A webpage dedicated to covering local sports news in Pennsville, Salem County and surrounding communities
Chop and grind
Salem CCbaseball grinds out a rally behind ‘war chant’ to chop down Bergen, Mighty Oaks softball sweeps Morris in dominant fashion
COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC 9, Bergen 7 COLLEGE SOFTBALL Salem CC 29-21, Morris 1-1
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – John Holt has had some lively dugout in his tenure as a college baseball coach, but the one he commands this year at Salem CC may be one of the liveliest.
Whenever the Mighty Oaks get something cooking — or need to get something cooking — there’s always some kind of chant coming from the dugout to get their players hyped and if rattles the opposition along the way, so be it.
Usually it’s the Tomahawk Chop. They’ll occasionally break into the “Oh, oh-oh-oh-ohhhh” number for a change of pace, but it somehow always morphs back to The Chop.
The Chop was most effective in Tuesday’s “borderline ugly” 9-7 come-from-behind win over Bergen. Every inning the Mighty Oaks scored runs, the Chop was the soundtrack of the rally. When they didn’t do it and needed it, a threat died on the vine.
“I think when you hear your dugout up to bat you kind of remember to have fun, because that’s all we’re doing, especially in those tight moments,” said first baseman Tyler Hacker, whose two-run double in the eighth put the Mighty Oaks up for good. “When you hear the Tomahawk Chop it feels like we’re going to war. That’s our war cry. We’re ready to kill these guys. I think it really unites us as a team and keeps us going.”
“It’s effective, for sure,” DH Rocco String agreed.
It batted 1.000 Tuesday. The Mighty Oaks were no-hit for the first three innings by Bulldogs starter Shane Snell, but broke out The Chop in the fourth when they got something going and scored three runs – still without getting a hit — to get Snell out of the game and take their first lead. They started it again in the seventh and got another run. They did it in the eighth and rallied for five to win the game.
They didn’t do it fifth when they loaded the bases with one out in a 3-3 game and got nothing out of it but an infield fly and foul pop to first.
“We have other chants, but I think we do the best when we Chop,” starting pitcher Andre Stewart said. “I 100 percent believe that. The Chop is definitely the best chant we’ve got. We definitely do the best when we’re Choppin’.”
Holt likes the energy his team draws from the chant.
“Our guys feed off energy,” he said. “They’re a young bunch and that’s part of their game. They feed off it and it gets them going.
“One of the things I’ve said to these guys from the beginning (is) if you’re juiceful, you’re useful; if you’re juiceless, you’re useless. We get close to crossing that line and we do every once in a while and I’ve got to reel them in a little bit, but for the most part I think our guys handle it well and do it well.”
The Mighty Oaks still didn’t have a hit when they left the fourth inning, but they did have a 3-2 lead. Three walks and a hit batsman got Snell out of the game. Jason LeBold scored Salem’s first run when he stole third and came home when the catcher’s throw sailed into left field. Colin McLaughlin and Jacob Sharrow followed with back-to-back sacrifice flies to put them up 3-2.
Bergen tied it with a run in the fifth and took a 5-3 lead with two off Sean Bogan in the seventh. Bogan was making his first appearance since facing three batters April 11 at Middlesex and just his third since March 19 when he was the Mighty Oaks’ Game 3 series starter before developing arm trouble.
The side-winding right-hander got through his first inning without drama. The next inning he hit a batter and gave up an RBI triple and run-scoring single before his infield got him out of it with a double play. He misplayed a pop up in the eighth and two more errors led to a pair of runs that extended the Bulldogs lead to 7-4.
Bogan said other than self-inflicted mistakes he thought his outing was “pretty good” and he felt the same physically. Holt called it “a step towards getting him back” and said the pitcher “could be a factor for us” if they can get him strong enough down the stretch to go.
The Mighty Oaks had the right part of the lineup – and The Chop – going for them in the eighth. They had runners at first and second with one out and the top of the order coming up. Cliff Wysinger shot a single through the hole at short to make it 7-5. LeBold singled to right with the runners moving to make it 7-6 and then stole second to put two runners in scoring position.
Hacker then doubled into left field to give them the lead. He collected his nation’s best 52nd stolen base to reach third and came home with an insurance run on String’s bouncer to short. String also singled home a run as a pinch hitter in the seventh. “Just doing my job,” the Woodstown product said.
