Pennsville uses grit, luck to get past Glassboro; includes scores, details from Tuesday’s Salem County sports calendar
BASEBALL
Pennsville 4, Glassboro 1: Eagles take lead with four in fortuitous fifth inning; full story below..
Wildwood 12, Penns Grove 2: Trevor Troiano goes 4-for-4; Wildwood holds Penns Grove to one hit through five innings while opening 7-0 lead. Bristol Scott, Tim Zamorano drove in Penns Grove’s runs in sixth.
Piscataway Magnet 15, Salem Tech 7: NJTAC Group 1/2 Tournament semifinals. Chargers led early, but Piscataway (21-2) pulled away from a 9-7 game with six in home sixth..
SOFTBALL
Woodstown 11, Deptford 1: Karly Spears and Macie Moore combine for four hits, four runs and three RBIs from bottom of Wolverines’ lineup. Leah Clark allows two hits, none after the first inning, and struck out eight to surpass 200 in her career (201).
Millville 16, Pennsville 2: Thunderbolts put Eagles back on their heels with seven in top of the first inning. Pennsville’s Graillyn Weber ties Kylie Harris’ single-season school doubles record (15), Harris hits her 49th career double.
Buena 12, Salem Tech 11: Chiefs score three runs on passed balls in home seventh to walk it off. Izzy Roberts had three hits and Carmen Mott three RBIs for the Chargers
GOLF
Schalick 161, Cumberland 196: Schalick’s Anthony Sepers posts 2-over 38 at Centerton CC for medalist honors. Teammate Jaxson Weber shot 39.
GIRLS GOLF
OLMA 214, Schalick 225: OLMA’s Eva Acerba and Schalick’s Lena Virga shared medalist honors (48) at Centerton CC
TENNIS
Middle Twp. 5, Schalick 0: See below
Pennsville 4, Washington Twp. 1: See below
GIRLS LACROSSE
Holy Cross 13, Woodstown 12: The Lancers scored twice in the final 1:31 to win. Caroline Tobin and Brielle Mosteller scored six goals each for Holy Cross. Delaney Walker scored four (217) for Woodstown, Emma Morgan scored three for her 200th career point.
BOYS LACROSSE
Woodstown at Middle Twp.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at West Tech
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – At least one time every year Pennsville’s home field becomes a true advantage to play at home.
It certainly was Tuesday when the skin infield of Ed Rieger Field that the Eagles have come to love played a key role in the inning that propelled them to a 4-1 come-from-behind victory over Glassboro.
The game carried some serious implications for the South Jersey Group i playoff bracket and it very much played like a playoff game. The Eagles trailed 1-0 going to the home fifth of a tight pitching duel between aces Jude Dempster and Gavin Spears, but they came out of the inning with a 4-1 lead thanks in part of the subtleties of the infield.
The inning started when Spears reached on a one-out dropped third strike and escalated into a bases-loaded situation on Mason O’Brien’s single and Jeff Wagner getting hit by a pitch. Logan Streitz followed with a fly ball to the gap in left center that centerfielder Jimmy McMahon had in his glove and couldn’t hold allowing the tying run to score.
With the bases still loaded, Stevie Fatcher lofted a high pop behind first that was circled under by first baseman Aidan Evangelisti but eventually fell between three fielders. The Bulldogs thought it should have been an infield fly rule out, but the umpires didn’t see it that way and the Eagles had a 2-1 lead.
Then came the play that makes the skin infield both feared and famous. Grady Sanders hit a routine grounder to the right side. It looked like it would be the third out of the inning, but at the last instant it took a wicked hop into second baseman Kody Harrell’s upper body. The sophomore infielder recovered the ball, but in his haste to get the out his throw to first was wide and two insurance runs raced home.
“We’ve been talking a lot lately about just finding a way,” Eagles coach Matt Karr said. “Ugly, pretty, whatever, just find a way. And that starts with just putting the ball in play and doing your job. Heads up play there by Gavin. Instead of standing there feeling sorry for himself he finds his way on base. Everything we’ve been preaching this season and always here, just give the guy behind you a shot. Whatever your job is at the moment go to the plate and do it and trust that the guy behind you is gonna pick you up and finish it off.
“Another thing I talk about all the time is luck. I really believe that part of the baseball game is creating some of your own luck. Some of those things that happened that inning, we had to put ourselves in situations for it to be capitalized on. Could’ve been nobody on and that pop up happens and falls and doesn’t mean anything. but we had guys on and we were fighting, so we created our luck in that situation. When you’re facing a pitcher like (Dempster) you have to almost ugly it up a little bit, fight, claw and find a way.”
Spears calls it “scrappy baseball … that’s what we symbolize around here.”
