Nazareth Area High School's Mike Garzillo sets a winning example in defeat

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

One home run counted.

Another home run -- or rather, what looked like another home run -- did not.

And that pretty much accounted for the difference in the Nazareth Area High School baseball team's season-ending 5-0 loss to District 3 runner-up Manheim Township on Thursday night in a PIAA Class AAAA quarterfinal game at Walter Stump Stadium in Pine Grove.

In the top of the first inning with a runner on, Nazareth junior shortstop Mike Garzillo launched a moonshot down the left-field line that to many Blue Eagle fans and to coach Jon Lock was well fair before hooking and landing well out of the stadium.

But the umpires didn't agree, and the Blue Eagles didn't score in that inning or thereafter, while the Blue Streaks made it 2-0 in the bottom of the frame.

Two innings later, in the bottom of the third, the Blue Streaks' Andy Yunginger hammered a no-doubt-about-it blast to right field for a three-run ding-dong, and Manheim had all the runs it needed.

Had Garzillo's blast counted, the whole game could have swung. The District 11 champs would have had the lead and the spring in their step and the confidence and swagger they'd played with all season. It's conceivable Blue Streaks pitcher Darren Yoder would have been rattled enough that he wouldn't have settled down and dominated with a four-hitter.

In that moment, the game may well have gotten away from the Blue Eagles.

And the one person in the park wearing Nazareth blue who wasn't furious with the call?

Mike Garzillo.

"It was just a foul ball. I was just trying to put a good swing on the ball, but it wasn't fair. I give the pitcher on their team a lot of credit, he did a really good against us," said Garzillo, in complete and utter sincerity, with a smile on his face.

So drenched in irony and sarcasm is our society that a reporter kept waiting for the stinging comment that would have indicated Garzillo wasn't serious with the mild words, that he was holding back anger and frustration.

It never came.

"It was the umpire's call," Garzillo said with that same earnestness. "It would have a made a difference in the game had it been fair, but it was just a foul ball. I give a lot of credit to (Manheim Township), and I wish them a lot of luck throughout the rest of the tournament."

A reporter tried about six different ways to get Garzillo to emote somewhat more forcefully on the non-homer and every such attempt was parried by sportsmanlike comments, praise for the opposition and a determination to be positive.

The thought strikes that if every athlete talked this way after a defeat, sports would be such a better place. The next thought is that hardly any do, and the third thought is that this is one special kid.

"You can't ask for a better kid than Mike," said Lock with visible emotion. "We joke as coaches on the bus that if we have kids, we'll drop them at the Garzillo house and pick them up 15 years later and we know they'll be great kids. Mike's one of the hardest working kids I have ever been around."

Garzillo's easy to notice on the field because he runs everywhere -- even back to the dugout after striking out -- and never stops hustling. There's not a thing flashy about him but his obvious talent, and there's not one ounce of lippiness, showboating or cockiness. During the dispute over the homer, after he'd rounded the bases, he just stood waiting calmly for the result.

"That's just the kind of kid he is," Lock said.

Garzillo demurred praise for his demeanor.

"That's the way my dad and my coaches taught me to play baseball," he said.

It is unsurprising to learn from Paul Garzillo. Mike's proud parent, that his son's baseball idol is Derek Jeter, one of the classiest stars to ever play shortstop.

"His dream is to play shortstop for the Yankees," Paul Garzillo said.

Such dreams may come true. It's for sure that Garzillo, right now, brings more class and character to the diamond than most major league players. He could, right now, give lessons in how on to conduct yourself after a loss (and during the game for that matter) to most big-leaguers.

The best part for Lock and Nazareth is that Garzillo has one more year left.

"We just want to do what we did this year again next year," Garzillo said. "We have great team unity and the JVs and juniors coming up next year are great."

"We'll be fine," Lock said.

With Mike Garzillo on hand, how can Nazareth be anything else? But, ah, if that homer had counted ....

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