Best Foote forward

Woodstown wins SJ Group I tourney opener 1-0 behind Foote’s complete game, sets up quarterfinal rematch at Pennsville; Schalick scores shutout

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL
Tuesday’s first-round games
Audubon 12, Paulsboro 1
Buena 10, Palmyra 1
Maple Shade 12, Clayton 0
Pitman 5, Gateway 0
Pennsville 19, Salem 2
Woodstown 1, Haddon Twp. 0
Glassboro 4, Riverside 0
Schalick 9, Wildwood 0
Thursday’s Quarterfinals
Buena at Audubon
Maple Shade at Pitman
Woodstown at Pennsville, noon
Glassboro at Schalick

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Marc DeCastro admits he’s “pretty conservative” when it comes to the way he works his Woodstown pitchers during the regular season. They get enough pitches to get their work in and then that’s enough so to not burn them out for when they’re needed the most.

That’s the regular season. The playoffs are a different animal and require a different approach. If a pitcher needs to go long to keep the Wolverines in a game, he’s going to go long and hopefully that earlier conservative tact helps him through it.

DeCastro let Aaron Foote loose Tuesday afternoon and the senior right-hander delivered a brilliant complete game, outdueling Haddon Twp.’s Tyler DeCastro in a 1-0 victory that got the Wolverines through the first round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs and a Thursday noon rematch with Pennsville.

Foote went seven innings for only the second time in his career and threw a career-high 103 pitches. He gave up three hits, walked two and struck out one. It was Woodstown’s first playoff complete game since Ben Foote’s five-inning shutout of Cape May Tech in the 2022 opener and their first seven-inning complete game since Lucas Pendergast’s three-hit shutout of Penns Grove in the 2021 opener.

DeCastro, the Woodstown coach’s nephew, threw 113 pitches in six innings for the Hawks (8-18). He gave up four hits, walked or hit seven and struck out seven. He was coming off the 110-pitch limit in the first 6 2/3 innings of a combined no-hitter in his last start

“We’re pretty conservative in how much we let people throw and part of the reason for that is so that they aren’t worn down by the time they get to this point,” Woodstown’s DeCastro said. “If I stretched him to 100 (pitches) three other times that’s, what, 150 (extra) pitches, another game. Maybe he’s tired in the sixth inning as opposed to feeling relatively strong.

“In the regular season I really don’t push people. In the playoffs, you don’t worry so much about that. You make a decision based on what you’re looking at and what’s best as opposed to we’ve got a game in six days and I want to make sure he’s not throwing too much in this game or that game.

“Once you get to the playoffs everything you do in the regular season is out the window and you just try to do what you think there is to win a game. If that means he throws 100 pitches on that day, that’s the whole point of it.”

Going into the game, Foote had gone five innings or more just twice in six previous appearances this season and thrown at least 70 pitches only twice. His high-water marks were six innings in a 6-2 loss to Cinnaminson and 75 pitches over 4 2/3 innings in a 4-1 loss at Overbrook.

The only other time he’d gone seven innings in his career was last April against Glassboro (75 pitches). The most pitches he’d ever thrown in a game was 86 in a five-inning stint at Florence as a sophomore.

“As good as that was I would bet you Aaron would say he wasn’t as sharp as he has been when he’s let up four or five runs,” DeCastro said.

He was right, in a way.

“I wish the strike percentage was a little higher,” Foote said. “I got off to a little rough start, the adrenaline probably got to me, then I settled in. I wish the curveball was a little more accurate, but I was getting squeezed.”

DeCastro said Foote was “not in any situation” Tuesday where he was coming out for anything other than he needs to come out. He was close – one batter to reach his 110-pitch limit – and DeCastro did make a mound visit after the Hawks got a hit in the seventh, but he never got the hook. He was pretty efficient throughout largely by locating his fastball. He had 39 pitches through three innings, 82 through six. In contrast, the Hawks’ DeCastro threw 47 pitches through the first two innings and 99 through five.

“There aren’t very many people I don’t take out in the seventh inning with a guy on base and one out,” DeCastro said. “We had everyone available, we have everyone open, we had everybody ready to go there … so that shows the kind of trust and faith I have in him. If he’s going to get beat you’re going to beat him (because) he’s not going to beat himself.”

“I was begging to stay in,” Foote said. “When he started walking out I was saying ‘keep me in, keep me in’ … because I knew I could finish it.”

