Better to be lucky than good for Madison High School

May 19, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Madison's coach contends that quite a bit of luck has helped his team this year, but Shawn James' 0.21 ERA has a whole lot more to do with skill than luck. The Knights will rely on him and Chris Karnbach to get them through the playoffs this year. Eagle photos by Rob Abruzzese

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Madison High School coach Vincent Caiazza knew that he had a young team this year and didn’t expect a whole lot, but as the Public School Athletic League has wrapped up its regular season, the Knights have the best record of all of Brooklyn’s AAA public schools. They’ll represent the No. 4 seed when the playoffs start on Wednesday.

So how did Madison pull it off?

“Don’t ask me how,” Caiazza joked. “Somehow we’re 14-2 despite the fact that I have three freshmen starting. If you had asked me before the season, I would have been happy at 10-6 or even 9-7.”

Caiazza might be surprised by the record, but his young hitters have proven to be tenacious at the plate and strong defensively in the field. He also has two of the best pitchers in the borough in junior Shawn James and senior Chris Karnbach. The rest of his pitching staff isn’t bad either, and he considers junior Anthony Mascolo to have as much potential as either James or Karnbach.

Quite a bit of luck has also been involved. Madison lost 11 one-run games over the past two years, but this year the Knights won five one-run wins and three wins in extra innings.

As Caiazza sees it, that luck will have to continue for his team to be successful in the playoffs.

“The year we can contend, we might have to face a guy who throws 98 (George Washington’s Wesley Rodriguez), Monroe has three guys who can throw 85 and Tottenville never loses,” Caiazza said. “I don’t know. I’m realistic, but maybe they’ll lose before we get to them.”

Caiazza points to Telecom’s championship run in 2013 as an example of a time where things did fall into place for a team. Telecom managed to win that year without facing any of New York City’s perennial top teams — Washington, Monroe, Tottenville and Grand Street Campus.

Of course, Madison will have to get past Brooklyn’s other top teams — Telecom and Grand Street — if it’s going to make an appearance at Yankee Stadium during the finals this year (Midwood and New Utrecht are also in the playoffs as the No. 22 and 31 seeds respectively).

Telecom heads to the playoffs as the No. 6 seed after it finished the regular season with a 12-4 record. Its bracket will pit the Yellow Jackets against George Washington in a potential quarterfinals matchup, which will put pressure on top starter Evan Layne, who finished the year with a 1.56 ERA.

Grand Street, the No. 12 seed, is interesting because it is likely better than its results have shown, as it dealt with injuries for a good portion of the year. Most of those players are back, though, so it could potentially do more damage than its 11-5 record would indicate.

Despite the fact that it has some upset potential, Grand Street won’t have an easy path to the finals, as it could face defending-champion Cardozo in the second round and a potential Norman Thomas or Madison matchup in the quarterfinals.

The PSAL AAA playoffs begin on Wednesday as Madison hosts Aviation, Telecom hosts Manhattan Center and Grand Street hosts Walton Campus. New Utrecht will head to the Bronx to face Monroe, and Midwood is going to Queens to play John Bowne.