raphael and Paul each drove in a run as well. After Br. Sebastian popped out, the bases were loaded once again when Br. Joseph Mary took to the plate.

Br. Joseph Mary launched what would have otherwise been an easy stand-up triple deep to center-left field, driving in two additional insurance runs in the process. However, the excitement that Br. Joseph Mary's monster hit elicited from the Friars' fans quickly gave way to anxious confusion as Br. Joseph Mary unwittingly passed Br. Paul Marich somewhere between first and second base. While Br. Joseph Mary "won" the race to third, the sprint cost the Friars its second out of the inning. After adding one more run off a Br. Thomas Davenport RBI single, the Friars concluded a spectacular eighth inning performance (foibles aside) by adding seven runs and taking the lead 14-8.

Backed by the strong defensive play of utility outfielder Br. Gregory Pine, the Friars shut down the Marians in the ninth. Br. Dominic Mary Verner gunned down a Marian base runner at home after catcher Bonaventure Chapman deftly applied the tag to protect the shutout inning.

While the MIC and Dominican brothers are of course equal in human dignity, today the Friars proved themselves superior on the softball diamond. Game balls went to co-MVP Brothers Jordan Schmidt, Leo Checkai, and Raymund Snyder.