The only run of the game came in the first inning when Ty Coblentz doubled home leadoff man Caiden Spinelli, who was hit by a pitch and stole second. The Wolverines loaded the bases after they scored, but DeCastro wriggled out of it with a force at the plate and two strikeouts. They had bases-loaded with two outs in the fourth, too, but Coblentz popped out to end the inning.

The Wolverines (15-10) had 12 baserunners total, seven that got into scoring position, but managed only the one run, which increased the pressure on Foote to stay sharp. After the first inning, HT’s DeCastro faced only four batters over the minimum the rest of the game.

“When the only run came from the first inning and it’s the seventh I knew I had to do my job because we can’t rely on our offense that much,” Foote said. “We’re just not a hitting team. We have to rely on the defense to do all the work. I went out there knowing I had to do it.”

The family dynamic underscoring the game wasn’t lost on either DeCastro although both did a good job keeping that part of it in check. The same couldn’t be said for Tyler’s dad/Marc’s brother, who was a little too passionate about the proceedings and got sent to the parking lot by the plate umpire in the late innings.

For his part, Tyler said he focused on keeping the day as routine as possible.

“Of course there were nerves, it was a playoff game,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s the same game no matter who the opponent is, who the other coach is, what the predicament is. You have to go out and compete

Uncle Marc, meanwhile, said he purposely didn’t have contact with his nephew in the run-up to the game, but he did have a brief message when they met in the handshake line.

“The uncle part of me wanted to tell him good luck but the right thing to do was let him be in whatever mindset he was gonna be in and any contact from me could have altered that,” he said. “He deserved to go out there and pretend I didn’t exist, so I wasn’t going to do any of that.

“I told him in the line I couldn’t be any more proud of him. If you said you were going to win this game 1-0 (and) Tyler’s going to throw six innings I would be really happy because it meant we got what we wanted and he didn’t do anything wrong, which is exactly what happened.”

And should make for some interesting conversation the next time they all get together.

“It’s going to be something to talk about at the dinner table,” Tyler said. “I know all my uncles, my dad, they love talking about baseball. I know this game is going to be great for them to talk about.”

PENNSVILLE 19, SALEM 2: The Eagles’ fifth straight home win served a dual purpose: It got them through to the second round of the tournament and clinched their fourth straight TCC Classic Division title and first outright since 2023.

All 18 players on the roster got a plate appearance and 15 reached base. They jumped out with six in the first inning and broke it open with 11 in the second. Three pitchers combined for a two-hitter.

“Great team effort today,” Eagles coach Matt Karr said. “It’s always a goal to win the division and today was our fourth straight and nice that it was an outright title this year. It’s also cool to be able to get all 18 varsity guys an at bat in it, too.”

Starting pitcher Cohen Petrutz and Jeff Wagner both went 2-for-2 and had four RBIs for Pennsville. Connor Starn and Luke Wood both had two RBIs and Mason O’Brien had two hits. Andrew May homered for Salem in the fifth inning.

The Eagles (15-8) now host county rival Woodstown in the quarterfinals Thursday at noon. The early start time accommodates Woodstown’s prom later that evening.

“The magic number is now five,” Karr said. “Anything good or bad that has happened means nothing. Right now our focus is on Woodstown Thursday afternoon.”

SCHALICK 9, WILDWOOD 0: Three pitchers combined on a one-hitter and the second-seeded Cougars had enough offense to coast to an opening-round victory and match the most wins by a Sean O’Brien-coached Schalick team.

Luke Pokrovsky went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. His two-run double in the fifth closed the scoring and was his school-record tying 28^th of his career. Lucas D’Agostino, Enrico Hatz and Eli Cummings all had two hits.

Jamari Whitley, D’Agostino and Cole Hartley combined on the one-hitter. They took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

The Cougars (19-2) now host Glassboro in the quarterfinals Thursday. O’Brien’s 2021 Schalick team went 19-5.

