Hassler provides 4 1/3 innings of one-hit, shutout relief, locks down Woodstown’s 2-0 win over Maple Shade for Wolverines’ first South Jersey Group 1 baseball title since 2022 state title; play at Pt. Pleasant Beach in state semis
GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS Friday’s games SOUTH: Woodstown 2, Maple Shade 0 CENTRAL: Pt. Pleasant Beach 9, Shore 1 NORTH I: Pompton Lakes 3, Waldwick 0 NORTH II: Cedar Grove 11, Hanover Park 5
GROUP I FINAL FOUR Monday’s games Woodstown (21-8) at Pt. Pleasant Beach (18-6) Pompton Lakes (21-7) at Cedar Grove (20-9)
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME June 14, 4 p.m., at Rutgers
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – In the playoffs it’s never too early to get a second pitcher ready. The only sin is waiting until it’s too late.
Stone Hassler was sent down to the Woodstown bullpen four batters and a mound visit into Friday’s South Jersey Group I championship game against Maple Shade. It’s not that Blake Rodriguez was pitching badly, a little tight maybe, but Wolverines coach Marc DeCastro just wasn’t comfortable with what he was getting from his starter.
So Hassler was off. It was a hasty dash from his bench, behind home plate, past the Wildcats’ bench and on down the left field line. Once he got to the pen he was up throwing every time the Wildcats got a man on base.
DeCastro eventually brought him in with two out and two on in the third inning, and stayed with him the rest of the game.
The sophomore right-hander was as sharp as he’s ever been since returning from a mid-season elbow issue. He gave up only one hit the rest of the game – a leadoff single in the seventh inning – and finished off a 2-0 win that gave the Woodies (21-8) their first sectional baseball crown their state title year of 2022.
They will play at Point Pleasant Beach in the state semifinals Monday. The Garnet Gulls (18-6) beat Shore Regional, 9-1.
“It’s all hands on deck,” DeCastro said. “I didn’t love the way that Blake threw early and I wanted to make sure we didn’t spot them anything. It’s hard to come back in these games.
“I’m pretty sure before Clayton we had (Hassler) down there before Pitch One. I say this to these guys all the time: There is no room in these games to hope that it gets better; you have to find someone to shut the door. When you’re down 3-0 in a state tournament game the first inning it feels insurmountable. If I don’t like the way things are going I’ll treat the first inning like it’s the sixth and make sure that we stay there and figure out the rest of the game later.”
Feeding the Wildcats a steady diet of fastballs, Hassler struck out six and walked two in the longest outing of his career; he had gone four innings three times before, once this year. He faced only two batters over the minimum thanks to a pair of inning-ending double plays – a nifty 3-6-3 between first baseman Drew Sutton and shortstop Tommy Tucci in the fourth and an around-the-horn variety in the sixth. Hassler said he was in the groove the minute he entered the game and after that 3-6-3 double play completed his first full inning he was “ready to shut that team down.”
“I’ve never seen Stone more locked in in my life,” catcher Ty Coblentz said. “He proved himself today. He proved to himself he could be a great varsity pitcher and can lead us through a South Jersey final.”
“I wouldn’t have said he would have thrown that much if you would’ve asked me before the game,” DeCastro said. “The whole day I was trying to figure out who’s going to get the last three outs if we got there. I had different people in mind for their lineup and different people I wanted. Honestly, I probably should’ve gone to the lefty. I was riding Stone until I felt uncomfortable.
“He was coming out for the kid he got out in the end. I rolled the dice a little bit there. If I had to do that 10 times I probably would make a sub six times, but he hasn’t thrown that much in a long time. Going into the year I was hoping I could count of him and he got a little bit injured and has fought his way back. He’s been ready for this for a while, he just hasn’t had the opportunity.”
Stone Hassler celebrates coming off the mound after getting the final out in Woodstown’s 2-0 win for the South Jersey Group I baseball title. Top photo: The Wolverines rally around the championship trophy. (Photos by Michelle Tucci)
While Hassler was putting up zeroes, the Wildcats weren’t giving up anything easily, either. Tucci gave the Wildcats the lead with a solid RBI single in the third – to make Hassler the pitcher of record – and Chase Harding hit his third homer in four playoff games in the fourth to add some insurance.
It may have been only one run, but once Tucci broke the ice, it “opened up the game a lot. It took a lot of pressure off everyone’s shoulders.”
They really were loose after Harding’s homer, although he doesn’t remember a lot about it.
“I was just hunting fastball,” he said. “I got it and took it for a strike outside; kind of beat myself up. The second pitch I got a fastball inside and fouled it off and third pitch was just a blur.”
The Wolverines showed the character of their program before the game. Shortly after Maple Shade arrived at the field, Coblentz went over to the Wildcats bench on behalf of Wolverines and handed their coaches an envelope containing a card signed by all the players and a small amount of cash as a token of support for Xavier Taylor, the Maple Shade 12-year-old who was critically injured after being struck in the neck with an errant throw in May.
It was a purely player-driven initiative. DeCastro had no idea they were going to do that, but said the gesture “says a lot about who these kids are.”
“I texted the (team) chat and told them it’d be really nice if we got a card and gave them a little bit of help,” Coblentz said. “It might not be much but I feel like anything helps at this point.”
Woodstown designated hitter Chase Harding (L) is about to jump into the arms of his jubilant teammates after hitting a solo homer in the fourth inning Friday. Top photo: Stone Hassler delivers a pitch in the longest outing of his career.
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I CHAMPIONSHIP
MAPLE SHADE (0)
WOODSTOWN (2)
Luke Voiro, cf
3000
Walker Battavio, cf
2010
Anthony Schafer, lf
2000
Luke Fraley, 3b
2100
Cole Mulcahy, ss
2000
Ty Coblentz, c
3000
Chase Blum, 2b
2010
Drew Sutton, 1b
3010
Aaron Wells, c
2000
Tommy Tucci, ss
2011
Nick Stanton, dh
2000
Sol Elmer, rf
2010
RJ Bozarth, p-3b
3000
Colton Williams, rf
1000
Eddie Leahy, 1b
3020
Blake Rodriguez, p
0000
Michael Smith, rf
3000
Stone Hassler, p
1000
Braydon Morgano, 3b
0000
Ray Denham, cr
0000
Chad Blum, p
0000
Noah Williams, lf
3000
Chase Harding, dh
3111
Talyn Priore, 2b
0000
Maple Shade
000
000
0-
0
5
0
Woodstown
001
100
x-
2
3
0
2B: Eddie Leahy (MS). HR: Chase Harding (WO).
