End of two eras

Wolverines fall to sharp pitcher in South Jersey Group I softball quarterfinals in Wildermuth’s final game

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
Tuesday’s quarterfinals
(1) Audubon 15, (8) Paulsboro 0
(4) Pennsville 9, (5) Maple Shade 8
(3) Haddon Twp. 3, (6) Woodstown 1
(2) Buena 6, (10) Gateway 4
Thursday’s semifinals
Pennsville at Audubon
Haddon Twp. at Buena
Saturday’s game
Championship game at higher seed

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WESTMONT – Dave Wildermuth made it a point to hug every player in Woodstown’s post-game huddle. He saved the longest hug and kindest words for senior shortstop Tulana Mingin.

The best three-year run in Woodstown softball history and a longtime teaching and coaching tenure came to a mutual close Tuesday when Haddon Twp. scored two unearned runs in the sixth inning and ushered the Wolverines out of the South Jersey Group I softball quarterfinals, 3-1.

The Hawks broke a 1-1 tie on Mikayla Callahan’s two-run single. They will now travel to second-seeded Buena for one of Thursday’s semifinals.

Earlier this year Wildermuth announced his retirement from teaching and coaching effective at the end of the school year. He didn’t want to talk about any farewell tour while the season played out or even at the start of the playoffs, but coming up just short in a hard-fought game brought a sense of reality to the situation. If you listened real close, you could hear him getting emotional during his post-game interview.

Wildermuth coached Woodstown softball for the last three seasons, to a combined record of 49-20 and three straight division titles. He had never missed the playoffs and reached the South Jersey Group I semifinals each of his previous two years. Mingin was among his most decorated players, setting the program’s all-time hits record this season (137) and going out as a .523 career hitter.

“I just told the seniors I’ve coached a lot of different sports at Woodstown, all different levels, the last three years coaching softball – and I’ve only coached three years – has been the ride of my life with these girls,” he said. “Probably the greatest era of girls softball in Woodstown High School history and they’ve been a big part of it.

“It was unbelievable. The girls from day one took to me, everybody got in line and we just had three great seasons.”

The players felt the same way about their coach.

“It actually hurt me a lot (that today was the end) because I’m just so grateful he came in and stepped in to coach us,” second baseman Kayla Brown said. “He’s the best coach I could ask for. It’s just tough to see him leave, but I’m glad I got to experience my high school career with him.”

“I’m going to miss him – a lot,” Mingin said. “I’m going to miss high school softball a lot, so it meant a lot to me.”

The Wolverines made the first move to keep it going by striking first against Hawks pitcher Jordan Strauss, but the run they scored in the first inning was their only one of the game.

Mingin helped create it when she drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Ellie Wygand’s infield out and scored on Brown’s two-out single up the middle. It was the 117th run of Mingin’s career.

“I felt pretty confident with (Strauss),” Brown said. “I was fouling off a lot of pitches, so I felt like hitting the ball was something I could do. I knew I had to make an adjustment because I kept fouling the ball off and I made the adjustment perfectly and it got through the gap and Tulana scored. It was a really exciting moment.”

The Hawks got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Strauss tripled into the right field corner and scored on an infield ground out.

Strauss and Woodstown pitchers Liv Boultinghouse and Grace White went head-to-head in the circle. Strauss held the Wolverines to two hits and struck out 13. Boultinghouse pitched the first four and gave up only two hits after the first.

The Hawks broke the tie against White in the sixth. White got the first two batters out, but the Hawks kept the inning alive when Jamie Kozarski reached on a low throw to first from Mingin and went all the way to second.

“It was a slow roller and a slow roller in the gap like that the throw is going to be a little rushed, so I threw it a little low,” Mingin said.

The Wolverines still had a chance to get out of the inning with no damage, but Abby Lyons followed with a bunt single to move Kozarski along and she kept moving to second. Callahan then delivered her two-run single to center.

The Hawks continued to load the bases but the inning ended when Strauss was out for interference for plowing through Mingin on a grounder to short.

Strauss put the Wolverines down in order in the seventh to close out the game.

“We ran into a really good pitcher today, so give them credit,” Wildermuth said. “I told (his players) at practice the other day at this point everybody’s a good team (and) it’s going to come down to the team that makes the less mistakes or gets that one key hit.

“That’s what happened today. We had the one defensive play that kept the inning alive and then they capitalized with a hit. That was the difference in the game.”

This week’s schedule

Sectional tournament play continues for the week of May 27-June 1

TUESDAY, MAY 28
SOFTBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 PLAYOFFS
Quarterfinals
(8) Paulsboro at (1) Audubon, 3 p.m.
(5) Maple Shade at (4) Pennsville, 3 p.m.
(6) Woodstown at (3) Haddon Twp., 3:45 p.m.
(10) Gateway at (7) Buena, 4 p.m.

GOLF
Tri-County Championship, Pitman GC, 8 a.m.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29
BASEBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 PLAYOFFS
Quarterfinals
(8) Haddon Twp. at (1) Audubon
(5) Woodstown at (4) Pennsville, 3 p.m.
(6) Schalick at (3) Pitman, 4 p.m.
(7) Wildwood at (2) Gloucester

BOYS TENNIS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals
(8) Overbrook at (1) Haddon Twp.
(5) Woodstown at (4) Middle Twp.
(6) Buena at (3) Pennsville
(7) Schalick at (2) Pitman

THURSDAY, MAY 30
SOFTBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 PLAYOFFS
Semifinals
Paulsboro-Audubon vs. Maple Shade-Pennsville
Woodstown-Haddon Twp. vs. Gateway-Buena

FRIDAY, MAY 31
BASEBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 PLAYOFFS
Semifinals
Haddon Twp.-Audubon vs. Woodstown-Pennsville
Schalick-Pitman vs. Wildwood-Gloucester

BOYS TENNIS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 TOURNAMENT
Semifinals
Overbrook-Haddon Twp. vs. Woodstown-Middle Twp.
Buena-Pennsville vs. Schalick-Pitman

TRACK
SOUTH JERSEY SECTIONALS
Group 1, Pennsauken
Group 2, Delsea

SATURDAY, JUNE 1
SOFTBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 1 PLAYOFFS
Championship game at higher seed

