Sectional shakeout

All 4 Salem County teams in South Jersey Group I baseball field on same side of the bracket; 4 county teams make softball field; Audubon grabs both No. 1s over Schalick, Pennsville

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL PAIRINGS
First-round games, May 27
No. 16 Paulsboro (3-18) at No. 1 Audubon (17-7)
No. 9 Buena (13-11) at No. 8 Palmyra (11-9), 4 p.m.
No. 12 Clayton (8-12) at No. 5 Maple Shade (11-9), 3:45 p.m.
No. 13 Gateway (7-14) at No. 4 Pitman (15-8), 4 p.m.
No. 14 Salem (7-12) at No. 3 Pennsville (14-7)
No. 11 Haddon Twp. (8-16) at No. 6 Woodstown (14-10)
No. 10 Glassboro (10-11) at No. 7 Riverside (10-11), 3 p.m.
No. 15 Wildwood (10-12) at No. 2 Schalick (18-2), 4 p.m.

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I SOFTBALL PAIRINGS
First-round games, May 28
No. 16 Salem (2-14) at No. 1 Audubon (15-7)
No. 9 Riverside (13-5) at No. 8 Cape May Tech (14-7)
No. 12 Palmyra (7-11) at No. 5 Schalick (13-4)
No. 13 Glassboro (7-10) at No. 4 Woodstown (12-7), 2 p.m.
No. 14 LEAP (10-5) at No. 3 Haddon Twp. (14-8)
No. 11 Buena (5-18) at No. 6 Maple Shade (11-8)
No. 10 Clayton (8-11) at No. 7 Pitman (10-8)
No. 15 Wildwood (5-12) at No. 2 Pennsville (19-4)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Beth Jackson had a feeling all along it was going to turn out this way.

Many of the players on Jackson’s Pennsville softball team came away from their big win over Delsea Wednesday night believing they could be the No. 1 seed in the South Jersey Group I tournament when the pairings were released the next day, but the coach didn’t share the feeling.

It wasn’t because she didn’t believe in her team, she just knows the way of the world.

When the pairings were presented shortly after lunch Thursday Jackson’s suspicions were realized. The Eagles were installed as the No. 2 seed in the bracket behind Audubon despite being the winningest team in the section and having almost half as many losses as the Green Wave and fewer than 14 of the other 15 teams in the field.

Additionally, the Eagles (18-4) are 9-4 against teams that currently own winning records while the top-seeded Green Wave (15-7) are 7-5 against teams with current winning records and 3-2 against those sitting at .500. 

“I already had in my mind it was going to be that way because I’ve never seen it change from the power points,” Jackson said on her way to practice Thursday afternoon. “I’m sure (the players) are disappointed, I am a little too, but it is what it is.”

The seedings followed the power points table down the line, so in a sense the Eagles were a victim of the Tri-County Classic Division schedule they had to play and dominate. Audubon’s Colonial Conference Liberty Division has five tournament qualifiers (four in Group II), all among their field’s top 10 seeds and four among the top five. The brackets become official at noon Friday.

Woodstown (No. 4), Schalick (No. 5) and Salem (No. 16) also are in the softball field and all on the Audubon side of the bracket. If Woodstown and Schalick win their tournament openers Wednesday they would meet in the second round at Woodstown.

“Every bracket I have ever seen that’s based on the power points, that’s what it is and nothing changes from there,” Jackson said. “It stays on power points and that’s that.

“I think maybe there should be multiples, like a rubric kind of thing, to do the seedings, to look at other things. It would be nice to have multiple points looking at your seeding. Their argument may be you have three different categories to weight those power points, so that may be their response if somebody were to ask.”

Asked if the perceived snub will now serve as a source of motivation for her team, Jackson said she’d talk about to get a gauge on where her players stand. But she was quick to point out there’s a lot more tangible motivation surrounding the tournament.

“I think we’ll talk about it and what it means to them,” she said. “I also think being up at the top puts, I don’t want say a target on your back, but even at 2 where we are now everybody’s looking to knock everybody off. Frankly, at the end of the day everybody is 0-0 and if you lose you go home. That right there is motivation. You lose, you go home. There is no tomorrow.”

Four Salem County teams also made it into the South Jersey Group I baseball tournament and they’re all on the same side of the bracket.

Schalick, the winningest team in SJG1 and second in the section power points standings, pulled down the No. 2 seed behind Audubon. Pennsville is the 3 seed, Woodstown the 6 and Salem the 14. The first-round games are Tuesday.

“We are happy the first three rounds we will host if we play the way we are capable of playing,” Schalick coach Sean O’Brien said. “There are a lot of good teams in South Jersey Group I and we are excited to get started.”

“Works for us,” Pennsville coach Matt Karr said.

There is some familiarity in the first-round draws. Pennsville and Salem are TCC Classic Division rivals and are scheduled to play for the second time this season Friday with the Eagles clinching the outright division title in the balance.

Speaking of rematches, a potential second-round matchup could find Pennsville hosting Woodstown. They played earlier this year, with Pennsville winning 10-0. The Wolverines knocked Pennsville out of the playoffs last year in the quarterfinals.

“It’s not often you get a shot a redemption,” Karr said. “I know Woodstown isn’t the same team (as last year) but we basically are – only losing one senior from last year. I’m sure my guys would love to be able to run it back against Woodstown in Round 2 at our place.”