Salem CC softball scores 18 in first, 12 in second of DH opener, 16 in nightcap inning of record sweep; baseball falls behind 10-0 vs. RCSJ-Gloucester
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Salem CC 36-31, Raritan Valley 6-1
COLLEGE BASEBALL
RCSJ-Gloucester 15, Salem CC 3
By Al Muskewitz and Nolan Dowell
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE — The Salem CC softball program celebrated its sophomores Sunday and two of their local sophs enjoyed record-setting days.
Playing in the final home games of their junior college careers, Bella Rappa drove in 10 runs in the opener, Lilly Peverelle hit three home runs and had 13 RBIs in the doubleheader and the Mighty Oaks enjoyed three of their most prolific innings of the season as they swamped Raritan Valley 36-6 and 31-1.
The 36 runs in the opener broke the Mighty Oaks’ single-game scoring record, at least since reviving the program four years ago; they had scored 29 in a game twice earlier this season. The 67 runs in the doubleheader were the most they’ve scored in a twin bill since the revival as well, eclipsing the 50 they put on the Lady Lions in an April 10 sweep.
The Mighty Oaks scored 18 runs in the first inning of the opener — erasing a 2-0 deficit — and 12 more in the second; it was 30-2 before the Lady Lions had gotten to the top of their lineup. All nine players in the Salem lineup had scored a run by the time they made their first out, which was a sacrifice fly. They had a 16-run inning in the nightcap.
The collected 31 hits in the doubleheader, batting .633 as a team (31-for-49), and received 20 walks in each game. Pennsville products Rappa and Peverelle were a combined 11-for-13 with 15 runs scored, 18 RBIs and five walks.
“I told our players the most important goal for this team is just to kind of find those balances of things that we have to keep working on,” head coach Angel Rodriguez said. “If you get a good pitch, make sure you’re on time and square it up and a lot of us were able to do that. In a game like this a lot of patience has to be had and that’s another thing we have to work on. All that kind of goes into what we’ve been working on to the end of the season and it definitely prevailed today.
“It’s not really that we aren’t proud of what we’re able to put up, we look at every player’s at bats and is it something they improved on. It’s always interesting to put up some runs and then a couple times you’re like Holy cow we have no outs. It’s good to know they’re not forcing thing. In a game like today it’s very easy to try to force things and then it disrupts your at bats. Today we let the game come up us. It was good to see us not be over ambitious about what we were trying to do.”
Rappa collected all her RBIs in the first game in her first four at bats over the first two innings. She had a two-run double and three-run single in the first inning, and had a three-run single and two-run single in the second. Peverelle hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a two-run homer in the third.
“I knew that I was only going to see one good pitch, so I realized when I saw it coming I had to take advantage of it.” Rappa said.
Rodriguez even gave her a turn in the circle for the first time this season. Rappa gave up two hits and was charged with three runs, but the highlight was the four-pitch strikeout to the second batter she faced. Tiana Wilson came in behind her and had a great 1-2-3 double play to end the game.
“It felt great to go out there and do what my best friend (starter Raegan Wilson) does on a daily basis,” Rappa said. “I got one strikeout, and I was proud of that. I have to work on my release point, and stay in my lane, but it was fun.”
The Mighty Oaks turned the nightcap into a rout with 16 runs in the second inning. Peverelle had an RBI single in the first, an RBI ground out and two-run double in the second, and a grand slam in the fourth. Her 13 RBIs in the doubleheader broke the previous record, set by two-time Region Player of the Year Ella Hayes (12) against Sussex County last March.
“I just saw ball and hit ball,” Peverelle said. “Plus, I was singing to myself in the box.”
“It’s been good to see their progress,” Rodriguez said. “We always say as coaches we’re getting players in their first year and there are lot of things we have to break. A lot of bad habits, a lot of things we have to adjust. To see both of them from Year One to where they are now is incredible.
“We’re proud of what Bella was able to do Game One. I thought she came out on fire, but I think that rolled over with the last couple games she had. She had a very good Mercer Game 2 a couple games ago, so that’s good some of that’s starting to go with them game-to-game now; it’s not more of a rollercoaster.
“And Lilly’s been red-hot. She’s been doing very well, but another one who’s growth and maturity has gotten her to this level. I think that plays a huge part in what they’re able to do. It’s definitely paying off and they’re getting hot at the right time, so that was good to see too, especially with the (playoff) week we have coming up.”
Other top Game One performers included Jolee Robinson (2-for-3, six RBIs, five runs); Ava Ortiz (2-3, 3 RBIs off the bench) and Jalyn Rambally (3-5, five runs, four RBIs).
