Lemont’s Noah Tomaras wasn’t going to lie to himself.
The senior catcher didn’t think the ball was gone right off the bat. Not high enough, he thought, as he headed toward first base. He then watched the ball rise and go out deep into left field.
Could it be? Maybe?
“I got a nice, 3-1 hitter’s count,” Tomaras said of his home run in the sixth inning Friday afternoon. “I was just sitting fastball, and he gave me a fastball right down the middle, and I just drove it.
“I thought it was going to hit the wall. It felt good.”
It was good to go for Tomaras and Co. That home run was just enough to propel Lemont to a 1-0 victory over St. Rita in the Class 3A Evergreen Park Sectional championship game.
Tomaras’ hit made a winner out of junior pitcher Shea Glotzbach (6-2), who tossed a three-hit gem to lift Lemont (27-9) into a 5 p.m. Monday game in the Crestwood Supersectional at Ozinga Field.
The work of Tomaras behind the plate was just as important.
“Whenever I got down in the count or I threw a ball first pitch or second pitch, just losing a little bit of composure, he put his hands up to slow everything down and take my time,” Glotzbach said.
“And then he just got me back to where I need to be — throwing strikes.”
It was a hard-luck defeat for St. Rita (25-13), which received 10 strikeouts from senior right-hander Chris McGrath. In fact, virtually the only mistake McGrath made was against Tomaras.
Offensively, though, the Mustangs stranded seven runners, including the bases loaded in the third.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound Tomaras has always been a catcher. Nobody wanted to play the position when he was age 7, so his dad bought him the proper equipment and he gave it a whirl.
Now, Tomaras and his teammates are one win away from going to state.
“He’s our leader,” Lemont coach Brian Storako said. “He’s the first one here, last one to leave. Always wants to do extra, bringing kids in the weight room after hours, things like that.
“Just leading by example. Doesn’t say much but just gets the job done.”
For Tomaras, leadership comes down to one crucial thing, and that’s attitude.
“If people see you after an at-bat, you get out and you’re down, people just look off of that and follow your attitude,” he said. “It’s just staying up all the time and having your teammates’ backs.”
Keep in mind that Tomaras has already graduated, so he had time on his hands during the afternoon Friday to perhaps ponder the 4:30 p.m. game against St. Rita.
He didn’t. He kept busy and didn’t get in his own way mentally, which paid off in the sixth.
“I hit in the cage in my backyard,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t take any downtime because I knew it would make me tired and lackluster in the game. I was just trying to stay productive the whole day, not doing too much. Get a little workout in.”
Tomaras has at least one game to go and maybe two next weekend at Duly Health & Care Field in Joliet. After that, he’s off to Missouri-St. Louis, where he was recruited to be a catcher.
No surprise there.
That means he has four more years playing the position his dad encouraged him to try way back when. He’s planning on loving every minute of that experience too, just like in high school.
“The coaching staff there is great,” he said. “I love them, and they honestly represent what they have there, the team-family vibe.”
Gregg Voss is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
