Cofone tosses no-hitter in blowout win over ’Bolts

Joe Russo
Posted 5/28/15

You can’t ask for a better pitching performance than Bishop Hendricken’s Anthony Cofone had on Tuesday afternoon at Pepin Field in the Hawks’ final regular season home game. Cofone did not …

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Cofone tosses no-hitter in blowout win over ’Bolts

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You can’t ask for a better pitching performance than Bishop Hendricken’s Anthony Cofone had on Tuesday afternoon at Pepin Field in the Hawks’ final regular season home game. Cofone did not allow a hit, while striking out seven batters as his Hawks’ teammates pounded out 15 hits and scored 14 runs, as they easily defeated the Cranston East Thunderbolts by a score of 14-0 in five innings via the mercy rule to remain undefeated, 17-0, in Division I-A. This was the second time this season that Hendricken beat the ’Bolts via the mercy rule. Last month, the Hawks beat East by a score of 16-0.

Cofone faced just 17 batters in five innings, two above the minimum, and did not allow a runner past second base. “Pitching is the name of the game and Cofone pitched great today,” said Hendricken head coach Ed Holloway. “He pitched a masterpiece today. He had great velocity, he threw strikes, had good control and he got ahead of the hitters. He had a lot of confidence out there and had a very low pitch count.”

It’s been a tough season for the ’Bolts, who are 1-15 in Division I-A, but their coach remained positive about his young and promising team for next year.

“We have a very young team,” said Cranston East head coach Michael Walsh. “We did not come into this year with a lot of seniors, we have three freshmen who start daily and we have five freshmen that have started on varsity this year, which is unheard of. This is a tough place to come and win, but I think we have accomplished a lot by giving these guys some experience. A lot of young guys got a lot of innings this year and I think we have found our pitching staff and starters for next year.”

The only East player to reach second base off Cofone came in the first inning. Michael Castillo struck out swinging to open up the game, but Hawks’ catcher Gian Martellini let the ball get behind him and could not locate it as Castillo hustled to second. After an unsuccessful sacrifice bunt by freshman Anthony Ramos, Cofone would strike out Noel Cornelio and Vannak Rourm to end the inning.

The Hawks would put seven runs on the board in the home half of the first inning, sending 12 batters to the plate off East starter Anthony Zapata. John Willette got things started with a line-drive base hit to left field. Zapata hit the next hitter, Kevin Sutyla, which was the 10th time the Hawk senior has been hit by a pitch this year. The next batter, Martellini, drilled a Zapata pitch over the 382-foot wall in centerfield for a three-run homer and a 3-0 Hawks’ lead.

“Martellini has power and was hitting them out of the field during batting practice before the game,” Holloway said.

Hendricken would score four more times, starting with a Billy Keegan RBI triple that was misplayed in centerfield. Elijah Brown then ripped an RBI base hit, which was followed by a Jason Comeau RBI double and a Sutyla RBI single.

After Cofone retired Cranston East in order in the second inning, his offense provided him with six more runs as the Hawks once again sent 12 batters to the plate. Dante Baldelli doubled on another ball that was misplayed in the ’Bolts’ outfield. After an East error, Brown would knock Baldelli home with a bloop single and Comeau then drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run that would end Zapata’s day. Harrison Sailer became the new Cranston East pitcher and struck out the first batter he faced, Nick Feola, but Michael Webb singled in two more runs with another Hawk bloop hit to make it a 13-0 game.

Cofone retired three out of the four batters that he faced in the third inning, as did Sailer in the bottom half of the same inning. The Hawks would tack on one more run in the fourth inning on a Colin McBride base hit, as the home team compiled 15 hits in just four innings and have now scored 146 runs this season, the most in D-I.

Cofone finished his gem by striking out two of the three hitters he faced in the fifth inning as his teammates mobbed him on the pitcher’s mound.

“The pitching has been terrific and our defense has been really good in helping out our pitchers,” Holloway said. “We knew we had a really good team coming into this season because we had so many players back from last year’s championship team, we only lost a couple of starters from last year. This team has a strong nucleus and we play one game at a time. We don’t talk about winning the state championship, but about playing our best game.”

Hendricken will be a No. 1 seed in the RIIL Division I playoffs, which is scheduled to begin on June 3. It will have to wait to see who its first-round opponent will be, as the regular season comes to a close this week. It will travel to Middletown today in its regular season finale and look to go 18-0. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. Cranston East will host Lincoln today in a 3:45 p.m. game at Cranston Stadium.

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