Maple Shade
IP
H
R
ER
BB
K
R.J. Bozarth (LP)
5
5
2
2
3
2
Chad Blum
1
0
0
0
1
2
Woodstown
Blake Rodriguez
2.2
2
0
0
3
2
Stone Hassler (WP)
4.1
1
0
0
2
6
Tommy Tucci is congratulated by his Woodstown teammates after driving in the first run of the game with an RBI single in the third inning. (Photo by Michelle Tucci)
Woodstown sophomore delivers big hit, earns three-inning save to lead Wolverines past Pennsville in SJ Group I playoffs; Maple Shade upsets top-seed Schalick
SJ GROUP I SEMIFINALS Woodstown 6, Pennsville 3 Maple Shade 6, Schalick 4
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN — Marc DeCastro and all his Woodstown teammates know the kind of hard-core competitor Walker Battavio is, but what the sophomore showed Wednesday took it to another level.
Battavio delivering a three-run double to give the Wolverines the upper hand in their 6-3 win over Pennsville in the South Jersey Group 1 baseball semifinals was impressive enough. What he did in the late innings — and what he had to endure to do it — approached legendary status.
He came in from centerfield with a three-run lead and earned a three-inning save. What made it even more courageous was he pitched the last two innings with cramps in his right leg that made every pitch painful.
But he endured and because he was bulldog-tough the Wolverines (20-8) are playing for the SJ Group 1 title for the fourth time in the last six years. They host Maple Shade Friday. The fourth-seeded Wildcats spoiled the anticipated 1-2 Salem County championship showdown when they upset top-seeded Schalick 6-4.
Battavio helped the Wolverines uphold their end in a big way in his longest outing since April 18.
“He has one of the biggest hearts in the game; he’s a dog,” said sophomore first baseman Blake Rodriguez, who gave his classmate a four-run cushion with his first career home run leading off the sixth inning. “He always puts his team first. He’s not a selfish guy. Unselfish person. He’ll do anything for the team. Puts his heart on the line.”
Battavio had been prone to cramping and Wednesday’s hot conditions didn’t make it any easier. The cramp really hit in the fifth inning when he ran the bases after putting the Eagles down in order in his first inning on the mound in the top of the inning. He came in there because starter Drew Sutton had thrown 27 pitches the previous inning and was started to go through the Pennsville lineup a third time.
He could feel the knot forming in his leg as he was stealing second base but continued on to the bag and when he got there safely was on the ground in pain. He received attention from the training staff and remained in the game, eventually scoring on Ty Coblentz’ RBI single that got Pennsville starter Gavin Spears out of the game. He spent the rest of the game drinking his hydration water and enduring the pain.
“Nothing’s bringing me out of the game,” Battavio said. “My mindset is playing no matter what.”
And DeCastro didn’t want to take him out, which meant he had to help push his pitcher through the pain.
“I worry about him cramping up every time I have to bring him in late because he gives every ounce of himself to everything he does; he exerts so much energy that at the end of games he has to fight through exhaustion,” the head coach said. “There’s no way he threw one pitch that didn’t hurt and he tried to fight as hard as he possibly could and he got through it, so he did everything he needed to do.”
Woodstown pitcher Walker Battavio (C) tries to stay hydrated in the late innings of the Wolverines’ 6-3 playoff win over Pennsville.
Battavio admitted cramping every time he threw a pitch – and he threw 52 of them — but he just tried to forget about it and focus on getting the next hitter.
“It was pretty hard, but I’ve got that dog, so I’ve gotta fight through it,” he said. “I felt it every pitch, but I dug deep and knew I had to get it done for our team so I just did it. Gotta do it. I knew I could do it and I just persevered through everything.”
The last two innings were sort of messy for Battavio, but he wound up allowing four hits, two runs and striking out one. The inning after he cramped on the basepaths, the Eagles reached him for three hits to score a run and loaded the bases with two outs, but he prevented it from becoming a big inning by getting the final out on pop to second.
The Eagles (16-10) also got a run off Sutton in the fourth inning and left the bases loaded there, too. They scored their third run in the seventh inning, but ran themselves out of another potential bases-loaded situation on the play that netted their run.
I feel like we beat ourselves today, I really do,” Pennsville coach Matt Karr said. “We had the bases loaded early, we’re right where we want to be, (and) back-to-back hits there it’s probably a tie game. … Haddon Twp. we dug ourselves a hole (but rallied to win). It’s hard to keep climbing out of these game. Today we spot them a 4-0 lead and were trying to climb out of this hole the entire game. It’s hard to play that way.”
The Wolverines got those first four runs in the second inning. Rodriguez drove the first run home when Spears’ threw high to the plate on his squeeze bunt. That left two on with one out. Noah Williams drew a walk to load the bases then Walker hit an opposite-field double just out of the reach of left-fielder Steve Fatcher to clear the bases.
As the leadoff man in the Wolverines’ lineup, it was only the second time in his last 10 games he drove in a run. The last time he had an RBI, he drove in four against Penns Grove.
“I saw the opportunity,” Battavio said. “They were playing up on me. They didn’t think I could hit it that far, so I had to show them what I can do, and I did it.”
“The reason that got over his head is because he’s a leadoff guy and he hit it the other way and they were playing him a little bit shallower to get anything in front of them,” DeCastro said. “He’s a strong kid. Hasn’t always known how to use his strength. He’s always been a little guy. A lot of times a little guy (is encouraged to) put a ball in play and run, so he got used to that. Now he’s becoming a man he’s strong and he’s learning not just to put a ball in play but drive balls in gaps.”
