A recent high-school baseball game contained more mercy than the lopsided scoreline suggests.
Old Rochester High School of Mattapoisett, Mass., defeated Notre Dame Cristo Rey in Lawrence, Mass., 82-0 last Saturday, with the score setting a state record for margin of victory, according to The Boston Herald’s Dan Ventura. Old Rochester led 32-0 after two innings, prompting head coach Steve Carvalho to order his team to use damage-limitation measures.
“I’m sick to my stomach over this,” Carvalho told the Boston Herald. “We really tried everything possible. We told the kids don’t take extra bases, no sprinting — we even had kids bunting and they couldn’t make the routine plays. We had kids hitting balls 300 feet and jogging to first.
“We even asked that they stop the game after four innings and they said no. Believe me, we exhausted all options in our power.”
The Old Rochester vs. Cristo Rey score still fell short of the national high-school record, which Atlantic (Iowa) set April 26, 1928 with a 109-0 win over Griswold.
Old Rochester and Cristo Rey only were playing each other because of a scheduling error. Old Rochester is a Division 3 program with well-established athletics, but Cristo Rey is a Division 4 school with only 103 boys. Prior to the season, Carvalho thought he had scheduled a game against Notre Dame Cristo Rey school in Boston, Mass. He didn’t realize his mistake until just before his team played the Lawrence-based Cristo Rey.
“We had 18 games and we were searching for a 19th game,” Carvalho said. “We looked at the MIAA website and saw Cristo Rey was looking for a game. I noticed they were 11-8 and made the tournament. I didn’t realize at the time that there were two Cristo Reys.”
The schools will meet again May 19 at Old Rochester, and Carvalho will go out of his way to ensure his team doesn’t win by as big a margin as their first meeting.
“No way am I using my varsity,” Carvalho said. “We will play the game with our junior varsity.”