This week’s schedule

Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of May 27-31; some times TBA

MAY 27
BASEBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Paulsboro at Audubon, 4 p.m.
Buena at Palmyra, 4 p.m.
Clayton at Maple Shade, 3:45 p.m.
Gateway at Pitman, 4 p.m.
Salem at Pennsville, 4 p.m.
Haddon Twp. at Woodstown, 3 p.m.
Glassboro at Riverside, 3 p.m.
Wildwood at Schalick, 4 p.m.
Regular season
Penns Grove at Pleasantville
SOFTBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Wildwood at Pennsville, 2 p.m.
Palmyra at Schalick, 3 p.m.
Glassboro at Woodstown, 4 p.m.
Regular season
Overbrook at Penns Grove
TENNIS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Gateway at Haddon Twp., 4 p.m.
Schalick at Woodstown, 3 p.m.
Palmyra at West Deptford, 4 p.m.
Audubon at Pennsville, 3 p.m.
GOLF
Tri-County Conference Showcase, Pitman GC

MAY 28
BASEBALL
Regular season
Penns Grove at Overbrook
SOFTBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Paulsboro at Audubon, 4 p.m.
Riverside at Cape May Tech, 4 p.m.
LEAP at Haddon Twp., 4 p.m.
Buena at Maple Shade, 3:45 p.m.
Clayton at Pitman, 4 p.m.
BOYS LACROSSE
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Woodstown at Bernards, 4:30 p.m.
GIRLS LACROSSE
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
Lower Cape May at Woodstown, 4:30 p.m.
TENNIS
Pennsville at Clayton
Penns Grove at Schalick

MAY 29
BASEBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
(Games at higher seed)
Buena at Audubon
Maple Shade at Pitman
Woodstown at Pennsville, noon
Glassboro at Schalick
TENNIS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
(Matches at higher seed)
Woodstown at Haddon Twp.
West Deptford at Pennsville

MAY 30
SOFTBALL
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
(Games at higher seed)
Salem-Audubon winner vs. Riverside-Cape May Tech winner
Schalick at Woodstown
LEAP-Haddon Twp. winner vs. Buena-Maple Shade winner
Clayton-Pitman winner vs. Pennsville
TRACK
NJSIAA Group I Championships

MAY 31
TRACK
NJSIAA Group I Championships

Sectional shakeout

All 4 Salem County teams in South Jersey Group I baseball field on same side of the bracket; 4 county teams make softball field; Audubon grabs both No. 1s over Schalick, Pennsville

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL PAIRINGS
First-round games, May 27
No. 16 Paulsboro (3-18) at No. 1 Audubon (17-7)
No. 9 Buena (13-11) at No. 8 Palmyra (11-9), 4 p.m.
No. 12 Clayton (8-12) at No. 5 Maple Shade (11-9), 3:45 p.m.
No. 13 Gateway (7-14) at No. 4 Pitman (15-8), 4 p.m.
No. 14 Salem (7-12) at No. 3 Pennsville (14-7)
No. 11 Haddon Twp. (8-16) at No. 6 Woodstown (14-10)
No. 10 Glassboro (10-11) at No. 7 Riverside (10-11), 3 p.m.
No. 15 Wildwood (10-12) at No. 2 Schalick (18-2), 4 p.m.

SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I SOFTBALL PAIRINGS
First-round games, May 28
No. 16 Salem (2-14) at No. 1 Audubon (15-7)
No. 9 Riverside (13-5) at No. 8 Cape May Tech (14-7)
No. 12 Palmyra (7-11) at No. 5 Schalick (13-4)
No. 13 Glassboro (7-10) at No. 4 Woodstown (12-7), 2 p.m.
No. 14 LEAP (10-5) at No. 3 Haddon Twp. (14-8)
No. 11 Buena (5-18) at No. 6 Maple Shade (11-8)
No. 10 Clayton (8-11) at No. 7 Pitman (10-8)
No. 15 Wildwood (5-12) at No. 2 Pennsville (19-4)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Beth Jackson had a feeling all along it was going to turn out this way.

Many of the players on Jackson’s Pennsville softball team came away from their big win over Delsea Wednesday night believing they could be the No. 1 seed in the South Jersey Group I tournament when the pairings were released the next day, but the coach didn’t share the feeling.

It wasn’t because she didn’t believe in her team, she just knows the way of the world.

When the pairings were presented shortly after lunch Thursday Jackson’s suspicions were realized. The Eagles were installed as the No. 2 seed in the bracket behind Audubon despite being the winningest team in the section and having almost half as many losses as the Green Wave and fewer than 14 of the other 15 teams in the field.

