Here are the South Jersey Group I playoff projection for baseball, softball, boys tennis; the baseball and softball power points are open through Wednesday
Saturday was the originally scheduled cutoff date for eligible power points towards playoff consideration, but the date was moved to Wednesday due to all the inclement weather this season. Here is what the South Jersey Group I baseball and softball playoffs would have looked like if the Saturday date stood.
BASEBALL Paulsboro at Audubon Palmyra at Buena Haddon Twp. at Woodstown Gateway at Pitman Salem at Pennsville Clayton at Riverside Glassboro at Maple Shade Wildwood at Schalick
SOFTBALL Burlington City at Audubon Cape May Tech at Riverside Glassboro at Schalick Palmyra at Woodstown LEAP at Haddon Twp. Buena at Maple Shade Clayton at Pitman Paulsboro at Pennsville
The boys tennis cutoff date was Saturday, pairings are expected to be announced Monday. Here are the projected pairings; some teams may opt out of the competition (Glassboro and Pitman have), which would open up byes in the official bracket
TENNIS (May 21 first round) Glassboro at Haddon Twp. Gateway at Clayton Wildwood at Schalick West Deptford at Woodstown Buena at West Deptford Pitman at Palmyra Audubon at Point Pleasant Beach Penns Grove at Pennsville
PENNSVILLE — Pennsville rallied from an early four-run deficit to score five runs in its final two bats and beat Lenape 5-4 Saturday afternoon. The way the Eagles came back reminded coach Matt Karr of all the things he’d been preaching to his players about winning games after he found himself getting frustrated with their recent lack of production.
The blonde-topped Eagles, 12-7 and currently No. 3 in the South Jersey Group I power points, trailed 4-0 going to the home fifth, but put together enough quality at-bats late in the game to score three in the bottom of the inning to get close and then two more in the sixth to win it.
The three runs they scored in the fifth ended a string of 12 consecutive scoreless innings, a drought exacerbated by an unnerving string of setbacks at the plate, on the bases and in the field that keep a team from being successful.
“We’re just going to the plate and we’re not competing,” Karr said. “I felt like we were on cruise control, just going through the motions, then I catch myself over there counting … 8 … 9 … 10 innings without a run.
“Things were going bad. Everything that could go wrong … I felt like it was one of those days where it was going to go wrong. I told the boys out in the outfield, you guys kind of had to remind me through your play today the things we preach to you – a baseball game is seven innings long, the runs you score in inning one count the same as the runs you score in the seventh.
“We settled in and started grinding out at bats at the plate. The at bats at the end were awesome.”
The Eagles loaded the bases in the sixth on a leadoff walk, misplayed bunt and hit batsman from the bottom of the order. With the Pennsville bench erupting in the Florida State/Atlanta Braves tomahawk chant, Logan Streitz worked a bases-loaded walk to force home the tying run and Peyton O’Brien fought off several payoff pitches before delivering a one-out sacrifice fly to right to put his team ahead. O’Brien also doubled home their first two runs in the fifth.
“I knew I was going to eventually get one to handle,” O’Brien said. “I was saying to myself just don’t strike out because I knew I had to do a job for my team and I did it, so I’m glad.
“Before I went up there (on the double) coach told me just remember you’re one of the best hitters in the state, so I went up with that confidence and got a pitch I could hit, put a good swing on it and got us going.”
Perhaps their biggest play of the game didn’t come at the plate. The Indians were threatening to break it open with two runners in scoring position with two outs in the fifth but Jake Layfield kept Dante D’Ambra’s rocket to short in the infield preventing a second run to score that would’ve made it 5-0.
“When we were down in Ocean City we had a conversation about productive innings at the plate,” Karr said. “On the flip side, you guys hear me all the time saying belly down, keep it in. It’s for that reason right there. He makes an awesome play, keeps the ball in the infield. Doesn’t get an out, but he saved a run and today that’s the difference. The little things.
“When we play these playoff games, you get in the second, third, championship rounds, it’s those little things that are going to be the difference.”
The Indians scored three in the first inning off Luke Wood after he got the first two hitters out, but the Pennsville ace buckled down after that. He allowed only four hits, struck out five and faced only three batters over the minimum over the final six innings.
“I don’t feel like anything really changed (after the first inning), I think I just kept attacking the zone,” Wood said. “You’re going to give up hits, you’re going to give up runs, that’s the game of baseball. I’ve just got to trust that my stuff is going to be better than their lineup over the course of seven innings. You can’t let one inning bother you like that.”
