Fassert Almost Perfect as Wolves Clinch Title

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. - On Tuesday, May 14, a win versus Somers would give John Jay a share of the league title with Yorktown, so starting pitcher Nick Fassert put his team first.

“I knew I had to come out here and perform for the boys,” said the senior.

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The understatement of the year, it turned out.

Fassert was one out from a perfect game, and despite finally giving up a hit in the 3-0 victory, the coach would have given anything to be a tenth player on the field.

“You want to reach out, grab it and bring it back,” said Ted Lawrence.

Nonetheless, John Jay got Fassert all the runs he needed in the first inning. Jacob Storch singled, Fassert walked, and Eliot Arbogast had two ducks to shoo.

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“I was due,” the right fielder asserted, and a good pitch to hit turned into a 2-0 lead.

The mound now his, Fassert began his dominance.  A fly to right, a strike out and ground out to first rung up the first three.

But John Jay didn’t provide any more breathing room in response. After Nick Benson walked and got to second on Jackson Moreo’s sacrifice bunt, Storch popped to second, and Will Civetta flied to center.

No problem, Fassert tallied his strikeout total to three, and the top of the third had the pitcher taking the bat into his own hands. Fassert led off with a double, but Rhys Carway came to pitch too. The Somers starter got three straight strikeouts, and it remained a 2-0 game.

Maybe knocked a little off his game, Fassert only got one strikeout in the bottom of the third.  A ground out and a pop out completed the line, and John Jay gave Fassert the chance to exhale with a run in the fourth. Moreo was hit by a pitch, and Storch’s two out double down third made it 3-0.

Two more strikeouts in the fourth left nine more to go, and the same going in the fifth really had all the Wolves howling.  Onto the sixth, it was Ryan Valdes digging in and doing the reaching out.

After Fassert opened the inning with another strikeout, Jake Hopper hit a grounder between first and second, and the John Jay second baseman had a lot of hole to cover. He ranged, went horizontal for the stab and fired to first for the out.

The inning not over, Somers kept to the hole, and Fassert was forced to flash his glove. Joe Dwyer sending first baseman Nick Russo to the right meant Fassert had to cover, and Valdes hit the pitcher in stride.

Three outs to go and Fassert continued to make it look easy. He got Tyler Venturini and Erik Gersfeld on strikes, and that left

Patrick Bracelin in position to spoil. “I was thinking just get this out. But he stuck the bat out and hit it up the middle,” said Fassert.

Just out of the reach of Valdes this time, Lawrence reiterated the pain of the one hitter. “I wanted that perfect game,” he lamented.

More bad news, Lawrence is eventually going to have to do without.  “As a leader, as a person, as a pitcher, as a fielder, as a hitter, you can’t replace him,” said the coach.

Not surprisingly, Fassert has the same opinion of his teammates. “This is definitely the best group of guys I’ve been with,” he said. “They are here every day working hard.”

The goal in mind is not hard to guess.

“The boys want it,” asserted Fassert. “We want to win the sectionals.”

A little short last year with a lot of heartbreak in the finals versus Panas, Fassert has his GPS set for a possible rematch. “I would love to go back there,” he concluded. “I’m ready.”

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