Marist head baseball coach Ron Hayward vividly recalled his lone chance of winning a Hudson County championship.
It was 1998 and Hayward was a senior at Marist.
“We lost to Memorial in the final,” Hayward said. “I never got another chance to win one.”
Hayward took over the head coaching duties at his alma mater seven years ago. He jokingly made a comment to his players when the 2012 season began.
“I told them that this was my seventh year and Michael Jordan won his first championship in the NBA in his seventh year,” Hayward said. “The kids all looked at me funny and laughed.”
But Hayward was dead serious. Even though no one else considered the Royal Knights as a legitimate threat, he did.
“I had to make them believe that they could actually do it,” Hayward said. “I told them that I didn’t expect them to lose more than five games this season.”
Either Hayward has been tuned in to the Psychic Friends Network or reading some old works of famed soothsayer Kreskin, because those predictions were just a little too lofty, even for someone who goes by the name of Great Hagueini from time to time in this newspaper.
“I did,” Hayward said. “I truly believed that. I got my assistant coach [Chris Hansen] to believe it and he had the kids believing it. After a while, the kids stopped laughing.”
However, when the Ed Ford Memorial Hudson County Tournament began a few weeks ago, the Royal Knights were an afterthought. They received the No. 4 seed from the coaches. It wasn’t a resounding affirmation of acceptance of being one of the true tourney threats, just a squad that could somehow hang around until the semifinals at best.
“I knew we had the chance,” Hayward said. “The fourth seed didn’t mean much. I knew we were going to have to play the best and beat the best to win it. We just needed to get the wins.”
The Royal Knights definitely opened some eyes, when senior Mark Peralta, a transfer from now-defunct St. Mary’s, threw a no-hitter to defeat cross-town rival and top seeded Bayonne in the semifinals.
“I definitely think that put so much confidence in our minds,” Hayward said. “We beat Bayonne and did so with Peralta throwing a no-hitter. I think that let us know that we could battle with anyone.”
It certainly made others realize that the Royal Knights were for real.
Sure enough, the reality tour continued for one more stop, as the Royal Knights came from behind to defeat St. Peter’s Prep, 7-5, in nine innings to win the Hudson County Tournament.
It marked the first county crown for Marist since the 1993 season.
Before the game against the Marauders, Hayward gathered his team together.
“I told them to look me in the eyes and see what I saw,” Hayward said. “I told them that we put so much work into this and we weren’t going to lay down for anyone. I think that helped when we fell behind (5-1 in the first inning). They didn’t give in. They didn’t quit.”
Sophomore Matt Littrell, who has been brilliant all season long, managed to hold the Marauders down after the early lead and kept the game close. He retired an astounding 21 straight batters after the first inning to keep the game within reach.
The Royal Knights (21-5) then managed to scrape and claw their way back in, getting clutch performances from Peralta, who had three hits and the RBI single in the fifth inning that tied the game at 5-5.
In the ninth inning, Josh Salgado delivered the game-winning RBI single and Danny Mirabel, another of the St. Mary’s refugees, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn a save for the gritty Littrell, who earned his sixth win of the season.
And Hayward finally had a championship. It’s been a week to remember for Hayward, who was elevated to the role of the athletic director at Marist, now that Larry Arico will accompany his wife to Michigan, where she has been hired as the women’s basketball coach at the University of Michigan.
“It feels good,” Hayward said. “They really worked hard for it. I still feel like it didn’t happen. It’s incredible to get Marist a championship when I didn’t have a chance.”
The Royal Knights defeated St. Anthony, Harrison, Bayonne and finally St. Peter’s in succession to win the crown.
Now, with a county title safely tucked away, Hayward doesn’t want to stop there. The Royal Knights own the top seed in the NJSIAA Non-Public South B bracket. Yes, Marist is in the South bracket now, as absurd as that seems. They await the winner of Roselle Catholic-St. Joseph of Hammonton in the first round of the states next week.
“We’re motivated to keep going,” Hayward said. “But we’ve won something now. It takes the pressure off them. We’re not worried about who we have to play in the states. We know that they play special baseball down south.”
They also seem to play special baseball in north Bayonne as well. – Jim Hague.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.