Blonde ambition
Don’t look now but nearly every player on the Pennsville roster sports a dyed blonde head of hair underneath their caps.
It’s a look they’ve sported since their win over Pitman. It grew out of several players – Streitz, Jay Nickles, Mikey McClincy, Aidan Geary, Cohen Petrutz and Stevie Fatcher – sliding down to Streitz’ mom Pam’s Salone Di Bellezza on Broadway for a dye job before joining the team at O’Brien’s house for pizza, and once there convincing the rest to join them.
“It’s been brewing for a few weeks,” Karr said. “Then (Gavin) Spears shows up one day with the blonde hair and I say are you the guy in the group chat that didn’t get the hint it was a joke and they made you do it. He was like, no, no, no, we’re going to do it.”
So far the new look has been met with a curious but favorable response. Streitz reports there have been no negative comments. “I think everybody likes it,” he said. The Eagles won their first two games in the new do’s and are now 3-2 with them.
“They want to be like me,” said Wood, who has been regularly dying his hair blonde since his freshman year. “I like not being the only one. You’re looking at our whole group of guys and everyone looks the exact same. My mom tells me all the time she can’t tell anybody apart.”
“It’s growing on me,” O’Brien said. “At first I was a little upset about it, but it’s growing on me. Sometimes I think it looks a little stupid, but we’re a team.”
The only player who hasn’t done it is leftfielder Jeff Wagner and that’s because he has a senior portrait sitting soon.
Karr hasn’t done it, either, but he’s on board and will sit in the chair under one condition.
“I told them if you win a South Jersey championship,” Karr said, “I’ll go to the Salone 10 minutes after the game and do whatever you want.”
The Eagles have a busy week next week. They host current SJ-1 No. 2 Schalick Monday, play a free admission game against Tome School of Maryland in Wilmington’s Frawley Stadium Tuesday night and visit Salem with a chance to clinch their first outright TCC Classic Division title since 2023 Wednesday, the new cutoff date for playoff seedings.
SCHALICK 24, PAULSBORO 1: Luke Pokrovsky hit his fourth homer in four games, Ricky Watt hit a grand slam and four pitchers combined on a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Both homers came in a 13-run third inning. Cole Hartley homered in the fifth inning. The Cougars (17-1) have won seven in a row and scored 84 runs in their last five games.
DELRAN 6, WOODSTOWN 4: The Bears broke a 3-3 tie on Jackson Veneziano’s RBI single in the fifth and extended their lead on RBI singles by Jackson Hager and Andrew Reim in the sixth. Woodstown tied the game in the top of the fifth on Rocco String’s RBI double and Dante Holmes’ bases-loaded walk. String had three hits for the Wolverines.
After scoring a huge opening-round upset, Salem CC swept out of Region 19/North Atlantic District tournament
REGION 19 TOURNAMENT At Rutgers-Camden Friday’s Games Brookdale 12, Salem 2 (5 inns.) RCSJ-Gloucester 16, Salem 0 (5 inns.) Saturday’s Games RCSJ-Gloucester vs. Brookdale, noon Second game, if necessary, 3 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CAMDEN — You might be able to sneak up on the best teams in the country every once in a while, but unless something magical is in the works it’s not going to happen two days in a row.
The Salem CC baseball team was brimming with confidence after knocking off the No. 1 team in the country in the opening round of the Region 19/North Atlantic District Tournament. But the second day back against two of the top three teams in JUCO Division II just wasn’t the same.
The Mighty Oaks were five-inning run-ruled out of the tournament at Rutgers-Camden, losing to No. 3 Brookdale in the winner’s bracket 12-2 and then getting eliminated 16-0 by the No. 1 RCSJ-Gloucester team they knocked off the day before.
“I don’t know if we recovered from yesterday,” coach John Holt said. “We were feeling pretty good and might have been too overconfident. We’ve got to play clean baseball against good teams and we didn’t do that. I think we can play with both of those teams, we didn’t have enough gas today to get through it.”
“I think it was the energy; that’s really it,” sophomore centerfielder Demetrius DeRamus said. “The energy was just low and brought everything down.”
“We tried to keep the energy up, but there was only so much in the tank for us,” corner outfielder Yen Rodriguez said.
It probably didn’t help their mindset that the Brookdale game started more than two hours after its scheduled noon start time due to storms that blew through the area shortly after the Mighty Oaks arrived at the facility. With the teams evacuated from the field — and Salem in the middle of batting practice — the Mighty Oaks waited out the entire delay in the cramped comfort complex on the concourse with players reportedly falling asleep in the stalls.