Additionally, the Eagles (18-4) are 9-4 against teams that currently own winning records while the top-seeded Green Wave (15-7) are 7-5 against teams with current winning records and 3-2 against those sitting at .500.

“I already had in my mind it was going to be that way because I’ve never seen it change from the power points,” Jackson said on her way to practice Thursday afternoon. “I’m sure (the players) are disappointed, I am a little too, but it is what it is.”

The seedings followed the power points table down the line, so in a sense the Eagles were a victim of the Tri-County Classic Division schedule they had to play and dominate. Audubon’s Colonial Conference Liberty Division has five tournament qualifiers (four in Group II), all among their field’s top 10 seeds and four among the top five. The brackets become official at noon Friday.

Woodstown (No. 4), Schalick (No. 5) and Salem (No. 16) also are in the softball field and all on the Audubon side of the bracket. If Woodstown and Schalick win their tournament openers Wednesday they would meet in the second round at Woodstown.

“Every bracket I have ever seen that’s based on the power points, that’s what it is and nothing changes from there,” Jackson said. “It stays on power points and that’s that.

“I think maybe there should be multiples, like a rubric kind of thing, to do the seedings, to look at other things. It would be nice to have multiple points looking at your seeding. Their argument may be you have three different categories to weight those power points, so that may be their response if somebody were to ask.”

Asked if the perceived snub will now serve as a source of motivation for her team, Jackson said she’d talk about to get a gauge on where her players stand. But she was quick to point out there’s a lot more tangible motivation surrounding the tournament.

“I think we’ll talk about it and what it means to them,” she said. “I also think being up at the top puts, I don’t want say a target on your back, but even at 2 where we are now everybody’s looking to knock everybody off. Frankly, at the end of the day everybody is 0-0 and if you lose you go home. That right there is motivation. You lose, you go home. There is no tomorrow.”

Four Salem County teams also made it into the South Jersey Group I baseball tournament and they’re all on the same side of the bracket.

Schalick, the winningest team in SJG1 and second in the section power points standings, pulled down the No. 2 seed behind Audubon. Pennsville is the 3 seed, Woodstown the 6 and Salem the 14. The first-round games are Tuesday.

“We are happy the first three rounds we will host if we play the way we are capable of playing,” Schalick coach Sean O’Brien said. “There are a lot of good teams in South Jersey Group I and we are excited to get started.”

“Works for us,” Pennsville coach Matt Karr said.

There is some familiarity in the first-round draws. Pennsville and Salem are TCC Classic Division rivals and are scheduled to play for the second time this season Friday with the Eagles clinching the outright division title in the balance.

Speaking of rematches, a potential second-round matchup could find Pennsville hosting Woodstown. They played earlier this year, with Pennsville winning 10-0. The Wolverines knocked Pennsville out of the playoffs last year in the quarterfinals.

“It’s not often you get a shot a redemption,” Karr said. “I know Woodstown isn’t the same team (as last year) but we basically are – only losing one senior from last year. I’m sure my guys would love to be able to run it back against Woodstown in Round 2 at our place.”

Baseball projections

Here are the projected opening-round matchups for the South Jersey Group I baseball playoffs based on Wednesday’s cutoff power points standings.

PROJECTED PAIRINGS
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I BASEBALL
(Based on May 21 power points)
No. 16 Paulsboro (3-18, 9.036) at No. 1 Audubon (17-7, 25.253)
No. 9 Buena (13-11, 15.737) at No. 8 Palmyra (11-9, 16.457)
No. 12 Clayton (8-12, 13.363) at No. 5 Maple Shade (11-9, 18.072)
No. 13 Gateway (7-14, 12.239) at No. 4 Pitman (15-8, 19.256)
No. 14 Salem (7-12, 11.884) at No. 3 Pennsville (14-7, 21.804)
No. 11 Haddon Twp. (8-16, 13.562) at No. 6 Woodstown (14-10, 17.964)
No. 10 Glassboro (10-11, 14.918) at No. 7 Riverside (10-11, 17.797)
No. 15 Wildwood (10-12, 10.929) at No. 2 Schalick (18-2, 24.223)

Rockin’ their world

Hitters take advantage of big ballpark, Starn sharp on the mound and Pennsville writes off Tome at Frawley Stadium

TUESDAY BASEBALL
Pennsville 11, Tome School 1
Schalick 5, Ocean City 2
Woodstown 4, Deptford 1

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WILMINGTON, Del. – As a centerfielder, Chase Burchfield knows all too well the pleasures and pitfalls of playing the outfield gaps. When he walked into Frawley Stadium for the first time Tuesday and saw all that space in its outfield, he couldn’t help but be excited.