PITTSGROVE – Schalick had been a pretty good defensive team this season and even when it wasn’t the Cougars had the offensive firepower to overcome it. That wasn’t the case Wednesday and they the post-season price.
The top-seeded Cougars were charged with five errors and every time it seemed their opponent made them pay. It added up to a 6-4 Maple Shade win that ended Schalick’s season and sent the Wildcats to face Woodstown for the South Jersey Group 1 title Friday.
“We didn’t play very well,” Schalick coach Sean O’Brien said. “The funny thing is we turned three double plays, but then other routine things we just made mistakes. And when we made mistakes they blooped in a hit or they got a single here or there. They just made us pay for our mistakes.”
Early on it looked like the Cougars were headed for the 1-2 Salem County showdown for the sectional title with Woodstown everyone anticipated. They broke a 1-1 tie with three in the third inning on Evan Glaspey’s two-run double and Travis Snodgrass’ sacrifice fly.
Then things started going south. The Cougars were late deciding where to go with a ball back to the box and all runners were safe. A grounder to the right side of the infield moved the runners up and Edward Leahy delivered a two-run single to center to cut Schalick’s lead to 4-3. The Wildcats took the lead on back-to-back RBI singles by Lucas Voiro and Anthony Schafer. They added another run on Aaron Wells’ RBI single in the seventh. Schafer had three hits and three RBIs and Leahy went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
Maple Shade’s first five runs were all unearned.
The Cougars, meanwhile, managed only two hits and a walk after opening their 4-1 lead. The two hits were back-to-back singles by Bo Schalick and Glaspey with two outs in the fifth. They had the top of the order up in the seventh, but Wildcats reliever Braydon Morgano got through it with a two-out walk and three flyouts.
“They’re a tough team; they made us pay for our mistakes,” O’Brien said. “Their pitchers, all they did was pitch to contact and we had a lot of fly outs.
“We struck out twice the entire game. All (Morgano) did was he just pitched to contact. A lot of balls we hit in the gap just kind of stayed up in the air and they were able to run underneath them. He didn’t do anything spectacular, he just did his job. He did a good job of forcing us to make outs.”
The loss ended an otherwise big year for the Cougars. They finished 19-8, won 10 of their last 13, won the TCC Diamond Division for the second year in a row, and were the No. 1 seed in the sectional. Seniors Evan Sepers (105) and Ricky Watt (102) both collected their 100th career hits.
“We had a great season, there’s really nothing to be disappointed about,” O’Brien said. “When you don’t reach your goals at the end it’s a letdown because we know we potentially could have done it. Unfortunately in the playoffs if you don’t have your best game and don’t do what you need to do as you get deeper in the playoffs good teams will just make you pay.”
Maple Shade
010
202
1-
6
8
0
Schalick
103
000
0-
4
7
5
WP: Braydon Morgano. LP: Cole Hartley. 2B: Evan Glaspey (S)
GROUP I SECTIONAL FINALS Friday’s games (Records, power points in parenthesis) SOUTH: Maple Shade (16-9, 21.490) at Woodstown (20-8, 23.697) CENTRAL: Shore (21-8, 27.805) at Pt. Pleasant Beach (17-6, 28.914) NORTH I: Waldwick (16-13, 23.307) at Pompton Lakes (20-7, 25.319) NORTH II: Hanover Park (18-8, 24.783) at Cedar Grove (19-9, 25.754) Power points to determine home team in state semifinals
Schalick ace takes no-hitter into fifth inning, strikes out 13 in 6 1/3 innings against Audubon
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – The way Jamari Whitley rolled out of bed Friday morning he could tell it was going to be a good day.
When the hard-throwing junior right-hander hit the alarm at 5:45 a.m. to start his day, his arm felt good, he knee felt good; he basically felt good all over. And when he is feeling good and he’s pitching that day, that’s a bad sign for the opposition.
Whitley was as sharp as ever Friday in the top-seeded Cougars’ surprisingly tight 5-1 win over eighth-seeded Audubon in the South Jersey Group I quarterfinals. Last year this game was for a South Jersey championship, this year it was just another game to survive and advance.
And because Whitley was at the top of his game, the Cougars (19-7) did both to host Maple Shade in Wednesday’s semifinals.
“I woke up this morning feeling really good,” he said. “I knew it was a big game, the South Jersey final rematch, so I had to come out and perform today and help my team win. Body wise this morning I had no soreness. This morning, feeling nothing in my knee I knew I was going to be able to pitch to my standard. My arm has been feeling good all season so it was just a matter of executing,.”
Whitley was uber-efficient. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning; Matt Piechowski spoiled the gem with a two-out single up the middle. He ended up allowing three hits and striking out a career-high 13. He fanned eight of the first 10 batters he faced and had 10 Ks through four innings.
“We were fortunate to have Jamari on the mound today,” outfielder Cooper Willoughby said. “He threw one of the best games I’ve ever seen on this field. He kept us in this game the whole time.”
“Today was a different type day,” the pitcher said.
“We saw glimpses of it last year,” Cougars coach Sean O’Brien said. “I remember him throwing against Woodstown in the playoffs and he threw against Middlesex, he threw excellent. We knew what he’s capable of. He just kind of had to work out some stuff and kind of get ahead of guys and he did a great job of that. Kind of put us on his back until we could actually get things going late.”
Because the pitcher was getting ahead of hitters and throwing strikes, O’Brien gave him every chance to go the distance, but when the Green Wave put two on with one out in the seventh O’Brien lifted him. Cole Hartley finished it off with a ground out and game-ending strikeout.
Whitley’s counterpart in the other green uniform was surprisingly sharp as well. Audubon’s Connor Chester had thrown only four varsity innings in two years before Friday, but he gave the Green Wave five solid innings before tiring in the decisive sixth inning. He held a Cougars team that had been averaging 10 runs a game to a run and four hits over the first five innings. He got the first out of the sixth inning, too, before the Cougars finally reached him.
“We pitched him in a couple games and when we won with our No. 1 yesterday we decided let’s run him out there, see what he can do,” Audubon coach Rich Horan said. “He’s only a junior so we found another 1A and 1B. He pitched really well, he just ran out of gas.”