TRACK
SOUTH JERSEY SECTIONALS
Group 1, Pennsauken
Group 2, Delsea

TCC pairings

Here are the pairings for Tuesday’s Tri-County Conference Showcase golf tournament at Pitman GC

TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE SHOWCASE
At Pitman GC
8 a.m. shotgun
BOYS PAIRINGS
1: Christopher Parrish (Kingsway), Julian Boyer (Deptford), Justin Forman (Washington Twp.), Brady Geatens (Williamstown).
2: Lyle Petersen (Kingsway), Cole Geatens (Williamstown), Jamie Ciesielka (GCIT), Luke Canino (Washington Twp.).
3: Gavin McClaskey (Williamstown), Jacob Isaac (Pennsville), Lance Creighton (Schalick), Jacob Schermerhorn (Woodstown).
4: Andrew Michalski (Williamstown), Enrique Altmann (GCIT), Jaxon Weber (Schalick), Jackson DeAngelo (Clearview).
5: Isaiah Garcia (Triton), Ryan Johnson (Schalick), Kyle Brainard (Woodstown), Thomas Luu (Clearview).
6: Dylan Convery (Timber Creek), Bradyn Skokowski (Triton), Seth Fisher (Schalick), Jeffrey Covely (Woodstown).
7: Hunter Cannon (Delsea), Mac Weldon (Highland), Billy Stuski (Gloucester Catholic), Sean Costello (Deptford).
8: Daniele Sanzone (Wildwood), Gabriel Smith (Delsea), Connor Marvel (Highland), Nick Renz (Gloucester Catholic).
9: Joey Zubert (Pitman), Aidan Young (Timber Creek), Luke Venuto (Clayton), Mason Griffith (Salem Tech).
10: Luke Discoll (Pitman), Mikey Joyce (Triton), Stephen Wilchensky (Cumberland), Max Webb (Woodstown).
11: Owen Boulton (Pitman), Samuel Thompson (Cumberland), Dylan Waller (Pennsville), Billy Ginipro (Gloucester Catholic).
12: Logan Sharpnack (Pitman), Leo Impagliazzo (Triton), Jeffrey Boyd (Overbrook), T.J. Pisano (Gloucester Catholic).
13: Vance Elder (Overbrook), Austin Short (Salem Tech), John Shoemaker (Wildwood).

GIRLS PAIRINGS
14: Stella Bernardi (Clearview), Nicole Tarquinio (Cumberland), Carly Kuminka (Kingsway), Tessa Reilley (Washington Twp.).
15: Sarah Kaestner (Clearview), Hannah Widdifield (Schalick), Ava Volpe (Kingsway), Delaney Schwartz (Washington Twp.)
16: Lydia Bernardi (Clearview), Kaci Adams (Williamstown), Alivia Wirtz (GCIT), Maahishee Patel (Cumberland).
17: Sienna Longo (Clearview), Isabella Gordon (Williamstown), Julia Swierczynski (Woodstown), Lilianna Himstedt (OLMA).
18A: Casey Widdifield (Schalick), Lindsey Harris (GCIT), Jessica Johnson (Wildwood), Brooke Prager (Delsea).
18B: Leigh Ann Nage (Clayton), Cheyenne Cope (Wildwood), Sarah Mathiesen (Delsea), Sophia Stultz (OLMA).

Cover photo: Schalick’s Ryan Johnson (L) and Woodstown teammates Jeffrey Covely (C) and Jacob Schermerhorn on the green of the first hole of a sudden-death playoff in last week’s Salem/Cumberland county tournament. All three will be playing in Tuesday’s Tri-County Conference Showcase..

Making their pitch

Woodstown pitchers have been tough to reach in May, trio shuts down Maple Shade in South Jersey Group I playoff opener

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Thursday’s results
No. 1 Audubon 14, No. 16 Camden Academy Charter 3
No. 8 Haddon Twp. 8, No. 9 Buena 1
No. 5 Woodstown 3, No. 12 Maple Shade 1
No. 4 Pennsville 10, No. 13 Gateway 0
No. 6 Schalick 3, No. 11 Paulsboro 1
No. 3 Pitman 13, No. 14 Glassboro 0
No. 7 Wildwood 2, No. 10 Cape May Tech 1
No. 2 Gloucester 16, No. 15 Penns Grove 3

SECOND ROUND (May 29)
Haddon Twp. at Audubon
Woodstown at Pennsville
Schalick at Pitman
Wildwood vs. Gloucester

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – If there is one aspect of his team Woodstown baseball coach Marc DeCastro has been particularly proud of lately it would be the emergence of his pitchers.

They’ve gone from a bunch that had taken their lumps early in a season to becoming quite steady over this last month. Three pitchers combined to hold Maple Shade to three hits and one unearned run Thursday giving the Wolverines a chance to take a 3-1 victory in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.

Michael Valente and Jack Knorr gave the Wolverines two innings of no-hit ball on the front and back ends, respectively. Dante Holmes worked the middle three, giving up three hits, a walk, the run and striking out four. Valente retired all six batters he faced to open the game.

The Wolverines have given up two runs or fewer six times in 10 games this month, including each of the last two, going 5-1 in those games. They allowed five runs or more in five of their first eight games of the season, including each of the last four, going 2-3.

“From where we started the season to play a playoff game and throw like we did is great,” DeCastro said. “Because we’ve been able to make some adjustments and become a lot better as a group on the mound as opposed to individually on the mound; that’s kind of how we had to approach some things.

“Early early in the year we were letting up eight plus runs in maybe three of the first five games we played, then we continued on to settle down slightly but we were still getting down early in game and having to come back and whole bunch. We had to alter the way we did things to solidify the ability to get some leads and hold some leads instead of trying to come back on leads.”

All of the game’s runs came in the fourth and fifth innings and the Wolverines never trailed.

They broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the fourth on Rocco String’s solo homer and Caden Spinelli’s two-out RBI single. Maple Shade scored its run in the top of the fifth on an infield error, but the Wolverines got it back on Andrew Pedrick’s sacrifice fly.

Spinelli and Ty Coblentz both had two hits for the Wolverines.

The win sets up a second-round matchup at Pennsville Wednesday.

