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Epic performance by Carollo in swan song

Saturday, June, 12 By Christopher Smith
Staff writer

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Londonderry starter Kasey Carollo fell to the ground in pain when a line drive up the middle drilled him in the ankle in the sixth inning. 

The ball deflected off Carollo to third baseman D.J. Reed who threw late to first base.

The bases were loaded with one out.

A couple minutes on the ground and two warm-up pitches later, Carollo stayed in the game.

And it certainly was a good thing he did because he dominated thereafter.

Carollo struck out the final two batters in the sixth inning.

He then struck out the side in order in the seventh, getting Salem’s Nos. 1, 2 and 3 hitters to end the game.

Just like that Carollo and Londonderry became Class L champions, winning 5-2 over the Blue Devils on a rainy night at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.

It marked Londonderry’s first Class L title since 2004.

“It makes me mad whenever I get hit just for no reason at all,” Carollo said. “It just makes me throw harder.”

Carollo did throw harder, catcher Geoff Fisher said.

“I thought for sure he was coming out after getting hit,” Fisher said. “Coach was trying to figure out who would go in to pitch. But (Carollo) is a trooper. He was like, ‘I’m staying in. I’m good.’ It was incredible catching him. I love it. ... I was very surprised at what he was able to do (at the end of the game). All of a sudden the adrenaline started to kick in and his velocity was way up. It was up higher than any point of the game or any time I’ve actually seen him. It was all fumes.” 

Londonderry coach Brent Demas said that he was definitely considering taking Carollo out of the game in the sixth.

“Because his pitches were getting up there anyway,” Demas said. “He was well over 100 (pitches for the game). Kasey was epic. He was epic today. There’s really no other word that can give it any justice. He just focused in because he knew I was thinking about taking him out. He just looked at me and said, ‘I’ve got it.’ I said, 'OK, you’ve come this far. I’ll give you this inning and we’ll see what happens.’ After that inning (the sixth), I said, ‘it’s yours to finish. You belong on the mound at the end of this.’”

The junior is transferring to Governor’s Academy next fall.

"I’m very excited to go to (Governor’s) because it’s a great school but this atmosphere is awesome," he said. "To win it with the guys is awesome.”

Carollo battled some control issues at times but always pitched his way out of jams.

He got a 6-4-3 double play to end the third after allowing a double and a walk.

He got a rare 9-6 double play in the fifth after allowing a walk and a single.

“He’s one of the top pitchers in the state,” Salem coach Dan Keleher said. “We were close to getting him out of there. But that shows what type of kid he is. He’s got to in the top two pitches in the state anyway.”

Salem struck first. Josh Treff singled with one out in the first inning and scored when Joe Morin sliced a double to left field.

But Londonderry came right back in the bottom half the first to take the lead 3-1.

Dan Lagasse reached on an error to start the bottom of the first. Steve Dvorak tripled to knock in Lagasse. Another error and a sacrifice fly by Fisher gave Londonderry the two-run lead.

“Putting those three up there, we were relaxed and we were ready to go,” Demas said. “That inning was huge.”

Salem’s dilemma was that ace pitcher Nick Poore could pitch only two innings due to Federation rules.

Poore was used early because starter Dan Peters struggled to find the strike zone.

Peters went just 1+ innings, allowing three runs, none earned, on two hits and two walks. Peters walked the first two batters in the second inning and then was removed.

Poore came on and walked one batter but held Londonderry scoreless.

He then pitched a scoreless third inning despite allowing a double.