The Green Wave needed three pitchers to get through the sixth. Chester was pulled after the Cougars loaded the bases on a pair of walks and an outfield error. First reliever Drew Piechowski last two batters. He did have Willoughby down two strikes, but the outfielder choked up on the bat, protected the plate and poked an RBI single through the hole to break the 1-1 tie, then Wyatt Cushane drew a bases-loaded walk and Piechowski was gone. J.T. Fleming greeted second reliever Joe Waller with a two-run single to center to make it 5-1.
Half of the Cougars’ hits, two of their runs and all of their RBIs came from the bottom third of the lineup.
“We were just looking for a break,” O’Brien said. “We’ve been talking to those guys about the back end of the lineup has to find a way to get on so the top end can get us in. That’s what good teams do, that’s what we did last year. It kind of worked out well where the back of the lineup kind of got us going, which is a pretty cool thing. We’ll be a tough team to beat if we can do that consistently.”
Wolverines dodge a bases-loaded no-out threat, turn away Buena in South Jersey Group 1 quarterfinals
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Sometimes the biggest inning in a game isn’t one in which you score. Sometimes it’s the inning you prevent a run from scoring.
Woodstown had one of those kinds of innings Friday in its South Jersey Group 1 quarterfinal game with Buena. The Chiefs had bases loaded and none out in the fifth inning of a close game, but the Wolverines kept them off the scoreboard and by doing so gained an extra bit of momentum to finish off a 5-1 win.
“That was the game ,” Wolverines coach Marc DeCastro said. “It was a giant momentum switch.”
The second-seeded Wolverines (19-8) had been clinging to a 2-0 lead since the first inning when the Chiefs put together their biggest threat of the game. It started with Ricky Beesix and Donato Vai singling off Blake Rodriguez and Richie Wilson getting ahead 2-0 prompting DeCastro to bring in Drew Sutton midcourt.
Sutton completed the walk to Wilson loading the bases. Now it gets weird. Jorge Rios missed the squeeze and the Wolverines caught Beesix in the rundown with the other runners failing to move up behind him. Sutton got Rios to fly out and then catcher Ty Coblentz gunned down Vai trying to steal third.
“That was a weird inning,” Coblentz agreed. “I had a good feeling we were going to get out of that, I did, because (with) Drew on the mound, I knew he could get a strikeout or two and I knew we’d make a play or two. I was very ecstatic in that moment (of the third out). That was the third out that was a big out. It’s almost a tie ballgame at least, could’ve been even worse.”
Sutton carried on for a three-inning save, giving up two hits and an unearned run in the seventh. Even though they might not have been as sharp as usual, pitcher Walker Battavio, Rodriguez and Sutton combined to hold the Chiefs to three hits and struck out five. The Wolverines haven’t given up an earned run in their last three games.
“I only had like five minutes to warmup,” Sutton explained. “I don’t think I’ve really ever done that before. It was kind of weird, but I did good. I just hit my spots.”
The Wolverines took the lead with two runs in the first. The first run scored when the Chiefs threw away Tommy Tucci’s grounder to third. The second scored on Sol Elmer’s RBI single.
It stayed that way until the sixth. Bolstered by the momentum of their fifth-inning escape, the Wolverines scored three insurance runs in the sixth. Lucas Fraley had a two-run double and Tommy Tucci doubled home a run.
The Chiefs scored their run on a single, an error and Wilson’s RBI single.
The Wolverines now host Pennsville in the semifinals Wednesday. They’ve been to the semifinals three years in a row and for the fifth time in the last six years. They eliminated Pennsville from the tournament each of the last two years.
Buena
000
000
1-
1
3
Woodstown
200
003
x-
5
9
WP: Walker Battavio. LP: Jackson Murray. 2B: Luke Fraley (WO). Tommy Tucci ((WO).
Pennsville’s Streitz has a game for the ages, leads Eagles to come-from-behind road win over Haddon Twp. in SJ Group 1 quarterfinals
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WESTMONT – Matt Karr isn’t one prone to hyperbole, but after watching the performance from one of his most veteran players Friday afternoon there really was no other way the Pennsville baseball coach could describe it.
Senior Logan Streitz had a game for the ages – and they’ve had some ages in the Eagles’ baseball program. He put on clinic that encompassed all three phases of the game. He hit. He fielded. He pitched. He truly was The Man as the Eagles beat Haddon Twp. 13-7 in the second round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.
“Logan Streitz may have just played the best game in Pennsville baseball history,” Karr said. “It was that good.”
He went 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI doubles, the go-ahead three-run homer and seven RBIs. He made a diving catch at second base with the bases loaded and turned it into a game-saving, inning-ending unassisted double play. Then he went to the mound and pitched two innings of no-hit relief with four strikeouts to slam the door on the third-seeded Hawks.
“It was unbelievable,” Karr said. “He comes up in the sixth and launches a bomb to right field to gives us the lead. As he was rounding third I just pointed at him and said ‘You are the man.’ I had no other words.
“Pennsville baseball is a storied, storied program and I’m sure if you sat down and flipped through and really studied who had great games there’ve been masterful performances up and down our history … but he did all three phases of the game today about as good as you could do.”
Karr was awestruck just watching it. Streitz was living it and even he had a hard time describing it
“I would say I had a pretty good game,” he said. “This is definitely going to be the No. 1 game I remember from all my games in high school.
“As I was going around the bases after the home run I just kind of went into a blur. It didn’t feel real. Same with the diving play. It kind of hit me a little bit, but it just didn’t feel real.”
Streitz’ first double gave the Eagles a 3-1 lead in the third inning. His second drove in a run during a three-run rally in the fourth that tied the game. The Hawks took a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the inning and threated to blow it open loading the bases with one out, but that’s when Streitz let his defensive prowess shine. Shading up the middle with the infield in, he lunged to snare Kirby Rice’s liner, got to his feet and raced to the bag to complete the double play.