“We’ve done it before; we played them a couple years ago at our place in the tournament,” DeCastro said. “They’re always one of the better teams in South Jersey, so for the most part if you want to get somewhere you probably have to go through them. That’s just the situation that we’re in. As long as we handle it with some calmness we’ll be fine.”

Tough time for tough inning

‘Tougher’ inning dashes Penns Grove’s hopes in baseball playoffs, all favorites win, also includes golf, SJ Group I tennis

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Thursday’s results
No. 1 Audubon 14, No. 16 Camden Academy Charter 3
No. 8 Haddon Twp. 8, No. 9 Buena 1
No. 5 Woodstown 3, No. 12 Maple Shade 1
No. 4 Pennsville 10, No. 13 Gateway 0
No. 6 Schalick 3, No. 11 Paulsboro 1
No. 3 Pitman 13, No. 14 Glassboro 0
No. 7 Wildwood 2, No. 10 Cape May Tech 1
No. 2 Gloucester 16, No. 15 Penns Grove 3

SECOND ROUND (May 29)
Haddon Twp. at Audubon
Woodstown at Pennsville
Schalick at Pitman
Wildwood vs. Gloucester

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

GLOUCESTER CITY – After battling their way through the final week of the season just to make the field, Penns Grove was hoping to keep its first playoff game since 2021 close, but one big inning proved its undoing.

Gloucester scored a run in the first inning, then erupted for 10 in the second to set the stage for a 16-3 victory over the Red Devils Thursday in the first round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.

The Lions sent 15 batters to the plate in the inning. They collected six hits, including a two-run homer by Seth McCormick, and took advantage of three errors, a dropped third strike that would have been a second out, a hit batsman and a walk.

“The second inning has to be one of our … tougher innings of the year,” Penns Grove coach Chuck Weigle said. “We made a few mistakes, they capitalized on it and we ended up falling behind big.”

The Red Devils had one hit through the first three innings, but they avoided being shut out on Bristoll Scott’s RBI single in the fourth. They scored twice in the fifth after loading the bases with none out. Ryan Hyatt had an RBI single and Chase Wills scored on a passed ball.

Elijah Crespo and Hyatt had two hits apiece for the Red Devils.

“I don’t think it was what we were looking for,” Weigle said of the playoff experience. “We were hoping for a different result. We were hoping for it to be a little bit closer than it was. It just wasn’t the result we were looking for.

“Coming in as the 15^th seed you’re not expected to necessarily win the game, but we were hoping to keep it close and just hoping to play a good game overall.”

TENNIS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Thursday’s matches
No. 1 Haddon Twp. bye
No. 8 Overbrook 4, No. 9 Lindenwold 1
No. 5 Woodstown 5, No. 12 Wildwood 0
No. 4 Middle Twp. bye
No. 3 Pennsville bye
No. 6 Buena 5, No. 11 Penns Grove 0
No. 7 Schalick 3, No. 10 Palmyra 2
No. 2 Pitman bye
SECOND ROUND (May 29)
Overbrook at Haddon Twp.
Woodstown at Middle Twp.
Buena at Pennsville
Schalick at Pitman

WOODSTOWN 5, WILDWOOD 0
Tim Schwienbacher (Wo) def. Giorgio Palesano, 6-3, 6-1
Drew Stengel (Wo) def. Christopher Olivera, 6-0, 6-1
Eric Lipovsky (Wo) def. Cristopher Hernandez, 6-1, 6-1
Joseph Kurpis-Luke Shaw (Wo) def. Simon Palacias-Miguel Amendondo, 6-2, 6-1
John Farrell-Jake Lewis (Wo) def. Kevin Damian-Brian Damian, 6-0, 6-0
Records: Woodstown 13-6, Wildwood 4-11.

BUENA 5, PENNS GROVE 0
Jake Harris (B) def. Alex Ramirez Martinez, 6-0, 6-0
Dominic Longona (B) def. Angel Perez Herrera, 6-1, 6-1
Stephen Pepper (B) def. Stuart Mondragon, 6-1, 6-0
Matthew Lillia-Gabe Ridolfo (B) def. Anthony Pacheco-Ricardo Vichi, 6-0, 6-0
Joshua Sharpe-Michael Letushko (B) def. Adam Gonzalez-Rene Ruiz, 6-0, 6-2
Records: Buena 18-3, Penns Grove 4-10.

SCHALICK 3, PALMYRA 2
George Gould (S) def. Julian Carlino, 6-4, 6-3
Richie Butler (P) def. Jesus Espinoza, 6-2, 6-1
Connor McCann (P) def. Conor O’Toole, 6-3, 6-1
David Santana-Rocky Monticolo (S) def. Jaden Jennings-Owen Jacobs, 6-4, 6-2
Kaden Barnes-Cayden Brzozowski (S) def. Jack Timlin-Justin Smyth, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5)
Records: Schalick 16-7, Palmyra 5-7.

GOLF
WOODSTOWN 156, HIGHLAND 169: Woodstown’s Salem/Cumberland runner-up Jeffrey Covely birdied the first hole and shot an even-par 36 and the Wolverines counted four of the five lowerst scores of the day to win at Town & Country CC.

The Wolverines also counted a 39 from Max Webb, a 40 from Kyle Brainard and a 41 from Salem/Cumberland medalist Jacob Schermerhorn.

Running the show

Schalick edges Paulsboro; Pokrovsky gives up one hit, fans 16, collects 100th strikeout of the season, 100th career hit

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Thursday’s results
No. 1 Audubon 14, No. 16 Camden Academy Charter 3
No. 8 Haddon Twp. 8, No. 9 Buena 1
No. 5 Woodstown 3, No. 12 Maple Shade 1
No. 4 Pennsville 10, No. 13 Gateway 0
No. 6 Schalick 3, No. 11 Paulsboro 1
No. 3 Pitman 13, No. 14 Glassboro 0
No. 7 Wildwood 2, No. 10 Cape May Tech 1
No. 2 Gloucester 16, No. 15 Penns Grove 3

Second Round (May 29)
Haddon Twp. at Audubon
Woodstown at Pennsville
Schalick at Pitman
Wildwood vs. Gloucester

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – The Schalick Cougars won playoff game over a familiar playoff foe without playing their best baseball, but that kind of thing is a little easier to do when you have a pitcher like Luke Pokrovsky on the your side.