“When our guys are stuck in a men’s bathroom for over an hour, standing like that, and we were warmed up already,” Holt said, “(outfielder) Jay LaBold may not get hurt if he doesn’t tighten up for an hour and a half. Obviously, that effects the game pretty big. I had to leave (starting pitcher Jared) Vandersteur in longer than I wanted to (127 pitches) because we had pulled the DH. I think it had a little bit of an impact, but we’ve got to be able to overcome that. We were thrown off.”
The Mighty Oaks beat Gloucester in the tournament’s opening game 6-5 in 12 innings Thursday. It gave them enormous confidence going into Day 2, but it also lit a fire under the Roadrunners. Gloucester has outscored its two opponents since the loss 28-1 and given up just five hits in 10 innings.
The Runners must beat Brookdale twice Saturday to win the championship and earn the district’s automatic bid to the national tournament. As the No. 1 team in the country you’d expect them to get the one at-large bid to the national tournament if Brookdale takes them down.
“We were really disappointed in ourselves the way we played yesterday and we felt to be honest we handed the game away,” Roadrunners coach Rob Valli said. “And to be honest, they woke us up. They allowed it to turn from us being mad at ourselves to getting woken up and being ready to perform today.”
Gloucester (49-5) jumped on Salem for four runs in the first inning, then broke it open with eight in the second. Second game Salem starter Seth McCormick had four straight batters in 1-2 counts in the first inning, but all four reached base and either scored or drove in a run. “It just comes down to execution,” McCormick said.
The Mighty Oaks (28-26) were held to one hit in the elimination game, Matt Murphy’s leadoff double in the second inning. They loaded the bases with three walks in the fifth, but Gloucester got Demetrius DeRamus to end the game.
DeRamus, who hit a game-saving two-run homer in the ninth inning of the first Gloucester game, was in a position to close his Salem career with a hit to give him 100 career RBIs.
Brookdale walked off the winner’s bracket game with five runs in the fifth. The walk-off run scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch.
The Mighty Oaks took a 1-0 lead in the visitors first when Yen Rodriguez scored on Tyler Hacker’s bases-loaded walk. Ball four on the walk was a wild pitch and DeRamus tried to score from second but was out at the plate that at first glance looked like he slipped a foot on the dish before contact with the pitcher covering.
DeRamus’ 98th career RBI got the Mighty Oaks to within 7-2 in the top of the fifth.
While the losses brought a disappointing close to the Mighty Oaks’ season, there was a lot to remember.
Their 28 wins were a single-season school record against arguably the most challenging schedule in program history. They hosted and won a playoff series and won a game in the district tournament. They beat the Nos. 1 and 14 ranked teams during the season and played No. 2 close in two games with one of the losses decided on a controversial walk-off balk. Holt scored his 400th coaching victory and 100th at Salem during the season and four of the sophomores collected the 100th hits of their career.
“Hindsight, it’s a good year,” Holt said. “We’ve played a challenging schedule to prepare us for this weekend and it paid off. We were able to give Gloucester its first conference loss; that’s always a plus. We hung with the best teams in the country all year long. For a program that’s only been around for five years that says something. I think this thing is in the right direction. I think we’re building something here that could end up being special. We just have to work to improve every year.
“Last year we made the playoffs, this year the playoffs was the expectation and then the goal was to make some noise and I think we did that. Going into next year it’s continue to take a step forward with the program. I’m proud of this team. I think this group has had a lot of heart, a lot of guts. This is going to be a bunch that sticks with me regardless of how long I coach.”
Salem
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WP: Tyler Mendez. LP: Jared Vandersteur. HR: Gary John Perone (B)
Mighty Oaks give a performance for the ages, stun No. 1, two-time reigning national champs in opening round of Region 19 D3 Final Four
REGION 19 TOURNAMENT Thursday’s Games Game 1: Salem 6, RCSJ-Gloucester 5 (12 inns.) Game 2: Brookdale 9, RCSJ-Cumberland 8 (10 inns.) Game 3: RCSJ-Gloucester 12, RCSJ-Cumberland 1 (5 inns.) Friday’s Games Game 4: Salem vs. Brookdale, noon (winner to championship) Game 5: RCSJ-Gloucester vs. Game 4 loser, 3 p.m. Saturday’s Games Championship (2 if necessary), noon
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
CAMDEN — John Holt had one simple message for his blue-collar Salem CC baseball team before it boarded the bus for the trip up 295 for the Region 19 tournament.
