Fortunately for Scotch Plains-Fanwood, there are 21 outs. The team was one out away from a 4-2 loss but it pieced together a remarkable rally in the seventh inning. It started with a blast from Jack Sponheimer. The senior entered Tuesday’s game with over 140 career at-bats and no home runs but he changed that with a towering three-run big fly to left that turned a two-run deficit to a 5-4 lead. The timely spark ignited a nine-run barrage that lifted Scotch Plains-Fanwood to an 11-4 win over Cranford in Cranford. “I was 0-for-3 before that, I was struggling,” Sponheimer said. “I just wanted to hit it hard, just try to do whatever I could to help us out and win. So I hit it, started running, and then I heard everyone start screaming. I knew it was a home run and it was awesome.” “He’s a clutch kid,” added Scotch Plains-Fanwood head coach J.R. Luccarelli. “He’s done it in basketball, he’s done it in soccer. That’s what Jack does. He likes the pressure and I can’t be more proud that he hit his first high school home run in this game.” He then got up later in the inning and singled to supply Scotch Plains-Fanwood’s ninth hit of the inning. CJ Bates also had two hits in the inning to give him three on the day. Ian Losardo supplied the knock-out punch with a three-run homer of his own later in the rally to stretch the lead to 11-4. In all, 11 consecutive players reached base safely after there were two outs in the top of the seventh inning. “We went out to compete in that seventh inning,” Sponheimer said. “We weren’t playing good in the first five innings. Seventh innings, just something clicked. We started competing, started taking it one pitch at a time.” The comeback was aided by a stellar relief outing by Davis Murphy. After Bates tossed four-plus innings, Murphy came in for the final nine outs and got seven of them via strikeout. He earned the win and allowed just three hits. “He was sick all last week,” Luccarelli said. “We just kept in touch and he threw a side the other day, said he felt great. I knew that we were going to have to bring our best, especially in Cranford. Traditionally, they’re dog fights, but he competed out there. He was in complete control of himself and he knew what to do.” The offense struggled to get going against Christian Pereira, who allowed two runs on six hits across a five-inning start. Two solo home runs from Brayden Fry that went to almost the same exact spot over the wall in left and another solo shot from Tyler Veltre helped give Pereira a 4-2 lead. Pereira held Scotch Plains-Fanwood off the scoreboard through four innings but the team got to him in the fifth. After Bates scored the team’s first run on a Jack Masterson groundout, Leo Nardi had a stellar at-bat that added another spark to the rest of the team. He fouled off five pitches before knocking in Losardo with a single. “Any little thing when you have no energy like that and he worked the pitcher, had a great at-bat, so then we gained more energy,” Sponheimer said. “That really helped us click to keep going in the game.” Scotch Plains-Fanwood (4-1) has now won four in a row after a season-opening loss to Johnson. The team is clicking from top to bottom and it’s a good sign with a demanding slate of games coming up over the next couple of weeks. “We know we could always compete,” Sponheimer said. “We could beat anybody. Cranford’s always good. We just know we could hang in there with the best, no matter if we’re up or down. We’re 4-1 now, a great start to the season. So I think we just know that we could keep it going.” Brian Bobal may be reached at bbobal@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @BrianBobal. The N.J. High School Sports newsletter now appears in mailboxes 5 days a week. Sign up now! Follow us on social: Facebook | Instagram | X (formerly Twitter)