As a fielder with experience playing in cavernous places like Citizens Bank Park, the Pennsville senior knew he has the range to flag down balls hit on either side of him. As a hitter he saw the chance to run a long way if he made good contact.

Burchfield drilled two triples into the abyss among his three extra-base hits in the game and one of three the Eagles crushed in the second inning to take control of an eventual 11-1 win over The Tome School of Maryland in an experience coach Matt Karr said made them feel like big leaguers.

“The gaps were looking big tonight, I’m not going to lie,” Burchfield said. “I know I have the power to put it over their heads. My first at bat I grounded out to first and I saw the outfielders were all playing too shallow and I was like I’ll just put it over their head.

“I hadn’t been hitting too big the last couple games but I found that barrel, got it over their heads and my next at bat I slapped another one to the gap. I knew as soon as it gets in the gap I can just keep running and running.”

Burchfield’s first triple came in the second inning shortly after Logan Streitz and Luke Wood went back-to-back on consecutive first-pitch swings against Tome starter Blaine Pendergraft. The triples drove in the three runs that gave the Eagles (14-7) a 5-0 lead.

Their five runs in the first two innings were more than the stadium’s regular tenants, the High-A Wilmington Blue Rocks, scored in 11 of the 12 games of their just completed homestand.

“Luke, Chase, Streitz that inning absolutely unloaded on those baseballs,” Karr said. “That was probably three of the better swings for those three out of the whole season.

“Chase got to third base and I just looked and he snickered and said ‘I got that one.’ I said, ‘You think?’”

The triples by Burchfield, Streitz and Wood were all to centerfield. Cohen Petrutz hit one past the first baseman into the rightfield corner in the first inning. Petrutz chased home Peyton O’Brien after Burchfield knocked in the first run of the game with a sharp grounder to first.

“It was good for them to come up there and have a good at-bat, especially in the park, the environment,” Karr said. “I asked the kids in the first inning, when Cohen got over to third, I asked him if they were having trouble with the depth perception of such a big outfield. He like no, it’s pretty good.

“His big thing was he could hear more of what I thought I could. Behind me in the stands I just hear like a thousand little conversations, which is different than playing a high school game.”

**Mason O’Brien pulls into second base with a leadoff double that started a parade of extra-base hits in Pennsville’s three-run second inning. (Photo by Payton Cook)**

While the Pennsville hitters were enjoying the benefits of a big ballpark, Connor Starn was filling the zone from the mound and keeping the Titans in check.

Starn pitched the first five innings allowing one run and two hits, walking one and striking out a career-high nine. The senior righthander struck out the side twice – in order in the fourth on 13 pitches – and faced four batters over the minimum. Mason O’Brien pitched the sixth and struck out the side in order.

“It was a great experience,” Starn said. “It’s fun you get to go out there and the mound isn’t falling apart, which is rare to find in South Jersey, so that was fun.

“It’s good to go out there and execute pitches. It’s always fun when you can hit your spot and you know where the ball is going to go for the most part. The first inning was probably my favorite just getting them down. It gave me a lot of confidence here.”

Karr isn’t opposed to bringing the Eagles across the bridge to play a game here every year. “I’m totally cool with it,” he said.

SCHALICK 5, OCEAN CITY 2: The Cougars (18-2) bounced back from their loss at Pennsville with a win on the road. Luke Pokrovsky struck out eight over the first innings and also had an RBI single in the four-run fifth that gave them the lead. Jamari Whitley capped the Cougars’ big inning with a two-run double and shut the door in the seventh with two strikeouts.

WOODSTOWN 4, DEPTFORD 1: Dante Holmes’ two-run bases-loaded double in the sixth gave the Wolverines (14-10) some breathing room. Caiden Spinelli had two hits and Rocco String and Michael Valente pitched 3 1/3 innings of two-hit shutout relief behind Walker Battavio.