We just have to win three, fellas.
Now they just have to win two – as long as they keep winning.
The Mighty Oaks shocked everyone in the JUCO baseball world except themselves Thursday when they stunned top-ranked, top-seeded and two-time reigning national champion RCSJ-Gloucester 6-5 in 12 innings at Rutgers-Camden.
The benefit of the win was to happily go back home early without having to play another game today and will play second-seeded No. 3 Brookdale Friday at noon. Jared Vandersteur, the region’s leader in ERA, is expected to draw the start for the Mighty Oaks (28-24) with Seth McCormick slated for their third game, which could be Friday’s 3 p.m. elminational game or Saturday’s championship game.
The win was Salem’s record 28th of the season and 401st of Holt’s coaching career. The Roadrunners fell to 47-5; they hadn’t lost to a Region 19 opponent since last May.
The Mighty Oaks (28-24) won despite striking out 21 times in the game.
“Our boys showed up today,” Holt said. “They played their hearts out, they really did. I’m as proud as I’ve been of a group in almost my entire career. These guys laid it all out there today. They played a tough game against a great team and they just out-toughed them today.”
It was the second time the Mighty Oaks have knocked off a No. 1-ranked team under Holt, the last being RCSJ-Gloucester in 2021.
The Mighty Oaks were defeated handily by the Roadrunners during the season, but they showed they could play with the best teams in the nation by hanging with now No. 2 SUNY-Niagara twice on their Florida trip in mid-March.
“Great that we get to go home early, enjoy the rest of the day, chill out, get ready to come back tomorrow,” third baseman Chris Kelly said. “It means a lot.
“It means everything, from 1 through 28, including the coaches, coming out here beating the No. 1 team in the country. No one else thought we could do it. We believed 1 through 28. We came into this weekend thinking we know we got it, we’re going to come in, dominate, and we did it. We did what we had to do.”
Heroes were plentiful, with Demetrius DeRamus and Matt Murphy at the top of the list.
Kelly brought Angel Velez home from third with the winning run on a two-strike sacrifice fly in the 12th.
DeRamus was down to the Mighty Oaks’ last strike of the game, but gave them life with a two-out, two-run homer over the park’s version of the Green Monster in right to tie it 5-5 in the visitors’ ninth. He had three RBIs in the game, leaving him three shy of 100 for his career.
Cole Dawson got the rally started with a one-out single, then stole second and went to third on a passed ball.
“I’ve been in that situation so many times, it’s just routine at this point,” said DeRamus, who hit a two-run game-tying homer in the 11th inning of a 12-inning win over RCSJ-Cumberland earlier in the season. “We work on it a lot in practice, two-strike approaches. I think it’s just something about RCSJ in general that lights the fire in me. I’m just lost for words right now, just happy we get to go to the next game.”
Jon Gambone gave the Mighty Oaks six strong innings as the starter, throwing 115 pitches on the heels of a 133-pitch effort in his previous tournament start. Pat Seitzinger pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings through the 11th and Murphy, pitching for only the second time in college, closed it out like a veteran in the 12th.
“We knew the last time we played them that wasn’t our team,” Seitzinger said. “I didn’t do good (in that series), but I did good today and that’s what matters more.”
Murphy had pitched only one Inning previously in his college career (March 8), but he had been getting up to 90 in his bullpens and Holt thought that velo in that situation with Murphy’s closer mentality was just what they needed. The head coach shifted the day’s lineup to put Murphy at DH – with Yen Rodriguez in rightfield and Jason LeBold in left (his first action since April 13) – for just such a circumstance.
The sophomore righthander worked through the 12th on 15 pitches. He ended the game on a double-play grounder that shortstop Dawson took himself to second and then fired to first to set off a raucous celebration in the dugout.
“I’ve been telling coach all year I’ve wanted to pitch,” said Murphy, whose last extended pitching appearance was June 1, 2022, at Eastern Regional High School. “He’s been telling me to get ready every series. I’ve been ready every series, I’ve just been waiting for it. He gave me the call and I did the best that I could. I was doing it for my team.
“All day we were picking each other up. I didn’t want to let my teammates down so I went in there, gave it all I had and a great outcome happened.”
Demetrius DeRamus reaches the plate after his game-tying two-run homer in the ninth inning. (Screenshot from Gamechanger video)
Bialecki’s 12th-inning single lifts Woodstown over Glassboro, 2-1
By Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Blake Bialecki made a spectacular catch in center field in the top of the 12th to keep the go-ahead run off the bases and then delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the inning as Woodstown walked off Glassboro 2-1 Wednesday.
