CHSAA final: Fordham sweeps Stepinac to win city crown
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- June
- 14
What a week it has been for Fordham Prep.
After losing to Stepinac last Sunday to fall into the losers bracket, the Rams tear through just about everyone over the last seven days. They beat St. Peter’s (Monday), Xaverian (Wednesday) and Farrell (Saturday) to survive, then sweep two from a rested and presumably ready Stepinac team today.
Credit Ryan Fedak, who was $$$ in relief in both games today. He carried a talented, deep but tired pitching staff.
Also credit Fordham’s leader, Jesus Jaile. I felt like I just kept writing his name today. He came up rather large in both ends of the doubleheader. So did the guys atop Fordham’s order, who always seemed to be on base ahead of Jaile.
For Fordham Prep, this is the first city championship since 1994 and the first during Steve Pettus’ years as head coach.
For Stepinac, this is a heartbreaker. I don’t need to talk to Pat Duffy today to know he is absolutely crushed. Never had the program advanced this far in 47 years. Never. With Mike Bradshaw and Eddie Byrne rested and Fordham ace Sal Lisanti taxed after a brilliant game yesterday, the Crusaders were poised to win. Their defense simply let them down.
I covered the Mets-Yankees debacle today, so I obviously missed out on the best baseball played in this city today. My colleague Justin Jones attended today’s game. I’ll have more from Justin later as we hear from the participants.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 7:02 pm by Josh Thomson. 
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in
March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of
2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has
since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting,
Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his
fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning
fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and
insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh
graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University,
where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in
history. 
Jake Thomases has covered baseball, hockey, girls basketball, and girls soccer for the Journal News since arriving in 2003. He previously interned at The Poughkeepsie Journal while attending Vassar College. He is socking money away under his mattress to buy the Knicks, at which time he will trade Jerome James to Cleveland for a ham sandwich.
its the rams first title since 1992 congrats to a great team and i cant wait to see next year
Congratulations to Fordham Prep for a job well done. It was a pleasure to watch a team effort led by a classy coach (how refreshing) and what appears to be a nice bunch of kids. A heartbreaker for Stepinac but alot of kids are returning, so you never know. Great day for the Rams. Enjoy it!
This is probably the best CHSAA postseason story ever. #10 Fordham seed facing elimination 7 times in the playoffs defeats #2 Stepinac, and big-time rival, in a doubleheader after playing 4 games in 5 days. AWESOME STORY, congrats to Fordham Prep. I wish I was there to see some of the games.