Providence’s title defense falls short in supersectional loss to Brother Rice

CRESTWOOD – Considering how the game started for Providence in Monday night’s Class 4A Crestwood Supersectional, it was hard to envision how victory eventually eluded the Celtics’ grasp.

After a three-run eruption in the bottom of the first inning, Providence’s Class 4A title defense slowly unraveled in an 8-5 loss to Brother Rice.

Brother Rice (35-3) will play in the Class 4A state tournament at Joliet’s Duly Health Care Field in the second semifinal against McHenry about 7 p.m. Friday.

Providence (27-13) sees its season end.

“I think a lot of people wrote us off because we didn’t have the regular season that people thought we were supposed to have,” Providence coach Mark Smith said. “But that’s not the Providence way. We don’t go out saying we have to win 30, 35 games. That’s not what it is about. It’s about trying to find our strengths, trying to find our weaknesses.

“And we did that throughout the year, and then we went on a postseason run. This stuff is hard. It’s hard, and you have to play great, and tonight we just didn’t play great.”

It looked early on as if they might.

After Brother Rice put up two runs in the top of the first, Providence responded with authority. Enzo Infelise swatted a home run over the left field fence to get the Celtics going, then Nate O’Donnell doubled and Eddie Olszta singled to set the table for Cooper Eggert, who laced a two-run triple to give Providence a 3-2 lead.

But the Celtics weren’t able to maintain that momentum. They threatened again in the second, but couldn’t get a big hit and went quietly in the third, fourth and fifth.

Providence mounted another challenge in the sixth inning, but once again a critical hit eluded it, as the Celtics left two runners stranded in scoring position.

Meanwhile, Brother Rice continued to chip away in small increments. The Crusaders tied the score in the third with a key two-out single from Aidan Nohava, then took the lead in the fifth when they strung together four consecutive base runners to take a 5-3 lead.

O’Donnell battled his way through five innings on the mound for the Celtics. He threw two-plus innings in the sectional championship against Lincoln-Way East, and although he was game for the challenge of trying to help his team to the state finals again, ultimately Brother Rice proved to be too relentless.

“We just didn’t get the job done,” O’Donnell said. “I don’t know if I had my 100% stuff, but I was feeling pretty good out there. I just went out there and competed. That’s all I can do for my guys. I was pitching this game no matter what, no matter how I felt.”

O’Donnell also more than did his part offensively, finishing with three hits.

Brother Rice added some insurance in the top of the seventh, tacking on three more runs. At the time it didn’t look all that significant, but Providence mounted a seventh-inning rally when Infelise doubled, O’Donnell chased him home with an RBI triple, and Eggert provided an RBI single.

But the late rally was finally squelched with a game-ending double play.

“This group was so close knit, and they left a great legacy at Providence,” Smith said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them. My heart breaks for them, but they are just awesome kids.”