Bialecki’s game-winning hit, a scorcher past first baseman Aidan Evangelisti into right field, came with one out after Tommy Tucci singled to center and Lucas Fulmer walked. It made a winning pitcher of Rocco String, the Wolverines’ fifth pitcher of the game.
Bialecki’s catch took potential extra bases from Jude Dempster for the second out of the inning.
Woodstown scored the first run of the game in the third inning on String’s two-out double to left. Glassboro tied it in the seventh on Brennan Crosbee’s one-out double, but the Wolverines prevented further damage with an inning-ending double play.
The Wolverines (13-8) also turned an inning-ending double play in the 11th to turn back another threat. They made four twin killings in the game.
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – The Schalick baseball team went to the home of baseball, got the tour and (presumably) the T-shirt, and then put on a Hall of Fame performance Monday morning, dispatching Bridgeton 13-3 in five innings.
Five Schalick pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter, retired 12 of the first 13 batters they faced and got all 15 outs by strikeout. The Bulldogs did not put a ball in play against them, getting all their baserunners via walk.
Aptly-named Cooper Willoughby’s long bases-loaded single to left with one out in the fifth inning walked it off after the Bulldogs intentionally walked Luke Pokrovsky to load the bases, denying Schalick’s all-time home run and RBI king the opportunity to walk it off.
“I think it’s pretty special what we did today,” senior pitcher Lucas D’Agostino said. “No matter what the circumstances are, 15 strikeouts in 15 outs to go along with a no-hitter is something special and I believe it reflects how dominant our pitching staff has been all year. Especially in Cooperstown, that definitely meant a lot to me personally, as well as the team as a whole.”
Cougars coach Sean O’Brien gave his two senior aces the first two innings on historic Doubleday Field and they put on a Hall of Fame performance.
Starter Pokrovsky and D’Agostino both struck out the side in their inning. On his final pitch, D’Agostino’s windup looked like something you might’ve seen from one of the pitcher inductees inside the Hall. He wrapped his arms around his back, came around and tucked and then fired his final strike.
“I figured I’d pay some homage to some of the great pitchers that are immortalized and have some fun with an old-timer windup,” D’Agostino said. “I didn’t have anyone in mind. In my head I thought to myself ‘something in the ballpark of Walter Johnson’ and I guess that pitch is what ended up coming out.”
Cole Hartley got the next two innings and he struck out his six batters. He fanned the side in the third on 10 pitches.
Senior Matthew LaMazza started the fifth inning but had trouble locating the plate and walked the four batters he faced. He was replaced by senior Eli Cummings, who struck out his first two batters and eventually the side, but walked in a run and allowed another when a pitch got away at the plate.
The Cougars (15-1) answered with three in the bottom of the inning to walk it off. Their first three batters reached to load the bases. Travis Snodgrass’ ground out brought home the first run, Cummings’ RBI single made it 12-3 and Willoughby followed the walk to Pokrovsky with his game-winner.
Cummings sacrifice fly in the fourth got the game into run-rule territory. Pokrovsky had two hits and Ricky Watt went 3-for-3.
“The team’s experience will be one the players won’t forget,” O’Brien said. “Touring the museum and having the opportunity to play on Doubleday Field is something they will aways remember. Every player on the team got at least one at bat.”
“You really can’t have a bad time when you’re in Cooperstown,” D’Agostino said.
This story will be updated.
WOODSTOWN 9, CLAYTON 1: The Wolverines erupted for six runs in the first inning. Rocco String went 3-for-3, Caiden Spinelli had two hits and Lucas Fulmer and Nate Williams each had a pair of RBIs.
PENNSVILLE 12, GLASSBORO 7: The Eagles opened 9-0 lead in the fourth inning, then held off the Bulldogs’ comeback bid. Cohen Petrutz had two hits and four RBIs at the plate and set the Bulldogs down in order in the seventh with two strikeouts to close out the game. Logan Streitz and starting pitcher Luke Wood both had two hits, while Connor Starn, Jeff Wagner and Stevie Fatcher all had two RBIs.
