Emotional week makes Xaverian's Soto stronger

Elvin Soto’s week ended a lot better than it started.

The senior catcher from The Bronx put the disappointment of not getting selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft as expected to help lead Xaverian capture the CHSAA Class AA championship tournament final with a 7-1 victory against All Hallows last night at Kaiser Stadium on the campus of St. John’s University.

The University of Pittsburgh-bound catcher, who said he was told he could go as high as the top eight rounds, went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs as the top-seeded Clippers won their seventh Catholic crown and first since 2008.

Christina Santucci

Xaverian's Elvin Soto holds a trophy after the win.

Christina Santucci

Xaverian's Elvin Soto prepares to throw to first.

“I could have just crumbled up and been upset at the world, but I came out here and gave it my all to get the championship trophy and now I’m just fitting my ring,” Soto said.

Soto said he knew he was going to get picked Monday when the first-round selections were made. But he painstakingly watched hours of coverage Tuesday, only to never hear his name called. The switch-hitting catcher with a gun for an arm played for Team USA in the IBAF ‘AAA’ 18U Junior World Championship last summer, belted a pair of home runs in the Scout Showcase.

“Elvin’s a quality kid, but you can’t put your head down,” Xaverian coach Lou Piccola said. “Elvin’s in a quality position right now. He’ll go to school and develop his skills and get drafted after three years.”

Still, after 50 rounds, Soto went surprisingly undrafted.

“They said it was a problem with signability,” Soto said. “They say that Pitt doesn’t usually recruit unless a player is strongly committed. I’m going to get drafted. It’s just a matter of going to Pittsburgh and taking care of business.”

Soto said he didn’t even follow the draft Wednesday and his disappointment was obvious when he joined his team for practice.

“He told me he was a little mad about it, but like any good ballplayer, he put it to the side and he did what he had to do,” Xaverian pitcher Anthony Pastrana.

Soto said he used the disappointment of not getting drafted as motivation, both on Friday night and beyond.

“I’m just going to use that as a build-up, go to college, work hard and prove everyone wrong. It was definitely motivation to prove that even though I didn’t get drafted I can still keep doing what I do best,” Piccola said. “I’m going to college with a ring now. I get to show it off to all the freshmen when I go in on Aug. 15. It’s just an amazing feeling.”

dbutler@nypost.com