Pokrovsky had another milestone day Thursday in the sixth-seeded Cougars’ 3-1 win over No. 11 Paulsboro in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.

The junior left-hander allowed one soft single over 6 1/3 innings and matched his career-high of 16 strikeouts for the third time this season and second time in three outings to surpass 100 Ks for the season. He also singled in his first at-bat for the 100th hit of his career – then was intentionally walked his next three times up.

“I was going into the game knowing that I only needed one hit for my 100th and that’s all I was trying to do at the plate, stay simple and hit the ball hard,” Pokrovsky said. “I got the first pitch off-speed and I just tried to get the barrel to the ball and it ended up working out.

“I didn’t even realize about the Ks because after I got the school record I just haven’t tried for that stuff. I just tried to lead the team to a victory by throwing strikes and getting weak contract.”

That’s what he did Thursday. He threw 68 strikeouts among his 112 pitches and the only hit he allowed came with two outs in the fourth inning when Kayden Weber threw his bat at a pitch and knocked it into left field to plate the Red Raiders’ only run.

Pokrovsky struck out the first five batters he faced, including Matt Hill to end the first inning for his 100th strikeout of the season. He has 113 this year and 248 in his career.

The only reason he came out of the game in the seventh was because he reached his pitch limit. Lucas D’Agostino finished it off by striking out the only two batters he faced on seven pitches.

With six days between games, count on Pokrovsky starting the Cougars’ second-round game at Pitman Wednesday.

“He’s our guy,” Schalick coach Sean O’Brien said. “If we’re going to lose, we’re going to lose with him. If we’re gonna win, we’re gonna win with him. So he’s definitely a guy we have to rely on.

“I’m looking at his numbers, it’s crazy. It kind of blows you away, you’re like wow. It’s pretty awesome.”

The Cougars were playing Paulsboro in the playoff for the third time in the last four years. They knocked the Red Raiders out of the playoffs in the SJ Group I semifinals in 2021 and the Red Raiders knocked Cougars out in the 2022 semis.

Runs were hard to come by. The Cougars, who had only six hits themselves, pushed two across in the third on a wild pitch and Ricky Watt’s sacrifice fly and added an insurance run in the sixth on a bases-loaded hit batsman. Jake Siedlecki had two hits and Watt had two RBIs.

They left the bases loaded twice, but three runs was all they really needed with Pokrovsky dealing from the mound.

“We didn’t play our best, we didn’t do well offensively, but we found a way,” O’Brien said. “In other parts of the season they’re the type of games we didn’t win … we kind of folded and we ended up losing games. It felt good to kind of push through when you don’t play your best.

“It definitely showed a little bit of growth and that little bit of grit we have where we weren’t going to kind of give up because things weren’t going our way. It was good to have that moment where we struck up and found a way to get runs and having Luke on the mound is definitely a huge plus where we don’t have to do much behind him because he’s the one running the show.”

Grand opening

Pennsville’s O’Brien spins five-inning no-hitter to open South Jersey Group I playoffs, Eagles run past Gateway 10-0; Wood returns to lineup

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL PLAYOFFS
Thursday’s results
No. 1 Audubon 14, No. 16 Camden Academy Charter 3
No. 8 Haddon Twp. 8, No. 9 Buena 1
No. 5 Woodstown 3, No. 12 Maple Shade 1
No. 4 Pennsville 10, No. 13 Gateway 0
No. 6 Schalick 3, No. 11 Paulsboro 1
No. 3 Pitman 13, No. 14 Glassboro 0
No. 7 Wildwood 2, No. 10 Cape May Tech 1
No. 2 Gloucester 16, No. 15 Penns Grove 3

Second Round (May 29)
Haddon Twp. at Audubon
Woodstown at Pennsville
Schalick at Pitman
Wildwood vs. Gloucester

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Most pitchers after throwing a no-hitter in a big game are going to do something like say they’re going to Disney World. What does Pennsville’s Peyton O’Brien do when he throws a no-hitter in a playoff game? He loads up in the car with a bunch of teammates and heads down the highway to Woodstown.

O’Brien certainly was a king of the hill Thursday. He pitched a five-inning no-hitter as the Eagles blanked Gateway 10-0 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I baseball playoffs.

The victory sets up a second-round meeting at home with county rival Woodstown. And that is the reason O’Brien was so anxious to head down the road after spinning his gem.

“The job’s not finished yet,” he said. “First round of the playoffs, of course that’s huge for us, but that’s nowhere near where we want to end.

“It was kind of last minute (to head down to Woodstown). Our game was at noon and we got done super early; we got done around 2. They started at 3 and we got on our baseball group chat and said let’s go. Everyone was on board with it so we went.”

It didn’t surprise Eagles coach Matt Karr, who said his player “eat, sleep and breathe baseball and know the magnitude” of the second-round matchup.

About seven or eight Eagles perched on the right field to watch the Wolverines take out Maple Shade, 3-1. Their second-round game is scheduled for Wednesday. Karr expects the atmosphere will be “electric.”

“They definitely knew (the Eagles were there),” O’Brien said. “A couple of the kids still had their Pennsville stuff on, but we were talking to them a little bit.”

O’Brien was on Thursday, hitting spots and touching velocity. He threw 81 pitches – 50 for strikes – struck out seven, walked four and allowed five base runners.

His defense came up big twice to help preserve the gem.

In the second inning, Tony Tacconelli hit a ball in the hole between first and second. Diving first baseman Cohen Petrutz got enough glove on it to deflect it to second baseman Logan Streitz and O’Brien got the out picking a low throw to his backhand side covering first.

Then in the fifth, Ryan Seber lined out hard to centerfielder Luke Wood for the final out of the game. It was the hardest ball the Gators hit all game and only the second one that got out of the infield.

It was the first no-hitter O’Brien had thrown in high school and his first since a seven-inning travel ball no-no the fall of his sophomore year.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I didn’t throw as many strikes as I wanted – I had gotten into some deep counts and walked a couple batters – but it felt good in the first playoff game to go out there and throw well.

“I was so amped up for the game. The game was at 12 today, so I was just looking forward to it the whole day and to go out there and throw a no-hitter was just awesome.”

With the next game six days away and pitch counts reset, O’Brien is likely to start the game against Woodstown. But the Eagles have options.