“That was game-saving right there,” Karr said. “Who knows the floodgates that open if that ball goes through and 7-6 turns into 9-6 and who knows what else. That was just an unbelievable athletic play, a headsy play. To be able to stay in the moment knowing he had to jump up and make another play was awesome.
But the heroics were far from over. Streitz came to the plate in the sixth after Jake Layfield and Mason O’Brien opened the inning with walks and gave the Eagles the lead for good with his long homer to right. He hit a third RBI double in seventh to make it 12-7.
“That’s a home run I won’t forget,” Streitz said. “He threw me a low fastball down the middle and I kind of got all over that. I would say (the walkoff against) Wildwood (was as big a homer as he’s hit), but this is a playoff game so I’d definitely have to say this was (the biggest).”
With starter Gavin Spears well past 100 pitches through five innings, Karr turned the mound over to Streitz in the sixth. The right-hander hit the first batter he faced, then settled in and picked up a six-out save without much drama.
“I just tried my best to stay calm and collected, because when I’m not it starts to get wild,” Streitz said. “I just feel a lot more comfortable coming in as a reliever close.”
He was so comfortable on this day he was having a running conversation with the umpire in the seventh inning instead of warming up.
“He was just in the zone, man,” Karr said.
The Eagles got gutsy performances throughout the lineup.
O’Brien hurtshis shoulder diving for a ball in the first inning, but stayed in the game. It looked to be getting worse with each swing at the plate, but he stuck it out and poked a double over the centerfielder’s head to set the stage for Streitz’ first RBI double. Catcher Mike McClincy throws a runner out in a key situation. Scott Streitz, Logan’s younger brother, gets an at-bat in the seventh and delivers his first varsity hit. It just went on and on
“It was just amazing the way everything worked out,” Karr said. “There were just so many guys who found a little way to contribute. It was such a team effort. For us to be down early, come back to take the lead and give it back up, it’s nice to see your guys really stick it out and kind of come together and put it all together.”
The Eagles now play Woodstown in the South Jersey semifinals Wednesday. They’ll have a lot of incentive for this one. The Wolverines knocked them out of the playoffs each of the last two years.
Top photo: Pennsville’s Logan Streitz (L) approaches the plate after hitting a go-ahead three-run homer in Friday’s South Jersey Group I playoff game at Haddon Twp. (Screenshot from Gamechanger video)
All three Salem County teams in the South Jersey Group I baseball quarterfinals won Friday; stories posting to the website soon
SJ GROUP I BASEBALL Friday’s quarterfinals (1) Schalick 5, (8) Audubon 1 (4) Maple Shade 4, (5) Wildwood 3 (6) Pennsville 13, (3) Haddon Twp. 7 (2) Woodstown 5, (10) Buena 1 Wednesday’s semifinals (4) Maple Shade at (1) Schalick (6) Pennsville at (2) Woodstown
SCHALICK 5, AUDUBON 1: Jamari Whitley takes a no-hitter into the fifth, gives up three hits, strikes out career-high 13 in 6 1/3 inningsfans career-high. Cooper Willoughby and J.T. Fleming deliver big hits in four-run sixth that breaks the game open.
PENNSVILLE 13, HADDON TWP. 7: Coach Matt Karr said Logan Streitz “may have just played the best game in Pennsville baseball history.” The senior went 4-for-5 at the plate with two doubles, the go-ahead three-run homer and seven RBIs, made a game-saving unassisted double play with bases loaded, then threw two innings of no-hit relief to slam the door.
“As he rounded third (after the homer) I just said to him ‘You are the man,'” Karr said. “I had no other words.”
WOODSTOWN 5, BUENA 1: The Wolverines scored two runs in the first inning and three pitchers held the Chiefs off the board until the seventh inning. The Wolverines survived a crazy fifth inning in which they survived a bases-loaded no out situation, picking off two runners on the base paths.
Look for full stories soon elsewhere on the website.
Pennsville rallies to beat Pitman in a South Jersey Group I playoff game eerily similar to a regular-season game they played a month ago; Schalick rolls in another Elmer win, Salem Tech falls in first-ever playoff game
SJ GROUP I BASEBALL Friday’s quarterfinals (8) Audubon at (1) Schalick, 3 p.m. (5) Wildwood at (4) Maple Shade, 3 p.m. (6) Pennsville at (3) Haddon Twp., 4 p.m. (10) Buena at (2) Woodstown, 4 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – Somebody had to remind Pennsville baseball coach Matt Karr it was May 28 and he hadn’t been magically transported back to April 17. Stop him if you’ve seen this movie before.
The Eagles found themselves in the same kind of game against Pitman Thursday they were in when the teams played for lesser stakes a month earlier. The Panthers had one big inning again to make them sweat, but just as they did that day in April the Eagles rallied and escaped with a 6-5 win in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.
It was Karr ‘s 150th win as the Eagles’ head coach – “and 150 more grey hairs, too,” he quipped.
“I think the word I used walking down with the coaches was ‘aw, this is like déjà vu, man,’” Karr said. “It was that same kind of inning they were literally just putting the ball in play. But that’s baseball. When you get in those situations those little things are amplified because of the pressure that’s created by having baserunners and we did that to ourselves, walking guys, not picking our pitcher up with ground balls that should be outs.
“We magnified the situation and we amplify the pressure on ourselves because now we’ve got to be perfect. Now any little thing goes wrong and it’s a run here, a run there. We talk all the time that great teams have the ability to say who are we and how do we win ballgames. It’s hard for us to fire up a four- or five-run inning. We have to play good defense, we have to do the little things and win innings throughout the course of the game and that one got away from us.”
In the April game, Pitman scored five runs in a squirrely third inning to take a three-run lead and the Eagles chipped away each of the next three innings to come back and win. On Thursday, the Panthers scored four in an equally squirrely third to take a three-run lead and the Eagles chipped away over the next three innings to tie the game and ultimately go ahead on Dante Cummings’ bases-loaded fly that got away from the outfielder and scored two runs.
In April, Karr called on Gavin Spears to shut the door behind starter Logan Streitz and Spears gave up no runs over the final four of his 5 2/3 innings striking out 12. In this one, Karr brought in Mason O’Brien behind starter Logan Cowperthwait and O’Brien gave up one run and four hits over the final 4 2/3, striking out eight, including the 100th of his career.
