20 in the NJ.com Top 20, captured its first sectional crown since 2015 and advanced to next week’s state championship game against Morristown-Beard.
“As soon as I found out we were coming here I got so excited, knowing I might have a chance to finish up the game,” he said.
The Rams had three runs in and a runner on first with no outs when the lefthander struck out Jeremy Wolf, their three-hole hitter who had crushed a solo home run in his previous at-bat.
“Usually when I go in I don’t even have them tell me who the hitter is because frankly, I don’t care.
“I’m so proud of him,” Holy Spirit coach Steve Normane said.
Patten saved the game for starting pitcher Jayden Shertel, who tossed five solid innings, allowing four runs, two earned, on three hits.
Joseph-Hammonton in the middle of the school year, also gave the Spartans a lead they would never relinquish in the top of the first.
“That was actually a missed call — I wasn’t supposed to do that,” he said.
Holy Spirit scored a run in the second and three in the fifth to take a commanding 5-0 lead.
“I’ve never seen a ball hit off the hand and then hit the top of the screen like that, but the umpires don’t win or lose games.
They have a lot of good players on their team and their coach did a good job of playing a tough schedule.
As Barth noted, Holy Spirit faced a challenging schedule this year, with seven of its losses coming against Top 20 teams in the state.
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