A season that began with so much promise — and considerable interest from Division I baseball programs — came crashing down on Wootton pitcher Peter Barrett in the preseason when he blew out his arm in a scrimmage at Sherwood.
Unable to play in the field because of his damaged elbow, Barrett has had to be content as the Patriots’ designated hitter. But he couldn’t even do that to his capabilities. After hitting five home runs last spring, the 6-foot-3 Barrett has had a power outage, getting only two extra base hits, both doubles, in the regular season.
Wednesday afternoon, in the Maryland 4A West Region semifinals, however, Barrett’s power returned and it couldn’t have happened at a more opportune moment. His solo home run leading off the bottom of the seventh inning, gave Wootton a 7-6 win over Northwest.
“It’s been a rough season,” said Barrett, who will undergo Tommy John surgery after the season. “That’s my first home run. It’s been a long time coming. I can’t believe I finally got one. And it came at a great time. We finally won this game.”
In each of the three previous seasons, Wootton had lost to a team at this stage that it had beaten in the regular season. When Northwest catcher John Krahling laced an RBI single to right in the top of the seventh inning to tie it, 6-6, Wootton (15-4) had déjà vu all over again.
“All these seniors — Barrett, [Sam] Bender, [Jason] Sargent, [Brian] Maxim — were on the varsity as freshmen,” said Wootton coach Joe Cassidy. “This was their fourth time at this round. They were like, ‘We’re getting beyond it this time.’”
Those veterans played significant roles. Sargent pitched the final two innings, getting the win in relief and improving to 8-0. The right-hander stranded a runner at third base in the sixth inning. And after giving up a run in the seventh, he stranded runners at second and third.
Maxim’s big moment came in the bottom of the sixth when the catcher drilled the first home run of his career and followed with a comically joyous trip around the bases.
“That was amazing,” said Barrett.”No one saw that coming. Everyone was so happy for him. We just love him. He’s our captain and he’s the one that got us here.”
Wootton also got doubles from Matt Allred and Sean Porter, and singles from Justin Decarlo, Michael Campos, and Bob Rosencrans in the five-run second inning, setting the scene for Barrett’s big blast.
“I’m happy for Peter,” said Cassidy. “A lot of kids would have quit, put their head down, packed it in. But he’s hung in and now were in the region finals.”
SEMI-SWEET
» In three previous region semifinal games, Wootton lost to Damascus (2004), Quince Orchard (2005) and Gaithersburg (2006).
» Wootton will host the region final Friday afternoon. The Pats will play Quince Orchard or Gaithersburg. Their semifinal game was rained out and will be played this afternoon.
» In addition to his game-tying single in the seventh inning, NW catcher John Krahling threw out three runners stealing.
» Charlie Cononie went 3-for-4 for Northwest (11-8). Zeke Vasquez and Peter Marratto added two hits each.