“In a perfect world I would love to get to (Friday) with Mason and Gavin both available, but we did tell Gavin we were trying to get to him tomorrow as the starter,” Karr said. “Mason does a really good job coming in as a reliever. He’s got a lot going for him. I didn’t want to go from a righty to another righty, so we went to Mason as a lefty to throw them off.
“Mason and Gavin are our 1A and 1B. When you have those guys on the mound for you it’s a different mindset. Your team just feels a little more relaxed when their guy’s on the mound. We had that to finish today’s game with Mason and we’ll have that again tomorrow with Gavin on the mound to start.”
The game was tied 4-4 going into the home sixth. Pinch-hitter Scott Streitz drew a leadoff walk and forced a pitching change. Jake Layfield greeted reliever Drew Keefe with a sacrifice to move the runner into scoring position. O’Brien walked (for the third time), but Keefe fanned the next batter for the second out.
Jeff Wagner took an 0-2 pitch off the elbow to load the bases and bring Cummings to the plate. The junior designated hitter who has developed into one of the Eagles’ best hitters barreled a ball into the gap that was tailing away from centerfielder Logan Williams. The Pitman outfielder appeared to get his glove on it but couldn’t pull it down and both Streitz and O’Brien scored.
“He threw a first-pitch fastball and I saw Mason on second base, he was giving me that sign, so I knew I had to get my foot down, hit it hard, make someone make a play,” Cummings said. “I know it hit the barrel and I took off. All I saw was it hit the ground and after that I got excited. It’s probably one of the biggest hits in my career. It felt good coming back both games but today felt a lot better knowing now we get to advance and get these seniors one last home win.”
“We’ve talked a lot this year about creating our own luck and we created a pressure situation there,” Karr said. “We had runners on, we put the ball in play, we made them have to make a play. In that moment, the lucky bounce went our way.”
But O’Brien and the Eagles still had to get through seventh before they could claim victory. The Panthers got one run closer on Dylan Tyler’s RBI single and had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with two outs, but O’Brien got the final out on a grounder to second.
O’Brien came on in the third after Cowperthwait loaded the bases, threw a wild pitch to allow the tying run to score and then issued a walk to reload the bases with one out. O’Brien had gotten out of bases-loaded jams in the past this season, but this outing got off to a balky start, literally. On his first play in the game he was called for a balk after making a pickoff attempt to first without the first baseman covering the bag, bringing in the second run.
“We saw the Seattle Mariners do it and I was like I could do this as a lefty,” O’Brien said. “They looked it up and sent an email and I saw it was a balk. I got a sign to pick off a runner, it was supposed to be at second, but I thought it was first base and then that happened.”
Kiernan Clark followed with shot first baseman Grady Sanders knocked down to keep in the infield, but another run scored. The Panthers made it 4-1 when Payton Miller hit a slow roller to the left side of the infield and beat a high throw to first. The Eagles eventually got out of the inning and after that the southpaw with the sparkly cleats kept the Panthers off the board until the seventh.
“I trust myself and I know I’ve got guys behind me who’ll make a play any day of the week,” O’Brien said. “I’m just going to throw the ball over the plate and if they don’t hit it, they don’t hit it, good for me, but if they do I know my defense is going to make plays.”
The Eagles got a run back in the fourth on Steve Fatcher’s RBI single and tied it in the fourth on another RBI single by Fatcher and Gavin Spears’ sacrifice fly.
“I trusted my guys that we were going to score runs and come back and win this ball game,” O’Brien said.
After all, he had seen it before. They all had.
Pitman
004
000
1-
5
6
2
Pennsville
100
122
x-
6
5
1
WP: Mason O’Brien. LP: Kiernan Clark.
SCHALICK 23, CAPE MAY TECH 0: The top-seeded Cougars scored 13 runs in the fourth inning to turn an already one-sided playoff opener into an outright rout.
The Cougars (18-7) pounded out 21 hits in the game. Travis Snodgrass went 4-for-5 with three RBIs. Evan Glaspey drove in four runs. Jamari Whitley had three hits, Evan Sepers had three RBIs and Ricky Watt collected his 100th career hit on a second-inning RBI single that gave the Cougars a 4-0 lead.
They batted around twice in their big inning. The first 13 batters reached base and 10 scored before an out was recorded. Sepers had three RBIs in the inning, Glaspey and Snodgrass each had two.
“It’s good to kind of get things rolling and going in the right direction heading into the next round,” Cougars coach Sean O’Brien said. “We looked pretty good pitching wise, defensively and at the plate, so we saw positive things going on to the next round.”
It looked like Watt had become the second Cougar this season to reach 100th hit when he had three hits, including two record-tying homers, at Collingswood May 20, but the game was washed out two outs from becoming official. So he had to wait more days to reach the milestone.
He flew out in his first at-bat Thursday, but didn’t miss his second time up, ripping a liner to left field.
“To be honest, the second time around was definitely less special,” Watt said. “And I also didn’t add two homers on top.”
Mason Sanchez and Mason Hollywood combined on a five-inning one-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Sanchez worked the first four innings, giving up a bloop single in the first inning and striking out eight. The sophomore hasn’t given up an earned run in his last three appearances (13 innings).
“He was attacking the hitters, he was commanding the strike zone, he did good job getting ahead of guys,” O’Brien said. “He looked a lot like what he did against Pennsville, which is definitely reassuring for us this year and moving forward for next year, too.”
The game was moved to the Cougars’ second home, the Elmer Little League complex, because of field conditions. It was their eighth straight win at the alternate site and third this year. They are 16-6 and have won 15 of their last 18 there since Sean O’Brien became head coach in 2016.
“I didn’t realize overall our record there,” O’Brien said. “I know we’ve had a lot of success there, there are very few games I can remember losing, but I didn’t realize we had that good a record there.
“Playing there, it’s like our second home where I don’t feel uncomfortable being there. I like being at our place, but when we play there it’s comfortable. It’s not like we’re playing at a different field.”
