By Jose Negron
Gianni Cantini didn’t look intimidated or nervous, some of the things you might anticipate from a young pitcher, in his first Western Pennsylvania Summer Baseball League start Thursday night.
The Mon City hurler moreso resembled a calm, cool and collected veteran as he allowed just one run on two hits while walking one and striking out one in two innings of a game called off due to rain in Washington.
“He’s got a really good arm,” Mon City head coach Don Roberts said of Cantini, who has made a few relief appearances this summer. “He had pretty good control and even his misses were good misses. He was going up there and challenging hitters. Looking ahead, I can’t wait to see how hard he throws when he’s a junior and a senior.”
Cantini isn’t the only young star Roberts is excited about, though.
In fact, he’s only one part of the Ringgold High School baseball program’s youth movement.
In Thursday’s lineup, Cantini was one of eight incoming sophomores penciled in for Mon City, a summer league team that features a number of Ringgold High School players.
Cantini was joined by classmates Eli Callaway (third baseman), Hunter Mamie (catcher), Remington Lessman (first baseman), Ashton Ray (right fielder), Andrew Amati (extra hitter), Zane Mahoney (extra hitter) and Lorenzo Glasser (second baseman). Shortstop Chad Behrendt, who will be a junior next school year, rounded out the lineup along with seniors-to-be Joey Shumaker (center fielder) and Gage Fuller (left fielder).
While each of these players had their seasons wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cantini and his classmates were the ones who were unable to take the field as high school players for the first time.
Instead, they’re making up for lost time this summer.
And through eight games, Roberts has taken notice.
“They’re all able to step in. It’s kind of like Mike Tomlin says, ‘Next man up,’” Roberts said. “I think getting that experience in the fall and the experience they’re getting now, they’re all pretty comfortable. I don’t really see them getting nervous at all.”
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