Connor Starn gave Pennsville five strong innings, allowing two hits, one run and striking out a career-high nine. Top photo: Chase Burchfield connects on one of his three extra-base hits in the game. (Photos by Payton Cook)

Confidence booster

Pennsville hands Schalick just its second loss of the season in potential playoff preview; Woodstown walked off in 11th

MONDAY BASEBALL
Clayton 12, Penns Grove 3
Glassboro 11, Salem 1
Pennsville 8, Schalick 2
Pitman 6, Woodstown 5 (11 inns.)

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – The folks at the very top on the inside of the Pennsville baseball team talked about the Eagles’ 8-2 win over Schalick Monday just like it was another game when everyone on their side of the ballpark knew it was so much more than that.

The Eagles (13-7) celebrated Senior Day with a win over one of the best teams in South Jersey Group I, maybe even the state, that could serve as a message for a bigger matchup down the road.

They overcame a leadoff home run by the best player in the county and bunched their eight runs into three late innings to hand the Cougars (17-2) only their second loss of the season and one that didn’t come against a rushed schedule.

The way the South Jersey Group I power points are tracking, the teams are likely to finish 2 and 3, setting up a potential sectional semifinal rematch.

“It was a good baseball game, it was a good springboard for us heading to the playoffs,” Eagles coach Matt Karr said. “No message sent today other than Pennsville played a good baseball game at 4 o’clock on Monday May 19 and if we are lucky enough to run into each other again this game and that microcosm will mean absolutely nothing. At the end of the day, when we get to May 27 everybody’s 0-0 and it’s a brand new season.”

The Eagles are now 4-0 against county rivals this year and have won 18 straight regular-season games against in-county competition (the only setback in the run was last year’s playoff loss to Woodstown). This year’s senior group, which includes the five-man heart of the batting order, is now 67-31 in their careers and has taken four in a row from the Cougars since losing the first game of a home-and-home series in 2022.

The loss snapped Schalick’s seven-game winning streak. The Cougars’ other loss came to Haddonfield in the opening round of the Diamond Classic in a game that started less than 12 hours after their five most veteran players got back home from their senior class trip and ended 30 minutes before the prom. Coach Sean O’Brien chalked up latest loss to a bad day.

“You play 18 games you’re bound to have a bad against a good team,” he said. “A bad game against a mediocre team you can recover from, against a good team (it’s tough). It’s one of those games you’ve got to leave behind. It happens.”

The game couldn’t have started better for the Cougars. Leadoff hitter Luke Pokrovsky, the player many hoped would pitch, opened the game with his 21st career homer. It was his fifth homer in five games and the third straight game he’s gone yard.

The next two hitters also singled, but after that they didn’t get another hit off Pennsville starter Cohen Petrutz until Eli Cummings singled leading off the seventh.

“Cohen’s been battling through some stuff; today, it was awesome for him,” Karr said. “I don’t like to throw words around loosely so I won’t use the word domination. Cohen Petrutz was in absolute control of that game from the second batter on.

“Today was a reminder that he can beat anybody on any given day, which just makes us even more dangerous going to the playoffs to have two top-tier left-handed pitchers. I know they didn’t throw Pokrovsky, but they batted their lineup they would bat in a playoff game and Cohen held them in check.”

“I think I did all right,” Petrutz said. “I was feeling good. I’ve been having arm pain the past couple outings but today I felt really great. Ready to go the whole time, had trust in my infield, didn’t have to strike everybody out today. I just felt really good.”

For the second straight game the play of the game was delivered by Jake Layfield. The sophomore shortstop snared Ricky Watt’s screaming liner with two runners in scoring position for the final out of the fourth to keep it a 1-0 game.

“He doesn’t do anything flashy, but he just seems to always make the play,” Karr said. “He doesn’t look like your typical shortstop you see on some of these elite teams but when push comes to shove Jake will be there to make the play.”

The Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Stevie Fatcher hit a two-out, two-strike, two-run double to center to put them ahead 2-1 and he rode home on Mason O’Brien’s triple to right.

“He got me chasing high for the first two and I was just thinking got to get it in play,” Fatcher said. “Then he lifted one right down the middle and I took it and hit it.

“This is one we marked on the calendar that we wanted. Coming into school today all I could think about was this game, wanting to win. I kind of wanted to show them a little bit. We did. We came in there and produced. It’s a lot of fun when you win games like that against those teams you’re going to see.”

The Eagles added two more in the fifth on Chase Burchfield’s RBI double and Petrutz’ run-scoring single to get starter Lucas D’Agostino out of the game, then tacked on three more in the sixth on four walks and Jeff Wagner’s two-run single.

