Sometimes, all it takes is one selfless play to get momentum on your side.
If you asked for any of Concord’s 16 varsity baseball players’ opinions on that take, certainly you’d get somewhat of the same consensus agreement. But a quick look at Monday’s box score and you’ll find junior Danny Revellese’s answer.
In Concord’s 7-6 win over Manchester Central-West, the right fielder provided the spark the Crimson Tide desperately needed.
Down, 3-0, after just one inning as a result of more than a few errors, the pressure was on the Crimson Tide to respond quickly. In a game that consistently tests patience, quick responses are hard to come by. But in the bottom of the third, Concord got to work.
Kalan Gaudreault had a shot to right field for a single, and Nater Wachter sent a ball that flirted with the center-field fence to move Gaudreault to third on a solid double. A quick pop fly by senior Cam McGonigle put Revellese at the plate with one out and runners in scoring position.
He watched the first pitch go by called a strike and tightened his grip on the bat before it wiggled loosely with anticipation between his hands. This time, he didn’t watch the pitch pass. Instead, he swung and made the hesitant trot toward first base watching carefully if the outfielder would make the egregious error to guarantee his safety.
But the error never came. It was a routine fly out, the second out of the frame for the Tide, but it served as the catalyst in their takeover as Revellese’s shot sent Gaudreault home for Concord’s first run of the game.
The offensive stampede resumed in the bottom of the fourth after second baseman Dylan Miles drove a ball to center field and sent home third baseman Jack Reynolds. Another error by Manchester allowed starting pitcher Brooks Craigue to reach first and, with the bases loaded, Gaudreault had an RBI single that tied the game at 3-3.
Wachter grounded out but plated a runner and, with Revellese at the plate again, the junior delivered a two-RBI hit to go up, 6-3.
Revellese, who also pitched in relief for Craigue starting in fifth inning, is just one of the many players in the Tide’s lineup who can deliver in the moment.
While it is a give-and-take relationship between the mound and the plate, he made the most on what was sent his way, maybe even trying to make something out of nothing.
“I felt like I was getting under the ball, kind of lunging on those outside pitches,” he said. “That third at-bat where I had the single up the middle, I just squared that up, and it felt great off the bat. It felt good to get the runs in in a clutch spot with two outs.”
His play at the plate helped mask an otherwise atypical performance by the Tide. Fielding errors were plentiful, and consistency on the mound was difficult to obtain. And with some of the division’s premier programs – Winnacunnet, Pinkerton and Londonderry – in the future, coach Scott Owen knows the time for messy moments in games has to end soon.
“(We’ve) got to get back to what we do,” he said. “Pitchers throwing strikes, us playing good defense and getting some runs. We were still able to pull the win out, but we’ve just got to play better.”
Concord (4-0) begins a six-game road stretch on Wednesday that takes up the rest of April when it travels to Winnacunnet. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.