Penns Grove comes alive late, but it’s not enough to overtake South Vineland in District 3 Final Four opener
DISTRICT 3 FINALS
(Double-loss elimination)
Monday at Elmer
South Vineland 7, Penns Grove 3
East Vineland 9, Millville American 4
Tuesday at Millville
G3: South Vineland vs. East Vineland, 5:45 p.m.
G4: Penns Grove vs. Millville American, 8 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
ELMER – The Penns Grove All-Stars were one of the highest scoring teams in District 3 pool play, but it took them a little while to get going in their bracket opener Monday night.
The Salem County survivors scored three runs in the fifth inning, but it wasn’t enough to climb out of an early hole and they fell to South Vineland 7-3 in the first round of the District Final Four at Elmer LL.
“It just took us a little bit to get the bats going and it just wasn’t enough,” Penns Grove manager Steve Raymond said. “They got down on themselves early. A lot of them have never been in a position to where they’re playing for a championship. I think there was a lot of undue pressure on them.”
They’ll look to stay alive in the double-loss format against Millville American Tuesday at 8 p.m. on their opponent’s home field. Penns Grove won the pool play game between the teams there (7-3) and are expected to send Achillius Vong to the mound against them again.
If they had been a little sharper early they might have made it to the winner’s bracket. Now they’ll have to win four games and beat one of Tuesday night’s winners twice to claim the district title.
Penns Grove hit .329 and scored 32 runs in four American Division pool games, but South Vineland starter Justin Chin held them to just one hit and struck out seven over the first three innings. But they came to life against reliever Mylus Moore in the fifth, scoring three runs, to keep their hopes alive, but by then South Vineland had opened a 7-0 lead.
Bryce Myers and Lucas Vong had RBI singles for Penns Grove in the winning and Lucas Ware scored on error as they started swinging the bats and being aggressive of the bases.
“They started waking up,” Raymond said. “As soon as we started putting pressure on them they started breaking. We needed that chain reaction earlier. That’s what we needed. One person steps up big and we usually build off that and keep going.”
It just wasn’t enough. South Vineland scored a run in the first and two in the second off Penns Grove starter Jimmy LaPalomento, then broke it open with four in the fourth.
EAST VINELAND 9, MILLVILLE AMERICAN 4: The top seed out of the National pool parlayed six walks and three hits into a six-run fifth inning that broke a 3-3 tie. Four of the walks came with bases loaded and Ricky Bones hit a two-run double for the big hit of the inning.
It was a come-from-behind win as Millville scored three runs in the top of the first. The Americans scored the final run of the game as well on Noah Rodriguez’ solo homer in the sixth.
SOUTH VINELAND 7, PENNS GROVE 3
| Penns Grove | 000 030- | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| South Vineland | 120 40x- | 7 | 9 | 2 |
EAST VINELAND 9, MILLVILLE AMERICAN 4
| Millville American | 300 001- | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| East Vineland | 102 06x- | 9 | 6 | 1 |
Riverview Sports News 