The Cougars threatened in the seventh. Petrutz was going to get all 110 pitches he was promised and started the inning but gave up a single and two walks and came out. Gavin Spears put out the fire with a sacrifice fly by Evan Sepers and two strikeouts.

PITMAN 6, WOODSTOWN 5: Drew Keefe’s two-out single to right field on a payoff pitch – his fourth hit of the game – walked it off for the Panthers in the 11^th inning.

The Wolverines took a 5-4 lead in the top of the ninth on Ty Coblentz’ two-out double but Pitman extended the game on Aidan Stranahan’s two-out RBI single in the home half. Stranahan also homered in the game.

Caiden Spinelli had three hits for the Wolverines, while Coblentz and Chase Harding each had two. Rocco String had an RBI single in the fifth and walked five times – four intentionally.

CLAYTON 12, PENNS GROVE 3: Christian Thibault went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and David Chapes had three hits to lead the Clippers. Elijah Crespo (2×2, walk, HBP) and Alex Paz (3×3, walk) both had perfect days at the plate for Penns Grove.

GLASSBORO 11, SALEM 1: Aidan Evengelisti and Colin Riley both had two hits, Gavin Dillard and Ryan Newell both drove in two runs and two Glassboro pitchers combined to hold the Rams to four hits. Bryce Harris drove in Salem’s run in the sixth inning.

This week’s schedule

Here is this week’s Salem County sports schedule for the week of May 19-24; events start at 4 p.m. unless noted

MAY 19
BASEBALL
Glassboro at Salem
Penns Grove at Clayton
Schalick at Pennsville
Woodstown at Pitman
SOFTBALL
Clayton at Penns Grove
Pitman at Woodstown
Salem at Pennsville
GOLF
Salem/Cumberland County Tournament, Centerton CC, 8 a.m.
Schalick girls vs. Delsea, Centerton CC, 3:30 p.m.
TENNIS
Pennsville at Wildwood, 3:45 p.m.
Pitman at Schalick
Woodstown at Cumberland, 3:45 p.m.
LACROSSE
Williamstown at Woodstown, 6:15 p.m.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Triton at Woodstown
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at LEAP

MAY 20
BASEBALL
Pennsville vs. Tome School (Md.), Frawley Stadium, 7 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Clayton at Salem
Pennsville at Schalick
Woodstown at Wildwood
GOLF
Schalick vs. Pitman, Pitman GC, 3:30 p.m.
Schalick girls vs. Washington Twp., The Birches, 3:30 p.m.
TENNIS
Pennsville at Penns Grove, 3:30 p.m.
Woodstown at Delsea, 3:45 p.m.

MAY 21
BASEBALL
Penns Grove at Overbrook
Pennsville at Salem
SOFTBALL
Delsea at Pennsville
Palmyra at Schalick
GOLF
Schalick girls vs. Kingsway, River Winds, 3:30 p.m.
TENNIS
South Jersey Group I Tournament
GIRLS LACROSSE
Millville at Woodstown
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Clearview

MAY 22
BASEBALL
Collingswood at Schalick
Penns Grove at Pleasantville
Pennsville at Triton
Woodstown at Cedar Creek
SOFTBALL
Clearview at Pennsville
Schalick at OLMA
Woodstown at Ocean City
TENNIS
Pennsville at Cumberland, 3:45 p.m.
Schalick at Wildwood, 4:15 p.m.
LACROSSE
West Deptford at Woodstown
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Triton

MAY 23
BASEBALL
Salem at Camden Academy Charter
GIRLS LACROSSE
Woodstown at Williamstown, 3 p.m.

Playoff projections

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

Style to dye for

Pennsville uses late rally to take down Lenape, play reminds coach they’re buying into ideals he’s preaching

SATURDAY BASEBALL
Pennsville 5, Lenape 4
Schalick 24, Paulsboro 1
Delran 6, Woodstown 4

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

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.

Swept out

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	100 01-	2	6	5
Brookdale	202 35-	12	11	1

WP: Tyler Mendez. LP: Jared Vandersteur. HR: Gary John Perone (B)

Salem	000 00-	0	1	2
RCSJ-Gloucester	480 4x-	16	13	0

WP: Landon Edwards. LP: Seth McCormick.