Neuqua Valley’s Foresta overpowers Metea

Updated: May 16, 2011 7:58PM

Throughout its first 14 years on the varsity level, a lot of firsts have come Neuqua Valley’s way, in the form of Upstate Eight titles, regional titles, sectional titles and appearances in the state tournament, including the 2007 Class AA crown.

But a little more than 48 hours after suffering a dubious first in the program’s history—a three-game sweep at the hands of crosstown rival Waubonsie Valley—senior right-hander Alan Foresta went ahead and achieved a personal first.

Firing his first career complete game, Foresta stymied Metea Valley as the Wildcats snapped a three-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory Monday in Naperville.

Foresta (2-0) scattered four hits while tying his season-high with seven strikeouts.

“I’d probably say fastball, but then when I was getting behind on that, I’d go looking for my curveball for the first pitch,” Foresta said when asked what was working.

Beginning the game with three perfect innings, he didn’t allow a hit until the Mustangs’ Ryan Solomon singled with two outs in the fourth, but Foresta stranded a pair of runners by getting Mike Fitzgerald to fly out to end the inning.

After getting out of that jam, Neuqua Valley (18-9-1, 10-9-1 Upstate Eight) scored the game’s only two runs in its half of the fourth by being opportunistic.

Junior center fielder Jack Amaro broke up the perfect game of Metea Valley starter Tom Bolle with a lead-off single before stealing second after nearly getting caught in a pickle between first and second and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

A RBI single to center from third baseman Tanner Giesel brought Amaro home with the game’s first run and the Wildcats tacked on one more run courtesy of an error from Mustangs’ shortstop, Jake Charuk, which allowed Giesel to score.

After Solomon’s second hit of the game, a two-out single in the sixth, the Mustangs (13-13-1, 9-12-1 Upstate Eight) appeared to be on the verge of starting another rally when Fitzgerald followed that up with a single of his own, but he wandered too far off first and was promptly tagged out to conclude the threat.

“Alan was very good, but it’s a great day to pitch. Wind blowing right behind his back,” Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner said. “There wasn’t a lot of offense from either team, but Alan competed and he threw three pitches for strikes.”

Seeing an opportunity to see his young team go up against a quality opponent and with a doubleheader between the two teams coming up on Saturday, Metea Valley coach Craig Tomczak gave the ball to his top two pitchers—Bolle and Billy Sheeren.

Bolle (3-2) was the tough-luck loser despite allowing just two runs on three hits and striking out five in his four innings, while Sheeren allowed just one hit in two scoreless innings.

“They both threw the ball very well. I think Tom deserved to win,” Tomczak said. “(Bolle) was good enough to win. Billy was good enough to keep it where it was for us. But it didn’t work out that way (Monday).”

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