Wood returned to the Eagles’ lineup after a lengthy battle with a lower back injury and his presence seemed to energize the team. Earlier in the week coach Matt Karr wasn’t certain if the versatile junior would be back at all, but he was there Thursday and batted three times.

He was hit with a pitch in his first plate appearance since April 28 and scored on Streitz’ two-run single that gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead. He struck out with bases loaded in the second and reached on an error and later scored in the fourth.

“He made his return today and it was absolutely awesome,” Karr said. “I didn’t really talk to the kids about it. I always write the lineup on the white board in our locker room and I was a little delayed doing that because I was just confirming he was going to play and when I wrote the lineup down and put him in the 2 slot the energy in the room just went to another level.

“That’s our leader. He’s our guy. When he’s with us, you feel like we’re the best version of us and the guys fed off that. The energy today was just unbelievable in the clubhouse and the dugout. Just having him back around us and on the field was a huge lift.”

The Eagles pounded out eight hits and took advantage of eight walks and three Gator errors. Streitz and Connor Stern both had two hits and three RBIs, and Chase Burchfield drove in a pair of runs.

“The energy was just different,” O’Brien said. “The last couple weeks for us have not been that good and we came out today and I just felt like we wanted to be there, we were excited to be there, everyone was just going crazy. No one was feeling bad for themselves today, everyone was up. We just really wanted to win.”

Wednesday roundup

Woodstown girls lose close one in SJ Group I lacrosse tournament, Salem County athletes show out at TCC Showcase, Schalick golf clinches share of division title

GIRLS LACROSSE
South Jersey Group I Tournament
No. 1 Glen Ridge 17, No. 16 Middle Twp. 1
No. 8 Delaware Valley 10, No. 9 West Deptford 8
No. 12 Haddon Twp. 9, No. 5 Woodstown 7
No. 4 Shore 18, No. 13 Haddon Heights 12
No. 3 Madison 16, No. 14 Sterling 2
No. 11 Lower Cape May 12, No. 6 Cinnaminson 9
No. 10 New Providence at No. 7 Bernards (Thursday)
No. 2 Rumson-Fair Haven 18, No. 15 Dayton 2

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – A 5-12 tournament match-up always has the potential to be a trap game for the favorite and it turned out that way for the Woodstown girls lacrosse team Wednesday.

Haddon Twp., a No. 12 seed despite having twice as many wins and almost 100 more power points than the Wolverines, scored three straight goals in a little over 14 minutes in the second half to pull away from a tie game and eventually score a 9-7 upset in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I girls lacrosse playoffs.

Six players scored goals for the Hawks (15-3), with Sage Looram, Mady Maronski and Amelia Tomashek each scoring two. Loorem also had a pair of assists. The Hawks hadn’t won a first-round game since 2021, but they were one of two double-digit seeds to win Wednesday.

Delaney Walker scored three goals for Woodstown (7-9) – giving her 55 for the season – while Emma Morgan and Blair Baldi had two apiece. All three goal scorers are sophomores.

“I think we were feeling the pressure,” first-year Woodstown coach Erin Renshaw said. “They’re a good team, so I was expecting the game that we got. I just think a good team like that is going to capitalize on our little mistakes.”

The Wolverines had the Hawks on the run early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first nine minutes of the game. Haddon Twp. fought back to tie it 3-3 and the teams traded goals to tie it at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6.

The Hawks took the lead with 5:14 left in the third quarter, then added goals with 11:16 and 6:09 left in the fourth quarter to go up 9-6.

“Yes, we are young, but I think it was just our little mistakes,” Renshaw said. “We’ve got to work more on getting the ball out of the defensive end. We had some trouble with that today.

“I think we were forcing some things and not taking our best shots, not taking our best options. I think that kind of killed us. If we can’t handle possession, get on the ball, we can’t score.”

The Wolverines did have three 8-meter opportunities in the final five minutes to potentially close the gap, but cashed in on only one with 3:07 to play. The missed second opportunity was particularly demoralizing.

“One thing I will say about my girls is they will play every minute,” Renshaw said. “I know we had some turnovers but they’re still going 100 percent to get the ball back.

“As a first-year coach I am completely happy with the how they played (this season). I think our growth is what I’m most proud of and how we are as a team. I will take the team I have over a team that is packed with elite girls who just think they can roll over another team. My team will fight and they will play with heart.”

TRACK

FRANKLINVILLE – Schalick junior Jordan Hadfield won two events and led a group of four Salem County athletes who won five events at the Tri-County Showcase at Delsea Wednesday.

Hadfield won the 800 in a personal best 2:18.61 and the 3200 in 11:30.95. She didn’t run the 1600, which opened the door for Woodstown’s Lillian Norman to win in a PR 5:29.46.

The county produced two winners on the boys side.

Penns Grove senior Khalim Smith won the triple jump with a PR and state top 25 jump of 44-9. He beat runnerup DaviYonn Jackson of Salem by eight inches.

“He was a sleeper coming into the year, but not anymore,” said Damian Ware, the Red Devils’ jumpers coach.

The triple jump was Salem County’s best event. In addition to Smith and Jackson going 1-2, freshmen David Stewart of Schalick and KaRon Ceaser were third and fourth, respectively.

Pennsville’s Connor Ayars completed the county’s champions group by winning the javelin with a PR of 159-6.

“This was the best I’ve seen Connor look,” Eagles coach Mike Healy said. “Not only did he PR, but he was consistently throwing in the 150s for all his throws, which was great to see.

“Between Connor and Cole (Campbell) finishing fourth, they’ve been our most consistent athletes and have been putting in a ton of work.”

The county also had four event runner-ups – Woodstown’s boys 4×800 relay and Salem’s Jackson, Anthony Parker (400 hurdles) and Rhionna Timmons (long jump) – and 25 top fives.

The meet was not team scored.