WILDWOOD 11, PENNS GROVE 1: The Warriors erupted for seven runs in the second inning after Penns Grove grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first. Liam Irvin doubled home Elijah Crespo for the Red Devils’ run :
SOFTBALL PENNSVILLE 19, GLASSBORO 8: Kylie Harris, Savannah Brewer-Palverento and Makenzie Widener had perfect days at the plate, combining to go 12-for-12 with 12 RBIs as the Eagles (17-3) pounded 20 hits. Harris went 5-for-5 to tie her career high, Brewer-Palverento went 3-for-3 with six RBIs and Widener went 4-for-4 with four RBIs
WOODSTOWN 11, CLAYTON 1: Aubrie Rennie and Talia Guardascione both went 3-for-4 for the Wolverines. Leah Clark scattered six hits and struck out eight in her six-inning complete game.
SCHALICK 19, SALEM 0: The Cougars took advantage of 23 walks.
WILDWOOD 21, PENNS GROVE 0: Emma Contreras homered, had six RBIs and spun a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the circle. She had a perfect game for 3 1/3 innings, until Jarlene Vichi-Torres broke up the gem with a fourth-inning single for Penns Grove’s only hit.
Photo: Schalick’s Luke Pokrovsky delivers the first pitch in the Cougars’ game with Bridgeton this morning at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, N.Y. (Submitted photo)
The Schalick baseball team stops at the gates of Doubleday Field before making their entrance in today’s game. (Submitted photo)
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of May 12-17; events start at 4 p.m. unless noted
MAY 12 BASEBALL Salem vs. Bridgeton, Doubleday Field, Cooperstown, N.Y., 10 a.m. Clayton at Woodstown Pennsville at Glassboro Wildwood at Penns Grove SOFTBALL Glassboro at Pennsville Penns Grove at Wildwood Schalick at Salem Woodstown at Clayton GOLF Salem Tech vs. West Deptford, River Winds, 3:30 p.m. Schalick vs. Pennsville, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. Schalick girls vs. OLMA, White Oaks GC, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown vs. Haddon Heights, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m. TENNIS Penns Grove at Pitman Pennsville at Schalick Timber Creek at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m. TRACK Schalick at Penns Grove Salem at Deptford, 5 p.m. GIRLS LACROSSE Maple Shade at Woodstown
MAY 13 BASEBALL Woodstown at Delran GOLF Schalick vs. West Deptford, River Winds, 3:30 p.m. TENNIS Pennsville at Glassboro, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown at Collingswood, 3:45 p.m. TRACK Pennsville at Woodstown LACROSSE Woodstown at Clearview, 5 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Washington Twp. at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m. MAY 14 BASEBALL Glassboro at Woodstown Penns Grove at Overbrook Pennsville at Salem Schalick at Cumberland SOFTBALL Cumberland at Schalick Overbrook at Penns Grove Salem at Pennsville Woodstown at Glassboro GOLF Woodstown vs. Pitman, Pitman CC, 3:45 p.m. Schalick girls vs. Delsea, Centerton CC TENNIS Pitman at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m. Schalick at Penns Grove Woodstown at Delsea, 3:45 p.m. LACROSSE Rancocas Valley at Woodstown, 4:15 p.m.
MAY 15 BASEBALL Buena at Schalick Pennsville at Triton SOFTBALL Schalick at Buena Triton at Pennsville GOLF Schalick vs. Hammonton, Pinelands GC, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown vs. Sterling, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m. TENNIS Woodstown at Highland, 3:45 p.m. Glassboro at Pennsville GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown at Eastern VOLLEYBALL Timber Creek at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Region 19 Final Four, Rutgers-Camden Salem CC vs. RCSJ-Gloucester or Brookdale, TBA MAY 16 BASEBALL Pennsville at Cedar Creek SOFTBALL Salem at Cape May Tech Triton at Woodstown GOLF Pennsville vs. Millville, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. TENNIS Woodstown at Overbrook, 3:45 p.m. Schalick at Wildwood, 4:15 p.m. TRACK NJSIAA Sectionals LACROSSE Woodstown at Millville VOLLEYBALL Salem Tech at Cape May Tech, 3:45 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Region 19 Final Four, Rutgers-Camden, TBA
MAY 17 BASEBALL Schalick at Paulsboro, 11 a.m. TRACK NJSIAA Sectionals COLLEGE BASEBALL Region 19 Final Four, Rutgers-Camden, TBA
Here are the results from Saturday’s Salem County sports calendar BASEBALL Lee Ware Tournament, Woodstown Washington Twp. 11, Woodstown 0 Cherry Hill East 7, Camden Catholic 1 Consolation: Woodstown 11, Camden Catholic 7 Championship: Cherry Hill East 4, Washington Twp. 1
WOODSTOWN – After being silenced the last four games, Woodstown’s bats came alive and outscored Camden Catholic 11-7 in the consolation game of the Lee Ware Tournament.