A similar scenario took place here 51 weeks ago when the Eagles scored a one-run extra-inning victory over Pitman. They fell behind that day 1-0 in the first, tied it in the seventh on a ball that got away from the catcher and won in it the eighth with the help of two fielding errors by two normally sure-handed infielders.
“We’re becoming one of the far and few between fields where it’s a skin infield; I don’t know how many of them are left in South Jersey, I would guess not many,” Karr said. “Here, as dry as the weather’s been, this field hardens up and our guys get the luxury of practicing and playing on it every single day. We were watching them take I/O and I told the guys, half-heartedly joking, Ed Rieger’s hardening up, you know what that means. Put ‘er in play and see what happens. It always finds a way. We love the home-field advantage.”
“This field is probably the worst I’ve ever seen in my life,” Sanders said. “On this infield, there’s been many black eyes that I’ve seen; I got hit over the forehead last year. Especially over there (waving to the right side), that’s one of the hardest spots in the infield. It’s great to play here. This is the most challenging place to play. Everywhere else feels like a joy ride. I love playing here. It makes me a better defender. It makes everybody here a better defender.”
“Basically anything that’s hit hard on the ground (is) guaranteed a base hit here,” Spears said. “It’s not the best place to play but for us I’d say it is. Any team coming in here is going to have a hard time fielding the ball. We get to work out here every single day, so we’re kind of used to it. This is just our home.”
Once the Eagles grabbed the lead, Spears had to go out and defend it. He went out and gave them a shutdown sixth, working the corners to retire the Bulldogs on a soft liner to second and two strikeouts. He allowed five hits and struck out eight in going the distance for his longest outing of the season. The Bulldogs scored their run in the first inning – on back-to-back walks to open the game, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly – then were blanked the rest of the game.
“We went up to Cherry Hill West for the Diamond Classic and threw him out there against one of the top teams in the state and he went out and battled his butt off,” Karr said. “We told the boys after the game I don’t know if you guys knew that we needed an ace or had an ace, but you’ve got a guy. We know when 10 toes the rubber we’re going to have a shot to win. Every start he’s been on the mound we’ve been right there or we’ve won. Our guys feel that. When they’ve got their guy on the mound they come out feeling different that day. He gives us that shot in the arm.”
“I never really considered myself an ace; I always feel like there’s things to work on, even in this game,” Spears said. “It’s good to know they have trust in me. I know my fielders have my back. I know they’re going to make every play that’s out there.”
Dempster was equally impressive for the Bulldogs. He held the Eagles to four hits over five innings and struck out 11.
The win allowed the Eagles to switch places with Glassboro in the SJ Group I power points standings. Glassboro was sixth and Pennsville seventh to start the day, but they flipped after the game. Schalick is No. 1, Woodstown No. 3. The power point window closes after Saturday’s games.
| Glassboro | 100 | 000 | 0- | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| Pennsville | 000 | 040 | x- | 4 | 5 | 2 |
SJ GROUP 1 POWER POINTS STANDINGS
Top 16 through May 12
1. Schalick (14-6), 2. Haddon Twp. (12-8), 3. Woodstown (13-8), 4. Wildwood (15-7), 5. Maple Shade (11-8), 6. Pennsville (12-6), 7. Glassboro (9-11), 8. Audubon (8-9), 9. Buena (10-10), 10. Gateway (11-8), 11. Paulsboro (5-13), 12. Riverside (6-10), 13. Pitman (7-12), 14. LEAP (8-9), 15. Cape May Tech (5-12), 16. Palmyra (4-12).
On the bubble: Clayton (5-11), Burlington City (5-8), Penns Grove (3-13).
TENNIS
PENNSVILLE 4, WASHINGTON TWP. 1
William Minchin (WT) def. Sawyer Humphrey, 6-2, 6-3
Lucas Cooksey (P) def. Steven Pisano, 6-3, 6-4
Carter Willis (P) def. Aaron Negin, 6-1, 6-3
Coen Rinner-Jacob Cheeseman (P) def. Josh To-Leo Yang, 6-3, 6-3
Lucas Thomas-Matthew Forino (P) def. Ben Steinberg-Ravi Patel, 6-3, 6-3
Records: Pennsville 14-6, Washington Twp. 5-13.
MIDDLE TWP. 5, SCHALICK 0
Michael Ratchford (MT) def. Gabe McFeeley, 6-0, 6-2
Miles Stafford (MT) def. Reece Loatman, 6-0, 6-3
Michael Zuzulock (MT) def. Tyr Brattlie, 6-1, 6-2
Kenny Martin-Dante Duca (MT) def. Cooper Halperin-Jack Genievich, 6-2, 6-2
Dylan Jenkins-MJ Murnagham (MT) def. Angelo Boston-Gavin McGrath, 6-2, 6-0
Records: Middle Twp. 17-1, Schalick 7-10.
Riverview Sports News 