TCC SHOWCASE
BOYS WINNERS
4×100: Washington Twp. (Ajani Dwyer, Yashahya Brown, John Santos, Jack Schuck), 41.77.
4×800: Deptford (Abu Jabbie, Sean Nieves, Anthony Schilling, Lucius Davis), 8:15.04.
400 Hurdles: Alexander Osayemi, Clayton, 55.20.
1600: Ty Blackman, Glassboro, 4:33.91.
400: Dante McGrenehan, Delsea, 49.05.
100: Ajani Dwyer, Washington Twp., 10.45.
800: Daniel Torres, Washington Twp., 1:57.44.
110 Hurdles: Yashahya Brown, Washington Twp., 13.64 (USA Top 25).
200: Ajani Dwyer, Washington Twp., 21.29 (NJ Top 10).
3200: Aziz Muhammad-Kane, Highland, 9:56.04.
4×400: Williamstown (Alexander Hollimon, Kobinah Amissah, Sam Bruno, Gordon Pinnock), 3:27.39.
High jump: Jayden DeLeon, Highland, 6-7 (NJ Top 10).
Pole vault: Marcus Hood, Deptford, 14-6 (NJ Top 10).
Long jump: Benny Liles III, Kingsway, 22-6.50.
Triple jump: Khalim Smith, Penns Grove, 44-9 (PR, NJ Top 25).
Discus: Damere Lassiter, Glassboro, 171-2 (NJ Top 10).
Javelin: Connor Ayars, Pennsville, 159-6 (PR).
Shot put: Jonathan Harris, Delsea, 61-7.50 (NJ Top 10).

Top 5 finishers (Salem County)
4×800: 2. Woodstown (Karson Chew, Joshua Crawford, Cole Lucas, Jacob Marino) 8:19.91.
400 Hurdles: 2. Anthony Parker, Salem, 55.26 (PR, NJ Top 25).
1600: 4. Matthew Tozer, Schalick, 4:44.48 (PR); 5. Cole Lucas, Woodstown, 4:52.94.
800: 5. Steve Chomo, Schalick, 2:03.25 (PR).
110 Hurdles: 5. Anthony Parker, Salem, 15.25
4×400: 4. Penns Grove (Theus Berrios, Kylee Goodson, Bryan Garlic, Knowledge Young), 3:32.83.
High jump: 5. Reggie Allen, Schalick, 6-0.
Triple jump: 2. DaviYonn Jackson, Salem, 44-1; 3. David Stewart, Schalick, 43-7 (PR); 5. KaRon Ceaser, Penns Grove, 43-0.50.
Discus: 4. Jackson McFarland, Pennsville, 129-8 (PR).
Javelin: 4. Cole Campbell, Pennsville, 147-11.

GIRLS WINNERS
4×100: Kingsway (Jonnelle Lewis, Camryn Stanard, Kennedy Brathwaite, Naveya Hall), 49.57
4×800: Washington Twp. (Kaylee Russen, Taylor Stuart, Rachael Wilson, Hannah Saleh), 10:02.57.
400 Hurdles: Nyla Jones, Timber Creek, 1:01.87.
1600: Lillian Norman, Woodstown, 5:29.46 (PR).
400: Nayla Jones, Timber Creek, 56.36 (NJ Top 10).
100: Ryan Jennings, Timber Creek, 11.56.
800: Jordan Hadfield, Schalick, 2:18.61 (PR).
100 Hurdles: Nyla Jones, Timber Creek, 14.55 (NJ Top 10).
200: Ryan Jennings, Timber Creek, 24.36 (NJ Top 10).
3200: Jordan Hadfield, Schalick, 11:30.95.
4×400: Timber Creek (Amaya Jones, Autumn Cato, Jordyn Cato, Taylor Gaines), 4:06.85.
High jump: Alanna Woolfolk, Clayton, 5-6 (NJ No. 1).
Pole vault: Cali Lacovara, Washington Twp., 10-6.
Long jump: Guerlande Pierre, Timber Creek, 17-0.
Triple jump: Riley Gramble, Washington Twp., 33-11.25.
Discus: Hannah Nuhfer, Delsea, 146-10 (NJ Top 10).
Javelin: Paige Franklin, Williamstown, 114-1.
Shot put: Hannah Nuhfer, Delsea, 38-5.75.

Top 5 finishers (Salem County)
4×100: 3. Schalick (Brooke Watt, Calleigh Schalick, Gia Martellacci, Zoe Jenkins), 51.65.
400 Hurdles: 4. Anna Buzby, Salem, 1:07.94; 5. Grace O’Neill, Schalick, 1:08.55.
1600: 4. Helen Lillia, Schalick, 5:49.02 (PR).
100: 5. Daivonnah Thomas, Penns Grove, 12.83 (PR).
Pole vault: 3. Megan Morris, Pennsville, 8-6.
Long jump: 2. Rhionna Timmons, Salem, 16-6.
Triple jump: 3. Brooke Watt, Schalick, 33-4.50; 5. Calista Hunt, Woodstown, 32-9.Javelin: 3. Allyson Green, Schalick, 99-0; 5. Alivia Klancic, Schalick, 91-11.
Shot put: 5. Ava Rodgers, Salem, 34-0.

GOLF
SCHALICK 162, DELSEA 174, OVERBROOK 224: Senior Ryan Johnson parred his final hole to shoot a 3-over-par 38 and win medalist honors as Schalick clinched a share of the Tri-County Conference Diamond Division title.

As a co-champion (with Woodstown), the Cougars will send a full contingent of players to the Tri-County Championships Tuesday at Pitman GC. All five division winners will send full groups, while everyone else will send two players.

The Cougars also counted a 39 from Seth Fisher, a 42 from Anthony Sepers and a 43 from Lance Creighton.

KINGSWAY GIRLS 188, SCHALICK 200: Kingsway’s Carly Kuminka birdied her first hole, one-putted her first two and shot 5-over-par 40 to win medalist honors by seven strokes. Hannah Widdifield shot Schalick’s low round (48).

BOYS TENNIS
South Jersey Group I Tournament
BUENA 5, PENNS GROVE 0
Jake Harris (B) def. Alex Ramirez Martinez, 6-0, 6-0
Dominic Longona (B) def. Angel Perez Herrera, 6-1, 6-1
Stephen Pepper (B) def. Stuart Mondragon, 6-1, 6-0
Matthew Lillia-Gabe Ridolfo (B) def. Anthony Pacheco-Ricardo Vichi, 6-0, 6-0
Joshua Sharpe-Michael Letushko (B) def. Adam Gonzalez-Rene Ruiz, 6-0, 6-2
Records: Penns Grove 4-10, Buena 18-3.