Ty Coblentz led the Wolverines’ 12-hit attack with three hits and two RBIs. Sam Chard and Rocco String had two hits apiece and Thomas Tucci drove in a pair of runs.
The Wolverines (11-8) broke a 5-5 tie with six runs in the bottom of the third inning. Noah Williams’ RBI single broke the tie. Caiden Spinelli and String each had a two-run double. And Coblentz had an RBI double.
Cherry Hill East won the tournament with a 4-1 win over Washington Twp. in the championship game. SOFTBALL Pitman Tournament Pennsville 6, Pitman 5 Pennsville 9, Deptford 4
PITMAN – Kylie Harris and Savannah Brewer-Palverento drove home runs in the sixth inning to finally give Pennsville the lead and the Eagles held on to claim a division win over Pitman 6-5.
The Eagles trailed 2-0, 4-1 and 4-3 at various points in the game. Harris, Lily Edwards, Avery Watson and Makenzie Widener had two hits apiece for Pennsville.
They followed that with a 9-4 win over Deptford. Edwards had two hits and two RBIs, while Sawyer Simmons and Reagan Wariwanchik had two hits apiece.
Ellie Wygand’s RBI double with none out in the bottom of the seventh scored MMMM LaPalomento with the winning run in Woodstown’s 9-8 walk-off win over Cumberland.
Kendall Young and LaPalomento got the winning rally started with singles. Young was caught stealing, leaving only LaPalomento on the basepaths. She scored on Wygand’s double. Wygand went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs.
Cumberland tied the game 8-8 with four runs in the top of the seventh.
In their first game, the Wolverines fell behind Absegami 14-0 after two innings. Lila Bowling had two hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs for Woodstown.
GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown 20, Haddon Heights 3: Delaney Walker scored five goals and Jaime Deal and Angelina Lindenmuth each scored four to lead the Wolverines. Sienna Land had five assists.
CARNEYS POINT – John Holt stood on the grass just outside the Salem CC dugout twirling an autographed baseball in his sports-drink-soaked hands courtesy of the water bucket bath he just received in the outfield. The ball, signed by all the players on the team, represented a lifetime of success and a gateway to the future.
The Mighty Oaks won their first region playoff series in more than 30 years and handed head coach John Holt his 400th career coaching victory in sweeping Middlesex College 6-5 and 10-2 to take their best-of-3 playoff series two games to none.
“I was crying out there,” Holt admitted. “It means a lot to do it with these guys. These guys are a special bunch. I’m glad all the hard work that they’ve put in is finally going to get them to the Final Four. That’s just the next step. We’re not done yet.”
The fourth-seeded Mighty Oaks (27-24) now advance to the double-elimination Region 19 Division III Final Four next week at Rutgers-Camden, to face either top-seeded No. 1 RCSJ-Gloucester (47-4) or second-seeded No. 4 Brookdale (37-8) in the opening round.
Holt has won a playoff series before – in 2011, his last year at Burlington County CC – but the Mighty Oaks have never won one or even hosted one as far as Holt’s research goes back. They did win a playoff game last year at Northampton, but lost the series.
Holt began his collegiate coaching career at Burlington CC and was hired at Salem to restart the program in 2019. He has 107 wins with the Mighty Oaks, including career wins 300 and 400. His last two seasons have been the winningest in school history.
“There’s been a lot of good players, a lot of good coaches,” Holt said. “It’s been a hell of a ride. It’s been special.
“I’ve tried not to measure my successes in coaching based on wins and losses. For me it’s predominantly been about those relationships. Four-hundred wins, that’s awesome, but for all the good husbands, the good dads, the good men, if I’ve had anything to do with that, that’s more important than 400 (wins). I don’t take that for granted.”
The Mighty Oaks walked off their coach’s milestone win with three runs in the seventh inning capped by Yen Rodriguez’ game-ending single into the right centerfield gap. The sophomore outfielder said as soon as he made contact he knew it was over and Holt had his 400th win.
They led the game wire-to-wire, scoring a run in the first inning on Matt Murphy’s RBI triple and taking control with a four-run third that included home runs by Cole Dawson and Demetrius DeRamus.
DeRamus’ homer, a two-run shot that made it 5-1, ended a 4-for-28 skid that was part of a larger 9-for-59 over his previous 18 games. He admitted the slump was eating at him “just a little bit,” but when he went to the plate he just tried to “keep things simple, be less technical” and it seemed to have done the trick.