Freshman Jordyn Busch nearly pitched a shutout in the nightcap, but a wild pitch with two outs in the fifth inning ended the bid. She allowed only four hits and struck out seven. Among the hitters, Savannah Palverento went 3-for-3 with three RBIs; Megan Koski had two hits, four runs and three RBIs; and Robinson went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
| Raritan Valley | 200 | 13- | 6 | 4 | 5 |
| Salem CC | (18)(12)6 | 0x- | 36 | 17 | 0 |
| Raritan Valley | 000 | 01- | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Salem CC | 2(16)5 | 8x- | 31 | 14 | 1 |
Region XIX Standings
| DIVISION II SOFTBALL | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| x-Mercer | 18-4 | 37-5 | 14-0 |
| x-Lackawanna | 19-5 | 40-13 | |
| x-Delaware Tech | 19-5 | 26-12 | |
| x-SALEM CC | 14-10 | 28-18 | 12-4 |
| Sussex | 6-14 | 8-20 | 6-6 |
| Morris | 3-21 | 3-19 | 3-11 |
| Raritan Valley | 1-23 | 1-23 | 1-15 |
SUNDAY’S GAMES
Salem CC 36-31, Raritan Valley 6-1
Lackawanna 10-8, Onondaga 1-0
Delaware Tech 17-17, Morris 1-1
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Region XIX Tournament
at Mercer CC
Salem CC vs. Mercer, 10 a.m.
Lackawanna vs. Delaware Tech, noon
Winners bracket, 2 p.m.
Losers bracket, 4 p.m.
Baseball: Flat Mighty Oaks swept
CARNEYS POINT – Region-leading and third-ranked RCSJ-Gloucester jumped out front with three runs in the first inning, then put seven more on top of it in the second to send Salem CC into a spiral that ended in a 15-3 loss to sweep the three-game series and ramp up the pressure on the Mighty Oaks to make the playoffs.
“In the game of baseball regardless how the game goes you’re gonna get punched and we have to do a better job of taking that punch and punching back,” Mighty Oaks coach John Holt said.
The loss left the Mighty Oaks 15-15 in Region 19 and 20-24 overall with five games remaining. To qualify for the playoffs teams must be .500 or better overall or in region play. The Mighty Oaks would get in by winning all five games from Mercer and Union or at least taking two of three from Union this weekend.
Of course, they would avoid a play-in game with Ocean if they take care of business and the Vikings (17-17, 14-14) lost three of their five remaining games – all against teams with significant winning records. If there is a play-in game, the Mighty Oaks would host since they swept the season series
“We’ve got to win all three against (Union),” outfielder Roman Hernandez said. “Just because their record might not be the best, we can’t act like it. Sometimes we’ve done that and let a couple games get away from us. We’ve gotta handle our business and get three games and then see how the seeding goes after that. Like coach said, we’re fighting for a playoff spot, we’re not even fighting for a seeding. We just got to handled our business and take care of all those three games and see where we go.”
“We’ve gotta win,” Holt said. “We’re looking at a possibly play-in game, 8-9, based on whatever happens with Ocean. We talk about controlling what we can control and that’s all we gotta do. We gotta control what we can control and the chips are gonna be where the chips fall.”
Roadrunners righthander Matt Hewitt held the Mighty Oaks hitless for 3 2/3 innings before Hernandez broke up the bid with his first homer in a Salem CC uniform. Hewitt went the distance, holding Salem to four hits and striking out nine.
“We knew coming in he had a hard slider, hard to hit, and he abused us with that and he also had a good changeup that I saw early in the count,” Hernandez said. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting a fastball, but he gave me a high fastball and that’s my sweet spot. I just tried to get on base and pass the stick to the next person but it just happened to fly out.
“I was just trying to put a ball in play. We didn’t strike out that much first time around. We were putting the ball in play a lot, but they just had good defense, so I was trying to drive something hard in the gap and have the next guy after me drive him in.”
The Roadrunners’ big inning was helped along by three Mighty Oaks’ errors. Later in the game, Nick Izzo delivered a two-run single and Jack Mustaro hit a two-run homer.
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 370 | 023 | 0- | 15 | 14 | 1 |
| Salem CC | 000 | 111 | 0- | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Region XIX Standings
| DIVISION III BASEBALL | R19 | ALL | GSAC |
| RCSJ-Gloucester | 24-5 | 28-9 | 19-5 |
| Brookdale | 22-8 | 32-9-1 | 17-5 |
| Middlesex | 20-9 | 29-14 | 15-7 |
| RCSJ-Cumberland | 18-9 | 26-11-1 | 13-6 |
| Northampton | 16-8 | 25-13 | |
| Montgomery | 17-11 | 17-11 | |
| Camden | 16-11 | 19-15 | 12-10 |
| SALEM CC | 15-15 | 20-24 | 12-11 |
| Ocean | 14-14 | 17-17 | 10-11 |
| Bergen | 11-17 | 13-24 | 11-13 |
| Atlantic Cape | 4-23 | 4-23 | 2-18 |
| Union | 3-24 | 6-27 | 0-21 |
| Delaware County | 1-27 | 2-27 |
SUNDAY’S GAMES
RCSJ-Gloucester 15, Salem CC 3
Union at Northampton (2), ppd. to May 3
Brookdale 10, Lackawanna 9
Sussex at UConn-Avery Point (2)
Harford 7-12, Mercer 0-1
Rockland at Middlesex (2)
MONDAY’S GAMES
Middlesex at Camden
Bergen at Northampton (2)
RCSJ-Gloucester at Delaware Tech
Atlantic Cape at Delaware County
Raritan Valley at Rockland CC
RCSJ-Cumberland at Union
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