Louie Rivera, who got the final out of the eighth behind Bogan, closed it out in the ninth with the help of a batter’s interference out and game-ending double play when Michael Baez was called out at first for returning to the orange safety base instead of the normal bag trying to get back on Dom Maucione’s fly to right.
“They grinded out a win today,” Holt said. “We couldn’t run away with it, it was borderline ugly all day, they just kept finding ways to put runs up.
“I’m proud of them for figuring out a way to win it. That’s grinding. We haven’t done a lot of grinding this year. We get behind like that, we’ve folded a lot of times, so this was a step for us. It’s a step in the direction I want to go in.”
Bergen
200
010
220-
7
7
1
Salem CC
000
300
15x-
9
6
5
WP: Louie Rivera. LP: Dom Maucione. 2B: Michael Baez (B), J.J. Pankowski (S), Tyler Hacker (S). 3B: Michael Baez (B).
Softball
RANDOLPH — The Mighty Oaks softball team enjoyed their second 50-run doubleheader of the season, overwhelming CC of Morris for the second time this season, 29-1 and 21-1. The 29 runs in the opener matched the record they set against Morris on March 28. The 50 runs in the doubleheader fell one shy of that modern era record, set on April 10 at Raritan Valley.
“We set the tone for this week about making adjustments and continuing to prepare for ending the season strong while getting ready for postseason,” coach Angel Rodriguez said. “This team has a lot of talent. They continue to want to get better.”
Savannah Palverento had a big doubleheader. She went 3-for-3 with three RBIs in the opener and 3-for-4 with four RBIs and four runs scored in the nightcap.
J.J. Aguirre drove in a pair of runs in the opener to set the program’s modern-era single-season RBI record (62) and added two more in the nightcap. Lilly Peverelle had six RBIs. Pahola Chavez had a pair of doubles and drove in four runs. Emme Witter and Jocelyn Melendez both had two hits.
In addition to Palverento’s big game in the nightcap, Ava Ortiz and Jalyn Rambally both had two hits and three RBIs, while Chantelle Haskie and Jordyn Busch both had two RBIs.
The Mighty Oaks used two pitchers in each five-inning game and both sets spun two-hitters. Raegan Wilson picked up the 100th strikeout of her career in the opener. Busch notched her 100th strikeout of the season while throwing three no-hit innings in the nightcap.
In the four games against the Titans this season, the Mighty Oaks have scored 96 runs, collected 54 hits and batted .505. Palverento went 9-for-13 with 13 RBIs in the series.
TUESDAY’S GAMES Salem CC 9, Bergen 7 Monroe CC 8-12, Lackawanna 6-7 RCSJ-Cumberland 7, Camden 1 Montgomery 15, Atlantic Cape 1 Raritan Valley 24, Westchester CC 15 RCSJ-Gloucester 12, Brookdale 3 Northampton 14, Middlesex 7 Sussex 12, Dominican 2 WEDNESDAY’S GAMES Salem CC at Bergen Mercer at Rockland CC RCSJ-Cumberland at Camden Atlantic Cape at Montgomery Northampton at Middlesex Union at Delaware County Brookdale at RCSJ-Gloucester Sussex at Suffolk THURSDAY’S GAMES Monroe-Bronx at Sussex Bronx CC at Raritan Valley Montgomery at Brookdale
DIVISION II SOFTBALL
R19
ALL
GSAC
Mercer
16-2
35-3
12-0
Delaware Tech
17-5
23-11
Lackawanna
15-5
34-13
SALEM CC
12-10
24-18
10-4
Sussex
4-14
5-19
4-6
Morris
3-15
3-17
3-9
Raritan Valley
1-17
1-17
1-11
TUESDAY’S GAMES Salem CC 29-21, Morris 1-1 Lackawanna 19-12 Sussex 0-4 Mercer 5-8, Monroe 3-7 Camden 7-6, Northampton 5-14 Brookdale 14-19, Middlesex 0-2 RCSJ-Gloucester 17-16, Bergen 0-5 Ocean 7-11, RCSJ-Cumberland 0-3 WEDNESDAY’S GAME Raritan Valley at Sussex THURSDAY’S GAMES Salem CC at Brookdale RCSJ-Gloucester at Camden Raritan Valley at Lackawanna Morris at Mercer Sussex at Orange County CC
Riverview Sports News 