For one day, the Canarsie baseball team felt like champions.
Senior righthander Debonair Bolling tossed a six-inning perfect game in a 11-0 run-rule victory over Sheepshead Bay on April 8. The senior, dogged by academic ineligibility much of his career, struck out 16 and needed just 74 pitches to complete the memorable gem.
“He was hitting his spots, he was moving the ball in and out and the curveball was working,” Canarsie coach Daniel Paradis said. “He was overpowering most of those kids and he was using his curve against the middle of their lineup.”
It was a memorable afternoon for a program that had always known losing in recent years, going a combined 9-54 in Brooklyn A East the last four season. The team moved down to Brooklyn B Central this spring and has gotten off to a 3-1 start. Catcher Brandon Tapia had three hits and four RBIs in the rout of Sheepshead Bay, Bolling added three hits and two RBIs and Wesly Castro, Joshua Laureano, Dioribe Pena and Nicholas Hernandez each scored two runs.
“The kids are playing baseball, they are talking baseball in the dugout, something that didn’t happen last year,” said Paradis, a Lane graduate who played alongside Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan at Stony Brook. “The kids were very excited. My catcher said he never saw a perfect game. He said, ‘This feels so good, let’s throw another one.’ It brings the program a little life that we needed. I say this program is up and coming. I’m thinking in two years I’d like to go back to the ‘A’ division.”
Bolling has been a major part of the Chiefs’ quick start, with his standout play at shortstop, .600 batting average, five RBIs and latest effort on the mound.
“He’s probably one of the best players in the ‘B’ division,” Paradis said. “He’s given us a big boost.”