“Playing at Elmer is always fun,” said Watt, who is 11-for-18 with nine RBIs at the complex the last two seasons.
The Cougars now host eighth-seeded Audubon (10-12) back in their traditional home Friday at 3 p.m. It’s an earlier start time than usual to accommodate the Green Wave’s prom later in the evening.
Here is Schalick’s baseball ecord at the Elmer LL complex since Sean O’Brien became head coach (16-6)
YEAR
RESULT
YEAR
RESULT
2026
Cape May Tech, W 23-0
2022
Woodstown, W 9-7
2026
Bridgeton, W 17-4
2022
Bridgeton, W 21-0
2026
Woodstown, W 4-3
2021
Woodstown, W 15-7
2025
Glassboro, W 7-2
2019
Woodstown, W 12-0
2025
Buena, W 10-0
2019
Glassboro, L 3-2
2025
Salem, W 26-2
2018
Woodstown, W 12-2
2025
Woodstown, W 5-0
2018
Glassboro, W 5-4
2024
Bridgeton, W 25-4
2017
Glassboro, L 8-5
2024
Woodstown, L 12-4
2017
Woodstown, L 6-5
2023
Bridgeton, W 12-0
2016
Glassboro, L 8-6
2023
Woodstown, L 4-2
2016
Woodstown, W 8-4
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP 2 BARNEGAT 16, SALEM TECH 1: The Chargers were playing in their first-ever sectional tournament game as a program and the home team didn’t make it easy for them. Barnegat pitcher Ray Danbrowney threw a five-inning one-hitter and struck out seven. The Bengals put four on the board in the first inning and added on every inning.
Jack Beal had the Chargers’ only hit, a single leading off the third inning. He moved to second on a passed ball and scored when the Bengals misplayed Lucas Clement’s grounder to short.
Salem Tech
001
00-
1
1
4
Barnegat
443
5x-
16
12
2
WP: Ray Danbrowney. LP: Jack Beal. 2B: Nick Bruno (B), Declan Brain 2 (B)
Woodstown wins a pair of third-set tiebreakers to lock down a spot in SJ Group 1 boys tennis finals; Wolverines win their girls lacrosse playoff opener; includes scores from Thursday’s South Jersey Groups 1&2 playoff action
BASEBALL South Jersey Group I Tournament Schalick 23, Cape May Tech 0 Audubon 3, Gateway 0 Wildwood 10, Paulsboro 0 (Tues.) Maple Shade 2, Riverside 1 Haddon Twp. 19, LEAP 1 Pennsville 6, Pitman 5 Buena 8, Glassboro 2 (Wed.) Woodstown 12, Clayton 0 (Wed.) South Jersey Group II Tournament Barneget 16, Salem Tech 1 (Story on website) SOFTBALL Penns Grove vs. LEAP, Rutgers-Camden, 6 p.m. South Jersey Group I Quarterfinals Audubon 10, Riverside 0 Pennsville 8, Pitman 0 Palmyra 3, Gateway 2 Woodstown 3, Buena 1, 8 inns. (Story on website) GIRLS LACROSSE South Jersey Group I Tournament Woodstown 11, West Deptford 8 (See story below) TENNIS South Jersey Group I Semifinals West Deptford 5, Pt. Pleasant Beach 0 Woodstown 4, Haddon Twp. 1 (See story below)
Tennis: Woodstown plays for title
WESTMONT — Luke Shaw and the doubles team of Connor Miller and Josh King both came all the way back from dropping the first set to win third-set tiebreakers and lift Woodstown to a 4-1 win over Haddon Twp. for a spot in the South Jersey Group I boys tennis championship match.
The Wolverines (14-8) will play at top-seeded West Deptford (23-1) in the title match Tuesday. It’s their first trip to the SJ Group 1 boys final since 2019 — and first under head coach Jesse Stemberger — when they lost to Middle Twp. 3-2. Stemberger was the program’s assistant coach when it made the South Jersey final four straight years from 2016 to 2019.
Shaw lost the first set at third singles to Grady Carson, then evened the match 6-2 and won the pro set 10-5. Shaw was 9-9 at third singles, 10-10 overall, entering the match. Carson had won his last six matches and 13 of his last 15.
“Luke’s win was a little more intense because we had two points and if he wins, the match is over,” Stemberger said. “After losing the first set he told his parents he wasn’t going to lose. He took control of the second set, built a lead in the tiebreaker and closed it out with a big first serve on his first match point.”
Miller and King dropped their first set to Sylar Kennedy and Jack Considine at second doubles 5-7, then won the second set 6-3 and the pro set 10-4. Miller and King were 13-4 entering the match (2-1 in third-set tiebreakers). Kennedy and Considine had won their last five matches
“They didn’t have the pressure, but they wanted to win and basically followed the same script as Luke,” Stemberger said.
GROUP 1 SECTIONAL FINALS Tuesday’s matches Central: Edison Magnet (7-12) at Metuchen (14-0) North I: Pascack Hills (15-4) at Glen Rock (16-3) North II: Glen Ridge (8-12) at Verona (17-5) South: Woodstown (14-8) at West Deptford (23-1)
Girls lacrosse: Woodstown wins opener
WOODSTOWN — Delaney Walker added four more goals to her school-record total and Emma Morgan added another assist to that all-time school record, powering Woodstown to an 11-8 victory over West Deptford in the first round of the South Jersey Group 1 playoffs.
Walker’s four goals ran her career total to 243. Morgan extended her assist record to 85 and also scored a goal.
Blair Baldi, Arianna Hyman and Emma Perry all scored twice for the Wolverines (10-7), who now travel to second-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven (14-5) for Monday’s quarterfinals.
