Here is the story by Luis Torres of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Before he stepped up to the plate for the biggest at-bat of his young career, Cranford freshman Brayden Fry got some words of encouragement from junior Ryan Carracino.
Matt Chapman had just replaced Carracino, who reached first base on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh inning. Carracino told Fry to imagine he was playing wiffle ball in his backyard instead of being under the lights at Kean University’s Jim Hynes Stadium.
The words had a calming effect on Fry against Gov. Livingston starter Johnny Schmidt, who was rolling through his first 6 1/3 innings of work and got Fry to strikeout and fly out in his first two at-bats.
“That really just cleared my mind,” Fry said. “(I) went up there looking for the first pitch, sat on a fastball, and caught a barrel.”
The barrel he caught was one Fry has always dreamed of.
Fry smacked a walk-off RBI double to the left-center field gap, scoring Chapman from first base and propelling top-seeded Cranford, the No. 3 team in the NJ.com Top 20, to a 1-0 win over second-seeded Gov. Livingston in the Union County Tournament championship game on Monday in a classic contest by both teams.
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5/15 – 6:30 PM Baseball Final Gov. Livingston 0 Cranford 1
It’s Cranford’s second consecutive Union County Tournament title and the program’s 11th overall under coach Dennis McCaffery’s leadership. Cranford improved to 21-0 on the season with the win and still is New Jersey’s last undefeated team by the thinnest and most dramatic of margins.
It was a game full of drama, with both crowds and teams feeding into the atmosphere, and Fry’s heroics came right after McCaffery called a conference to talk to Fry and Chapman. It was during the conference that Carracino gave Fry the advice, and Fry heeded his teammate’s words.
Fry jumped on the first pitch he saw and delivered in the clutch. Chapman scored and Cranford spilled from the dugout to dogpile on Fry at second base.
“It was awesome,” Fry said. “In the moment, I wasn’t really thinking anything like being crushed. It was an awesome time with my teammates.”
Fry’s game-winning knock brought home Chapman, who has been used almost exclusively as a pinch runner this season when he’s not pitching. The senior raced around second base and looked up and saw third-base coach Carl Lorelli waving him home around third for the win.
“I looked, and I saw (the ball) was far, and I just kept running,” Chapman said. “I saw coach Lorelli waving me in. I slid into home for the win. Senior year, we wanted this. We’ve won five championships, and to get this one is big.”
It was a dfamatic ending for a game that was well played by both teams.
Gov. Livingston (16-5) was searching for its fourth Union County Tournament title, and starter Schmidt was fantastic on the mound, holding Cranford’s lineup at bay by keeping them off balance. He spun 6 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and striking out six. He got of jams when he got into them through the first six innings.
Freshman catcher Michael Basile had a phenomenal game defensively, throwing out three Cranford runners trying to steal.
Gov. Livingston put up a valiant effort that coach Chris Roof was proud of.
“Twenty-three years as a head coach, this was, if not the greatest game I was ever involved in in terms of importance, it being for a championship. Yeah, by far,” Roof said. “As a coaching staff, we couldn’t be any more proud of these kids. How we’ve come together as one.”
Cranford starter Sean Woodruff tossed a complete game with three strikeouts, pounding the zone and allowing his defense behind him to make plays. His defense came up huge in the top of the sixth inning after Woodruff allowed a leadoff single to Baisle, the number nine hitter in the Gov. Livingston lineup.
Leadoff George Provel then laced a single to Cranford right fielder Sean Riley, who threw out a Gov. Livingston courtesy runner at third base for the first out of the inning.
The defensive play loomed large as Woodruff eventually got out of a bases-loaded jam by picking up a strikeout and keeping the game scoreless.
It eventually set up Fry’s heroics.
“It’s great to see hard work pay off,” McCaffery said. “Brayden Fry is someone who comes to morning hitting every day. Works very hard, like all the kids do, and Sean he battled and pitched everything he had and gave us a great effort. We were fortunate enough to be able to get that one run across in the seventh inning.
