NJSIAA Non-Public A Final

Saturday, June 6, 11 a.m.

At Toms River High School East

Don Bosco Prep (29-0) vs. Christian Brothers Academy (26-5)

Luca Dalatri is still several months away from entering his senior year of high school, and yet he has already accomplished just about everything a prep baseball player can.

The lone line missing on an otherwise incomparable high school résumé is an NJSIAA Group championship, and when his Christian Brothers Academy squad takes on undefeated Don Bosco Prep – ranked No. 9 in the country by MaxPreps – Saturday in the NJSIAA Non-Public A final at Toms River High School East, the ball will be in Dalatri’s hands to complete the Colts’ dream season while crossing one more item off of his individual to-do list.

“It’s going to be the hardest game I’ve ever pitched,” Dalatri said. “It’s something I think I’m prepared for. Don Bosco is a tough team and I can’t really expect to go out and shut them out. I’m just going to have to make pitches, let our defense make plays and hopefully we’ll keep scoring runs like we have.”

Saturday’s game is, first and foremost, about the two teams, both of which are chasing hallowed achievements that are just seven innings (give or take) away for one of them. CBA is seeking its fifth championship this season, which would make the Colts just the second Shore Conference team to ever win all five possible championships – regular season division, county tournament, conference tournament, NJSIAA Sectional and NJSIAA Group - in one season.

CBA would join the 2004 Wall team as the only Shore teams to run the championship table.

This Don Bosco team, meanwhile, is looking to follow in the footsteps of the 2008 Ironmen, who were the last unbeaten state champion in N.J. The 2008 club defeated CBA, 5-4, in the Non-Public A final to cap a 33-0 season and once again, the Colts are the team standing between Don Bosco and perfection.

The Ironmen have a lineup full of Division-I-committed talent and when it comes to pitching, coach Mike Rooney will choose between Monmouth University recruit and senior right-hander Alex Mastando and Seton Hall recruit Cullen Dana to pitch Don Bosco to a state title and a perfect season.

CBA, meanwhile, has performed up-and-down the roster and has a pitching staff that has logged 14 consecutive scoreless innings – of which Dalatri has pitched a mere two. Junior catcher Brandon Martorano is one of the state’s hottest hitters with seven home runs during the Colts’ 13-game winning streak, giving him a Shore-Conference-best 10 for the season.

Luca Dalatri is 19-0 over his last two seasons and a 20th win would mean CBA's first state title since 2009. (Photo by Matt Manley)
Luca Dalatri is 19-0 over his last two seasons and a 20th win would mean CBA's first state title since 2009. (Photo by Matt Manley)
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Despite Don Bosco’s litany of college-level talent, Martorano’s torrid four weeks, and CBA’s unheralded cast that has come up clutch during its last 13 games and has the Colts positioned to make Shore Conference history, Dalatri will be at the center of Saturday’s outcome. Against one of the best team’s New Jersey has seen since 2008, the most accomplished player will be the one pitching against it and the proof is in the numbers as much as it is in the Gatorade N.J. Player of the Year that Dalatri took home a little more than a week ago.

Over his last two seasons, Dalatri has an unbeaten streak of his own to put on the line Saturday morning. He is 19-0 in 19 starts and 21 overall appearances over those two seasons and 24-2 in his three years at CBA – good for the most career wins in program history. In these last two years, he has posted a cumulative earned-run average of 0.67 in 136 1/3 innings while striking out 200 and walking only 18. Although his ERA is up from 0.39 last year to 0.98 this season, he has increased his strikeout-per-inning rate while lowering his already-low walk rate by nearly half. In 64 innings this year, Dalatri has fanned 110 batters this season while walking only six.

Despite his dominance, Dalatri has been more hittable this season and has relied more on his teammates to contribute to his unbeaten mark. He gave up leads in Monmouth County Tournament wins over Manalapan and Wall before Martorano eventually gave his pitcher and fellow University of North Carolina commit the win with a walk-off hit in each. Dalatri also gave up a 3-0 lead in the sectional quarterfinal against St. Augustine before the Colts pulled out another win in the bottom of the seventh inning on a Will Morgan walk-off hit.

The last image of Dalatri, however, is the one CBA would like to encapsulate one more time this season. With the Colts leading Bishop Eustace – ranked No. 2 in the state behind Don Bosco by the Star Ledger – 2-0 in the top of the sixth on Wednesday, Dalatri took the ball in relief and struck out five of the eight batters he faced to nail down the six-out save. Eustace managed two hits off the 6-foot-6 right-hander, although one was an infield single and the other a three-hopper through the middle. Now, Dalatri will take the ball with two days of rest after those 36 pitches against Bishop Eustace and try to turn it into seven innings of magic.

"I feel good," Dalatri said on Thursday, the day after pitching against Bishop Eustace. "I didn't have to go too long (on Wednesday) so I'm able to pretty much treat it like a throw day and keep up with my normal routine. I was glad I could get out and pitch, because it had been a while since I had actually been on the mound in a game, so it was good to get back out and try to get hitters out."

CBA is a win from Shore Conference immortality thanks to a lineup of stars and unsung heroes alike. Asking Dalatri to make one run hold up on Saturday would be an unfair request of the Colts ace, so should CBA win its third group title and first since 2009, there will be more than one player grabbing the headlines. The one who will have to do most of the heavy lifting, though, is also the one who will do what Pat Light – current Red Sox farmhand and 20-0 CBA ace during his two varsity seasons – could not as a junior in 2008.

Whether the Colts pull off the upset or whether Don Bosco caps its second unbeaten season in seven years, there will be a fresh “1” in someone’s loss column after Thursday. CBA’s players welcome the idea that in order to be the best team in N.J. this year, they have to beat the best and hang that “1” on the Ironmen.

Then again, considering the guy taking the ball for CBA on Saturday, the same can also be said for Don Bosco.

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