Here is the Salem County sports calendar for the week of May 25-May 30
TUESDAY, MAY 26 SOFTBALL South Jersey Group I Tournament Paulsboro at Audubon Riverside at Maple Shade Wildwood at Pennsville Haddon Twp. at Pitman Glassboro at Palmyra Cape May Tech at Gateway Schalick at Woodstown, 3 p.m. Burlington Twp. at Buena GOLF TCC Showcase, Pitman GC GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown at Nottingham, 5 p.m. TENNIS South Jersey Group I Quarterfinals Penns Grove at West Deptford Pennsville at Pt. Pleasant Beach Pitman vs. Woodstown Schalick vs. Haddon Twp., 3 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 27 BASEBALL South Jersey Group I Tournament Cape May Tech at Schalick Gateway at Audubon Paulsboro at Wildwood Riverside at Maple Shade LEAP at Haddon Twp. Pitman at Pennsville Buena at Glassboro Clayton at Woodstown, 3 p.m. South Jersey Group II Tournament Salem Tech at Barnegat
THURSDAY, MAY 28 SOFTBALL Penns Grove vs. LEAP, Rutgers-Camden, 6 p.m. South Jersey Group I Quarterfinals Paulsboro-Audubon vs. Riverside-Maple Shade Wildwood-Pennsville vs. Haddon Twp.-Pitman Glassboro-Palmyra vs. Cape May Tech-Gateway Schalick-Woodstown vs. Burlington Twp.-Buena South Jersey Group II Quarterfinals Haddon Heights-Lower Cape May vs. Salem Tech-Cinnaminson GIRLS LACROSSE South Jersey Group I Tournament West Deptford at Woodstown TENNIS South Jersey Group I Semifinals Penns Grove-West Deptford vs. Pennsville-Pt. Pleasant Beach Pitman-Woodstown vs. Schalick-Haddon Twp.
FRIDAY, MAY 29 BASEBALL South Jersey Group I Tournament Cape May Tech-Schalick vs. Gateway-Audubon Paulsboro-Wildwood vs. Riverside-Maple Shade LEAP-Haddon Twp. vs. Pitman-Pennsville Buena-Glassboro vs. Clayton-Woodstown South Jersey Group II Tournament Salem Tech-Barnegat vs. Mastery Camden-Haddon Heights TRACK NJSIAA Championships, Franklin HS
SATURDAY, MAY 30 TRACK NJSIAA Championships, Franklin HS
Schalick has game with Collingswood waved off leading in the fifth, two outs from making milestones by Watt, Hartley official; includes scores and highlights from Wednesday’s Salem County sports calendar
BASEBALL Wildwood Catholic 7, Salem Tech 5 Schalick at Collingswood, canceled
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
COLLINGSWOOD – Ricky Watt got his milestone hit – and then some – and Cole Hartley was working on a no-hitter, but the only thing winning Wednesday was the weather.
Watt collected his 100th career hit and hit two home runs to tie Schalick’s single-season home run record and Hartley was building a lifetime memory, but it all got wiped away as the Cougars had their game with Collingswood called in the fifth inning before becoming official because of the weather.
The Cougars were leading 5-0 and just two outs away from the game and all the milestones becoming official when play was halted due to lightning in the area. Once they got on the bus, the skies opened and the umpires called it a day.
“It was definitely a bummer for it to go out in the bottom of the fifth like that,” Watt said. “I can’t remember a high school game that got rained out in the middle of the game my whole career. I wasn’t aware of the ruling. I walked off the field and everybody was just telling me that nothing counted.”
“I was definitely a little annoyed,” said Hartley.
The Panthers had cause to beef, too. They were mounting a charge when play was halted, loading the bases with one out on an infield error and two walks.
Watt got what would have been his 100th career hit in his first at-bat, a sharp RBI single into left field that put the Cougars on top 1-0. He then hit solo homers to center in the third and fifth, giving him 10 for the season. That’s what would’ve been entered into the record had the game been official. Instead, with the washout, he’s still sitting on 99 hits and eight homers.
“That would’ve tied Luke (Pokrovsky) and all of his brothers for the single-season home run record,” Watt said. “That’s kind of what I was more excited for, to be honest, aside from the 100 hits. Not only did it suck for me but Cole was pitching such an awesome game.”
Hartley took a perfect game into the fifth inning, but lost the gem on an error leading off the fifth. He struck out the next batter, then, pitching into a gusting wind that signaled the approaching rain and “messed with” his breaking ball, he walked the next two. That’s where it ended.
He was part of a combined five-inning no-hitter with Jamari Whitley two years ago and a five-pitcher, five-inning no-hitter last year, but had never put one together by himself. He had thrown just 45 pitches through the first four innings with three strikeouts.
“I was dealing, I was on a roll,” Hartley said. “I had a goal of at least getting closer to my 100th strikeout (he had four, still needs 18). I was actually feeling like I might throw a perfect game today, or at least close to it, and I did.”
The Cougars don’t play again until Wednesday’s first round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs. As the No. 1 seed, they’ll play all their sectional playoff games at home, where it’s a bit more challenging to put one out.
SOFTBALL GLASSBORO 19, SALEM 3: Marissa Rode’s three-run double highlighted a nine-run third inning that broke the game open. Rode had three hits and six RBIs in the game. Phoenix Holland had two of Salem’s three hits. WOODSTOWN 9, ATLANTIC TECH 4: Woodstown’s Ellie Wygand ran her career hit total to 103 with three singles. The Wolverines broke a scoreless tie with three in the third inning on Kendall Young’s RBI single and Maddie LaPalomento’s two-run single and built their lead to 9-0. The Wolverines (16-8) have won seven in a row and 10 of their last 11. MIDDLE TWP. 4, SCHALICK 2: Sophia Brown’s two-run single highlighted a three-run fourth inning that gave the Panthers a 3-0 lead and they withstood Cougars comeback bid. Katie Creamer kept the Cougars off the board until the sixth and struck out 10. Alex Shimp had two hits for Schalick.
GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown at Nottingham, ppd. to Tuesday
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT Projected First-Round Pairings (16) New Egypt at (1) Haddonfield (9) Shore at (8) Point Pleasant Boro (12) Gateway at (5) Delaware Valley (13) Dayton at (4) Bernards (14) Middle Twp. at (3) New Providence (11) Lower Cape May at (6) Haddon Twp. (10) West Deptford at (7) Woodstown (15) Johnson at (2) Rumon-Fair Haven
Riverview Sports News 