Regular season
WOODSTOWN 5, OVERBROOK 0
Tim Schwienbacher (Wo) def. Andrew Weaver, 6-2, 7-5
Drew Stengel (Wo) def. Logan Milas, 6-1, 6-3
Erich Lipovsky (Wo) def. Colin Campbrell, 6-3, 6-0
Joseph Kurpis-Luke Shaw (Wo) def. Connor Kustera-Alan Marcos, 6-4, 3-6, 10-3
John Farrell-Nichols DiTeodoro (Wo) def. Jose Paz-Gabe Martinez, 6-1, 6-2
Records: Overbrook 5-15, Woodstown 12-6.

Well-armed Wolverines

Woodstown’s pitching plan blanks Schalick to open South Jersey Group I softball tournament; Pennsville wins big, Salem faced big challenge

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Wednesday’s first-round games
No. 1 Audubon 13, No. 16 Camden Academy Charter 0
No. 9 Paulsboro 10, No. 8 Palmyra 3
No. 5 Maple Shade 11, No. 12 Cape May Tech 0
No. 4 Pennsville 17, No. 13 Glassboro 0
No. 3 Haddon Twp. 10, No. 14 Clayton 0
No. 6 Woodstown 10, No. 11 Schalick 0
No. 10 Gateway 5, No. 7 Pitman 3
No. 2 Buena 19, No. 15 Salem 0

SECOND ROUND (MAY 28)
Paulsboro at Audubon
Maple Shade at Pennsville
Woodstown at Haddon Twp.
Gateway at Buena

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – So much of a team’s success in the softball playoffs is predicated on pitching. A good one can give you an edge. Two can take you a long way.

Woodstown has two good ones capable of shutting down an opposing team’s lineup and put them both on display in Wednesday’s South Jersey Group I playoff opener. Get ready to see a lot more of them both for as long as the Wolverines stick around.

Liv Boultinghouse and Grace White combined on a three-hitter as the sixth-seeded Wolverines blanked county rival Schalick 10-0 in what may have been retiring coach Dave Wildermuth’s final home game. They now travel to third-seeded Haddon Twp. Tuesday for Round 2, with the 1, 2, 4 and 5 seeds all still alive.

Boultinghouse threw 41 pitches over the first four innings (33 for strikes) and gave up all three hits, but allowed two runners got past first base – both with two outs. White pitched the fifth, with an expectation of going more if needed, and needed only 17 pitches to get the four batters to close it out.

“That’s kind of our game plan,” Wildermuth said. “We’re probably going to split them, Liv to start and Grace to finish, three and three and then figure out the fourth inning. And that worked out today.

“When you have two really good pitchers and both are seniors and both have been in the playoffs before and won playoff games, I’m going to ride them. That’s the plan.”

The fielders and hitters supported them. Tulana Mingin made the defensive play of the game when she went deep to her backhand side to snare Alli Shimp’s grounder and threw her out from her knees.

The Wolverines led 3-0 after three innings, then broke it open with four in the fourth on six consecutive two-out hits or walks. Mingin went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs. Ellie Wygand had two hits and three RBIs, including the walk-off single in the fifth. Kayla Brown and Aubrie Rennie had two hits apiece.

Schalick, meanwhile, just couldn’t solve the two Woodstown pitchers. Taylor Sparks, Alli Shimp and Ava Scurry had the Cougars’ hits, but almost everything else they put in play stayed in the infield.

“The pitching is good, we didn’t get hits when we needed to,” Cougars coach Rick Higinbotham said. “We were hitting the ball, they just weren’t falling for us. It’s tough. You get a good pitcher, two pitchers like theirs, it’s tough for a playoff game.

“I liked the fact we were hitting the ball. We were putting the ball in play, they weren’t falling for us.”
Wildermuth announced shortly before the season began he was retiring from teaching and coaching at the end of the season/school year. He deferred talking about any kind of farewell tour at the start of the season and he wasn’t thinking about it being close to the end now.

“All I asked them today was give me one more week with you guys, and they did,” he said. “They gave me one more week so I’m going to enjoy this next week with them.”

PENNSVILLE 17, GLASSBORO 0: Bella Farina homered and drove in six runs, Kylie Harris set the modern-era single-season school record for doubles and Savannah Palverento spun another no-hitter as the Eagles won their 14th in a row.

Farina went 4-for-4 and Bella Rappa was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and both were a double shy of the cycle. Sophomore Harris doubled on a fly ball to center field in the Eagles’ seven-run second inning. It was her 15th double of the season and 25th of her career.

Palverento’s no-hitter was far from perfect – she walked five, hit a batter and struck out four – but she faced four batters over the minimum in the five-inning game. She only had two runners reach third base and they were both in the fifth inning and catcher Harris picked off one of them.

It was her fourth no-hit appearance in her last five appearances and third complete-game no-hitter. She has given up four hits in her last 24 1/3 innings with no-hitters against Glassboro, Salem and Wildwood. She also pitched three no-hit innings in a combined one-hitter against Pitman in that stretch.

“I’m sure she was ‘oh, I could have done better,'” Eagles coach Beth Jackson said. “But she fought through and her team helped her out defensively when the ball was put in play.”

BUENA 19, SALEM 0: Anna Sheridan went 4-for-4, Layiah Collins went 3-for-4 with a homer and both drove in four runs. The Chiefs led 9-0 after two innings, then put it way out of reach with 10 in the third. Raegan Wilson had both of Salem’s hits.

Classical victory

Wagner’s first career homer powers Pennsville to third straight TCC Classic Division title; includes softball, golf, tennis updates

TUESDAY BASEBALL
Pennsville 17, Wildwood 7

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Jeff Wagner will forever remember his first high school home run as the one that won Pennsville another division baseball championship.

It wasn’t one of those dramatic bottom-of-the-seventh bombs that has everyone pouring out of the dugout and the fans doing backflips in the aisles, but it was the shot that opened the gates for the Eagles to maul Wildwood 17-7 and claim a share of their third straight Tri-County Conference Classic Division crown with Pitman.

Pennsville and Pitman split their regular-season series and beat everyone else in the division twice. The Eagles (16-9) are the No. 4 seed in the South Jersey Group I playoffs, where they’ll host Gateway in the first round Thursday at 2 p.m.

