Woodstown upsets third-seeded Pennsville in SJ Group I quarterfinals, slams the door with a nifty double play
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I
Thursday’s quarterfinals
Audubon 4, Buena 0
Maple Shade at Pitman (Friday)
Woodstown 2, Pennsville 1
Schalick 7, Glassboro 2
Tuesday’s semifinals
Woodstown at Schalick
Maple Shade-Pitman winner at Audubon
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
UPPER CHICHESTER, Pa. — As soon as the ball left the bat Woodstown second baseman Lucas Fulmer was sure it was going into centerfield to put the tying run in scoring position with one out and the meat of Pennsville’s order coming to the plate.
And then the baseball gods smiled on the Woodies.
Pitcher Jack Holladay instinctively reached down and somehow caught a piece of the ball with his glove. It deflected right to Fulmer on the smooth infield carpet and he proceeded to turn a double play with shortstop Tommy Tucci to slam the door on an incredible 2-1 upset of third-seeded Pennsville in the South Jersey Group I quarterfinals.
“That’s one of the best feelings and one of the best ways you can get end it,” Holladay said. “We’re always going to fight. They always count us out, but we always find a way to beat them in the playoffs.”
It was the second year in a row Woodstown eliminated Pennsville in the playoffs and sends the sixth-seeded Wolverines (16-10) to second-seeded Schalick (20-2) for Tuesday’s sectional semifinal.
Holladay carried a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning and was two outs away from giving the Wolverines their second straight complete-game playoff shutout. Then Stevie Fatcher walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on Mason O’Brien’s single to right to end a string of 18 consecutive scoreless innings by Woodstown pitchers and make it 2-1
That brought leadoff man Logan Streitz to the plate. Streitz hit a ball sharply up the middle that Holladay managed to get a piece up. It went straight to Fulmer, who collected it off the carpet infield, flipped to shortstop Tommy Tucci for the force and Tucci fired on to Rocco String at first to complete the twin killing.
It was the 12th double play the Wolverines have turned this season.
“Once I knew it was coming right at me I knew I had it,” Fulmer said. “I knew I was going to get it to Tucci, he was going to get to first and we were going to end the game. At first I thought it was going to be a base hit up the middle, and off Jack’s glove it was like a blessing. It came right to me, just turned two and we ended the game. It’s a great win.”
“Emotions were definitely getting the best of me,” Tucci said. “I was like screaming at Lucas to throw the ball, get the ball to me. He made a perfect flip, I got it and just let it loose.”
The game was moved out of New Jersey to the all-weather MSI Sports Complex for a playable surface and scheduled for noon to accommodate the Woodstown prom later that evening.
Given the reputation of Pennsville’s skin infield, one wondered if the Wolverines would have turned the double play had the game been played on the Eagles’ campus field. Woodstown coach Marc DeCastro gave a qualified maybe. Pennsville coach Matt Karr said “probably” because the deflection slowed the ball down enough for Fulmer to make a play on it.
It was the second year in a row the Wolverines beat Pennsville in the South Jersey Group 1 quarterfinals after the Eagles beat them in the regular season. In the first meeting this year Holladay lasted only the first inning. He was much sharper Thursday, holding one of the most dynamic lineups in South Jersey to just three hits and striking out seven.
“I felt pretty good,” Holladay said. “I trusted the guys behind me and I knew they had my back so I had their back and I was going to do anything to win this game. I knew I wasn’t good that first time I faced them, so I knew I had to be better today and I thought I did pretty good.”
The Eagles (15-9) got their leadoff batter on only once and when they did put a runner in scoring position through the first six innings it was always with two outs and Holladay quickly extinguished the threat.
“We had a couple nice hits early, but we just couldn’t string them together back-to-back,” Karr said. “Jack did a really good job keeping us off balance and pitched a really good game.
“When they had the pitching visit there with Jack I came down to Logan and said he’s going to try to get ahead, be ready, be aggressive, be ready to swing the bat and he smoked it up the middle. If it doesn’t hit Jack’s foot it probably goes into center for a single and the tying run’s 180 feet away and we have the string of seniors coming up.
“But that’s baseball man. Sometimes things bounce your way off the foot and sometimes they don’t and when you play in tight games like this sometimes it’s just not your day.”
The Wolverines did not have a complete game in 24 regular-season games this season, but they have thrown two in two playoff games.
“The thing about Jack and Aaron (Foote, the first-round pitcher) is when you have a plan they can execute that plan,” DeCastro said. “They aren’t just going up there and throwing and hoping because they have good stuff. They make you beat them. We had good plans these last couple games to attack hitters and up until Jack got a little tired at the end it was relatively flawless.
“I know (Pennsville) were for all intents and purposes a better team up until this point so we had to be really, really, really close to perfect. Outside of the baserunning stuff … this is the best game we’ve played all year. We played as close to as good as we can play against them in this spot.”
The Wolverines had some good at bats against Pennsville ace Luke Wood but still struggled to get anything going. Wood scattered six hits and struck out six. He picked off three runners in the first two innings.
“Luke gave us every opportunity to win,” Karr said.
Woodstown scored its only runs of the game in the third inning on a bases-loaded walk to String on a 3-2 pitch and a wild pitch with Caiden Spinelli at third and Tucci at the plate.
| Woodstown (16-10) | 002 000 0- | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Pennsville (15-9) | 000 000 1- | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Top photo: Woodstown pitcher Jack Holladay is congratulated by his teammates after throwing a complete game in the Wolverines’ 2-1 playoff win over Pennsville. (Photo by Ellen Sickler)
Riverview Sports News 