He followed his seventh homer of the year with a single in his next at-bat for his first multi-hit game since April 13.
Tyler Hacker went 3-for-3 with a walk in the game and came within a home run of hitting for the cycle.
Jared Vandersteur pitched a complete game, scattering six hits and striking out five. He threw 118 pitches and even without his best stuff reduced his region-leading ERA to 2.67. The Colts scored both their runs in the fourth inning.
“I just knew I had a job to do and thankfully I was able to do it,” the righthander said. “I didn’t know it was for his 400th win, I just knew I had to get it done today. It’s fun to go out there and have the pressure on and get it done.”
The Mighty Oaks came out swinging in the opener, scoring five runs in the first inning to erase a 1-0 deficit and then held on.
They sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning. Angel Velez, Hatcher and Hunter Cohen drove in the first three runs, then Tim Bowlby capped the outburst with a two-run single to right field.
Velez had three hits and two RBIs in the game. Since the nightcap of the Mighty Oaks’ April 5 doubleheader with Middlesex (20 games), Velez is batting .486 (35-of-72) with a 10-game hitting streak.
Jon Gambone pitched the first seven innings for the Mighty Oaks, leaving with a 6-3 lead after throwing 133 pitches (one more than Middlesex starter Ryan Rzepinski in six innings), and got the win. Hard-throwing J.D. Wilson pitched the final two innings and although the Colts scored two runs in the eighth inning and threatened in the ninth to make it interesting, he kept it from getting ugly and closed it out for the save.
There was a lot to Wilson’s outing. He’s basically pitching without a UCL in his pitching elbow and will need Tommy John surgery to repair it. He was so determined to keep his college career from meeting a premature end, he “made” the doctor clear him to pitch in the playoffs and “kind of told” Holt he was going to throw if the game was close.
“The doctor basically said you need surgery, you’re not going to do any more damage, it’s already done, you can throw as tolerated,” Holt said. “The thing about J.D., I think he gets a bum rap sometimes because he’s a hard-nosed kid, but I don’t know how many guys who can throw the ball 90-plus would call their coach and say I’m looking at Tommy John but I’ve got at least two innings this weekend for you. That just says a lot about who he is.”
“I just wanted to win,” Wilson said. “I just went out there and gave my team my best of what I had and came out of here with a win.”
It was his first appearance on the mound since April 13 and the first time his mother Jessie had seen him play since suffering a brain aneurysm the day before Easter, making for an even more poignant Mother’s Day for the family.
“It was just like the old days, before everything happened,” Wilson said. “It was nice.”
Photo: Salem CC baseball coach John Holt holds the ball from his 400th career victory surrounded by his players after the Mighty Oaks swept Middlesex in the Region 19 playoffs Saturday.
Pokrovsky homers twice in first inning, passes 100 career RBIs; he and D’Agostino both hit grand slams and the Cougars roll before heading to the Hall of Fame
By Riverview Sports News
ELMER – It must have felt like the good old days to many a Schalick baseball player Friday night.
The Cougars returned to the Elmer Little League complex where it all began for a lot of them for the second time this week and put on an impressive display of power.
They hit three home runs – two grand slams – and had eight extra-base hits in crushing Salem 26-2 in five innings.
It was just the kind of game they needed to send them to Cooperstown, where they’ll play Bridgeton at Doubleday Field Monday.
Luke Pokrovsky and Lucas D’Agostino, two of the players recognized during Senior Day activities here Tuesday night, led the 22-hit attack. Pokrovsky homered twice in the first inning, doubled and drove in a career-high seven runs to surpass 100 for his career. D’Agostino homered, doubled and had five RBIs.
Pokrovsky homered leading off the home first to tie the game and hit a grand slam later in the inning. They were his 17th and 18th homers of his career to stand alone as Schalick’s all-time home run king. It was the second multi-homer game of his career and 24th multi-RBI game.
D’Agostino hit a slam in the second inning for his first career homer. The Cougars scored nine runs in each of the first two innings.
Every Schalick starter had at least one hit and 14 Cougars had hits in the game. Starting pitcher Jamari Whitley had two hits and three RBIs, while Ricky Watt, Mason Sanchez, Enrico Hatz and Evan Glaspey had two hits apiece.
Bryce Harris drew a bases-loaded walk to give Salem a 1-0 lead in the first. The Rams scored their other run in the fourth inning on a error off the bat of Chase Pompper. Terrell Robinson had two of their four hits in the game.