“It’s a goal at the beginning of every year,” Pennsville coach Matt Karr said. “I told these guys today we don’t get to pick what division we play in or who we play, we just play the games and whenever you get a chance to win anything that says ‘championship’ you enjoy it and you go after it. They did the job today. Add another year to the banner.”

Wagner’s two-run blast to left center in the fifth inning broke it open, extending the Eagles’ lead to 9-6 after they had taken it for the second time in the game earlier in the inning. It came in his 65th at bat this season and 79th career plate appearance. The sophomore designated hitter had one-hopped or hit the fence three times this season, but this was the first one he hit that wasn’t coming back.

Buoyed by the bomb, the Eagles wound up scoring 12 runs over the final two innings, walking it off on Chase Burchfield’s fourth hit of the game with two outs in the sixth inning. They were down 3-0, 4-3 and 6-5 at various points before the eruption.

“It kind of got the momentum flowing,” Wagner said. “It felt good catching the barrel, kind of got back to my groove and got the boys going.

“I felt like my part to the plate was kind of sentimental to the team because it was close. We weren’t playing good in the first half of the game and after I hit that I kind of felt like it turned us around and got us going. I definitely felt a big part of the team there. It felt good.”

The final two innings are much more the way the Eagles want to be heading into the playoffs than the last three weeks of the season. After Monday’s tight win over Clayton, the Eagles were 5-6 since their walk-off win over Schalick on April 23. When they won Tuesday, it marked the first time they’d won back-to-back games since April 22-23.

Part of their struggles are rooted in missing two of their top players. Versatile junior Luke Wood has been out with a lower back injury and his status going forward is TBD. Jacob Grant, their lone senior, has been out with a shoulder injury, but he rehabbed Tuesday and the Eagles are hoping to have him back for Round 2 (May 29 and a potential matchup with Woodstown).

Instead of wallowing in what his team might not have available, Karr hopes the Eagles embrace the opportunities it creates and the next-man-up approach that presents.

In the meantime they have been trying all kinds of creative ways to get their swagger back. One of the more interesting efforts was a bonfire after a closer-than-necessary run-fest with Clayton in which they burned all kinds of equipment.

It was an idea Grant is said to have discovered surfing the ‘net. A college baseball team was going through a tough stretch, decided to burn a bunch of their stuff, posted the video on TikTok (of course) and then went on a home-run-hitting tear. Grant figured if it worked for them, it couldn’t hurt the Eagles to try it.

“With the way we’ve played in the past two weeks we’ve had bad mojo,” Wagner said. “We kind of got rid of the bad mojo. We were off and on and then today I felt like the team came together and got it done.”

Whatever works, right?

“You want to find something positive to build on whether it’s the last two innings, the last pitch, the last at-bat, whatever it is; take whatever positive you can get (and) build on them,” Karr said. “We didn’t even give them any speeches about anything in the outfield other than we need to have a great workout tomorrow and be ready to roll on Thursday.”

South Jersey Group I Tournament
Thursday’s first-round games
No. 16 Camden Academy Charter at No. 1 Audubon, 4 p.m.
No. 9 Buena at No. 8 Haddon Twp., 4 p.m.
No. 12 Maple Shade at No. 5 Woodstown, 3 p.m.
No. 13 Gateway at No. 4 Pennsville, 2 p.m.
No. 14 Glassboro at No. 3 Pitman, 3 p.m.
No. 11 Paulsboro at No. 6 Schalick, 4 p.m.
No. 10 Cape May Tech at No. 7 Wildwood, 4 p.m.
No. 15 Penns Grove at No. 2 Gloucester, 4 p.m.

SOFTBALL
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 17, SALEM 0: Madelyn McGinn hit three doubles and drove in five runs and Brooklyn Carcaci held Salem to two hits in the four-inning game. Julliana Love and Alexandrea Matias had the Rams’ two hits.

South Jersey Group I Tournament
Wednesday’s first-round games
No. 16 Camden Academy Charter at No. 1 Audubon, 4 p.m.
No. 9 Paulsboro at No. 8 Palmyra, 3:45 p.m.
No. 12 Cape May Tech at No. 5 Maple Shade
No. 13 Glassboro at No. 4 Pennsville, 2 p.m.
No. 14 Clayton at No. 3 Haddon Twp., 4 p.m.
No. 11 Schalick at No. 6 Woodstown, 4 p.m.
No. 10 Gateway at No. 7 Pitman, 4 p.m.
No. 15 Salem at No. 2 Buena, 4 p.m.

BOYS TENNIS
PENNSVILLE 5, SCHALICK 0
Gave Schneider (Pv) def. George Gould, 6-1, 6-1
Maddox Efelis (Pv) def. Jesus Espinoza, 6-0, 6-0
Brody Wiggins (Pv) def. Conor O’Toole, 6-1, 6-1
Noah Bohn-Noah Flitcraft (Pv) def. Rocky Monticolo-David Santana, 6-1, 6-2
Saywer Humphrey-Luke Chamberlain (Pv) def. Cayden Brzozowski-Kaden Barnes, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5)
Records: Schalick 15-7, Pennsville 17-3.

South Jersey Group I Tournament
Thursday’s games
Lindenwold at Overbrook 1 p.m.
Wildwood at Woodstown, 2:30 p.m.
Penns Grove at Buena
Palmyra at Schalick, 3 p.m.
May 29
Lindenwold-Overbrook winner at Haddon Twp.
Wildwood-Woodstown winner at Middle Twp.
Penns Grove-Buena winner at Pennsville
Palmyra-Schalick winner at Pitman

GOLF
SCHALICK 165, PENNSVILLE 176: Ryan Johnson and Lance Creighton, Schalick’s two representatives in Monday’s Salem-Cumberland county tournament, posted rounds of 39 and 40, respectively, at Sakima CC to move the Cougars a step closer to a share of the Tri-County Conference Diamond Division title. A win over Overbrook Wednesday will seal it.

Pennsville senior Jacob Isaac was the match’s medalist with a 2-under-par 34. He had back-to-back birdies on 6 and 7.

WASHINGTON TWP. GIRLS 181, SCHALICK 212: Washington Twp. posted three rounds in the 40s at Centerton CC, led by medalist Tessa Reilley’s 42. Lena Virga posted Schalick’s low round (49).