Here are scores and highlights from Monday’s Salem County sports calendar; this report will be updated
BASEBALL
Haddon Heights 13, Schalick 5
Pennsville 28, Penns Grove 8
Camden Academy Charter 10, Salem 8
SOFTBALL
Pennsville 17, Salem 0
Haddonfield 13, Salem Tech 2
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Triton 2, Salem Tech 0 (27-25, 25-18)
GIRLS LACROSSE
Woodstown 21, Haddon Heights 8
TENNIS
Pennsville 5, Penns Grove 0
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – A division title and the number one seed in the South Jersey Group I baseball playoffs may be firmly in Schalick’s back pocket, but the Cougars know there’s a lot more work to be done.
The Cougars have three games between now and the start of the playoffs – starting with Monday’s 13-5 loss to Haddon Heights – and while the games might not count for power points they still carry a lot of weight.
“These are games we need to try to get heading in that right direction, where we’re playing our best baseball heading into next week,” Schalick coach Sean O’Brien said. “There’s a week gap between the games so I think if we end on a positive note it just sets us up nicely for that first round. So, we’re trying to get playing good baseball before we start next week.:
It didn’t start the way they wanted. The Garnets (15-6), the No. 2 seed in the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs, led for the entirety of the 3-hour, 12-minute marathon. They reached Schalick starter Jamari Whitley for two runs in the first inning, extended the lead to 5-1 in the third and then broke it open with seven in the fifth to threaten to run-rule their hosts.
The Cougars (16-7) scored in the home half of every inning the Garnets did, but it was never enough.
“The three aspects of the game – pitching, hitting and fielding – we didn’t do any of them well,” O’Brien said. “It’s hard to beat a good team when you don’t do those things well. They’re a scrappy team, they find ways to get runs, and we just didn’t do our job overall today. That’s what it came down to.”
The Cougars did manage to avoid the run rule by scoring just enough in the home fifth to keep the game going.
“I think offensively we’re too good to be held down for that long, so I knew we could still get some runs; it was just our mentality,” O’Brien said.
The Cougars just couldn’t get that timely hit to spark a big inning. They left the bases loaded in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings. The only production they got out of those situations was RBI singles by J.T. Fleming and Whitley in the fifth and Wyatt Cushane getting hit by a pitch in the sixth. They left 14 runners on base, 10 in scoring position.
“We’ve gotten better with less than two outs and bases loaded, but now with bases loaded with two outs it’s like a new challenge that we have to deal with,” O’Brien said. “We’re getting guys on, we’re just not getting them in, and you can’t do that against good team. You have to capitalize to stay in games and win games.”
Garnets leadoff man Ryan Govito had a big day. He singled in each of his first five at-bats and had a chance in the seventh to go 6-for-6, but Bo Schalick, the Cougars’ fourth pitcher, got the sophomore shortstop to line softly to second.
“Five is a lot, six would’ve been nice, but I did the job,” said Govito, who had a four-hit game earlier this season. “The last at-bat I was just trying to keep the approach simple, middle of the field, same thing as before. I was trying to get a fastball, but I didn’t; maybe swung at a bad pitch.”
Ricky Watt got the Cougars on the board with his eighth homer of the season in the first inning.
“I saw five or six sliders before and then I finally got a fastball and got the barrel to it,” he said.
Watt had a double later in the game. He now has 97 career hits.
“I want to get it before playoffs hit,” he said. “I hadn’t really thought about (100 career hits) a whole lot; it’s not the No. 1 thing on my mind. But I’m excited about it.”
PENNSVILLE 28, PENNS GROVE 8: Jeff Wagner hit a grand slam and drove in five runs, Mason O’Brien homered and Steve Fatcher and Logan Cowperthwait each had four RBIs. The Eagles scored 10 in the third to break it open and 11 in the fourth.
CAMDEN ACADEMY CHARTER10, SALEM 8; The Cougars answered Salem’s six-run fourth with five in the bottom of the inning to tie the game, then pushed across runs in the fifth and sixth to win. Andry Placencia scored the go-ahead run on a ball that got away at the plate and Lenox Angeles singled home the insurance run. Austin Davis had two hits and three RBIs for the Rams, Troy Carey had two RBIs.
SOFTBALL
PENNSVILLE 17, SALEM 0: The Eagles scored 10 runs in the first inning and Savannah Guglielmo pitched a four-inning no-hitter.
HADDONFIELD 13, SAEM TECH 2: The Bulldogs pulled away from a 3-2 lead with seven runs in the fifth inning. Shelby Drummond had two hits for the Chargers and scored their first run on a steal of home.
TENNIS
PENNSVILLE 5, PENNS GROVE 0
Sawyer Humphrey (P) def. Anthony Pacheco, 6-0, 6-0
Lucas Cooksey (P) def. Juan Ortiz, 6-0, 6-0
Carter Willis (P) def. Jesus Arredondo, 6-3, 6-0
Jacob Cheeseman-Coen Rinnier (P) def. Jordan Hernandez-Fernando Palacios Lima, 6-0, 6-0
Lucas Thomas-Matthew Forino (P) def. Alan Lopez-Jeremy TeJada, 6-2, 6-0
Records: Pennsville 17-6, Penns Grove 5-8.
Riverview Sports News 