Race to the finish

Mighty Oaks show grit, but drop wild one with Northampton, still looking to clinch a home series in opening round of playoffs

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – A little more than a week ago Salem CC baseball coach John Holt was pretty confident about the Mighty Oaks hosting a Region 19 playoff series for the first time since they brought the program back. Now, heading into the final series of the season this weekend, he’s a little less sure.

The Mighty Oaks are in the playoffs, but whether they play at The Treehouse in the opening round or go on the road to open post-season play won’t be determined until the weekend after they lost a wild 16-12 runniest to Northampton Wednesday.

The loss eliminated the Mighty Oaks (23-22, 17-11) from being able to finish third, but with one or more wins over Ocean (8-26) this weekend and one Middlesex loss to Bergen (7-31) they will clinch fourth. If Middlesex (27-17, 15-12) sweeps, Salem will have to win two.

The loss also means the earliest Holt can claim his 400th career coaching win is Monday in the Mighty Oaks’ regular-season finale at Atlantic Cape.

“We can’t take anything for granted right now,” Holt said. “Middlesex is going into a Bergen series (and) Bergen is kind of down this year. I think it’s going to come down to us continuing to prove that we belong there. We’ve got to grind and go get it. We’ll see what happens. We’ve just got to find a way.”

Playing with a makeshift lineup and an even more makeshift pitching plan, the Mighty Oaks showed more fight against the Spartans (20-18, 14-13) than they have in recent games. They rallied from deficits to one (twice), two (twice), four and six to tie the game in the seventh inning. They just didn’t have one more rally in them in the ninth inning after the Spartans put four more on them in the top of the inning.

“Compared to the way the games have gone the last two weeks I feel like this is the first time we’ve actually clawed back and fought,” second baseman Tim Bowlby said. “I like that out of us. Obviously we’re not happy with the results, but I’m happy with how the guys came out and fought.”

The Mighty Oaks trailed 1-0, 2-1. 6-4, 8-4, 8-6 and 12-6, but tied the game with runs six in the seventh inning. They also were tied 1-1 and 4-4 and led 4-2 in the third.

“They showed heart today,” Holt said. “We showed some heart. We haven’t played like that in a little bit. I hate losing more than I like winning, but at the end of the day we have to look for the positives where we can find them and they competed most of the day. We had a talk after the Camden game and the big point of that was we wanted them to compete harder and grind harder and they did that today. And they needed to. It’s a step.”

Singles by Tyler Hacker and Chris Kelly and Hunter Cohen’s groundout drove home the first three runs of the seventh-inning rally, Joe Fekete scored on a wild pitch to make it 12-10 and the two tying runs scored when Tim Bowlby’s bouncer up the middle went through shortstop John Pushkar.

Pushkar’s vision and focus likely were disrupted by Jones racing past to avoid being hit by the batted ball.

“In those situations you can’t make the moment too big,” Bowlby said. “It’s kind of like what we’ve all been saying: We don’t need a hero. I was just trying to put the ball in play and it worked out for us.”

The Mighty Oaks were missing two of top four hitters in their lineup and only three starters were batting in their usual spot in the order. Even starting pitcher Jared Vandersteur was uncertain about 30 minutes before game time. Cleanup hitter Matt Murphy, their top RBI producer, was serving a one-game suspension for his home-plate collision Monday night and 2-hole hitter and leftfielder Yen Rodriguez was out with a wrist injury.

The Mighty Oaks used seven pitchers. The most effective was seldom-used Brady Sweeney who gave them a shutdown inning in the eighth after the offense tied the game with six runs in the seventh.

Sweeney was making only his fourth appearances of the season, first since April 14 and second since March 11. The lean freshman righthander from Springfield, Pa., faced four batters at the bottom of Northampton’s lineup, threw 15 pitches and walked one. He dropped his ERA from 11.57 to 8.18.

“I didn’t know who was even going in to start the inning; it was me and Nando (Fernando Rodney Jr.) warming up down there,” Sweeney said. “Once he called my name for a second I got all nervous, but once I got on the mound and looked around for a second, I was like, all right, it’s time to go. First pitch, the dude popped it up so after that I was good to go.

“I had something to prove this game. Proving that I could be here.”

Catcher Kyle Stoner led the Spartans’ 16-hit attack with five hits (three doubles) and six RBIs. He had a three-run double off an 0-2 pitch from Jon Gambone in seventh inning to make it 12-6 and an RBI single in the ninth that broke the 12-12 tie. Cody Miller hit a bizarre three-run homer in the sixth when he lifted a fly ball to left that hopped out of Will Jones’ glove and over the wall after the leftfielder hit the fence.

Stoner was 1-for-11 in his previous five games before breaking out against the Mighty Oaks.

“I came into this game knowing that this team needed a fire,” he said. “I know I’ve been struggling a little bit and I just thought going into today I’ve just got to realize it’s a game and I’ve got to have some fun.

“I feel like a lot of the guys on our team, kind of like me lately, aren’t taking it as a game and taking it a little too seriously and I wanted to set an example to make sure everyone knows it’s still a game and have fun. That’s when we’re best, when we’re out there and playing the game we love instead of thinking about it too much.”

Northampton	101 024 404-	16	17	2
Salem	103 002 600-	12	8	0

WP: Brad Rissmiller. LP: Alex Newman. 2B: Kyle Stone 3 (N), Cody Miller (N), Jack Smale (N), Pete Hrousis (N), Angel Velez (S), Joe Fekete (S) HRs: Cody Miller (N), Chris Kelley (S)

REGION 19 PLAYOFF RACE	ALL	REG
RCSJ-Gloucester	41-4	27-0
Brookdale	33-8	24-6
RCSJ-Cumberland	29-12	21-7
Salem CC	23-22	17-11
Camden	25-14	17-13
Middlesex	27-17	15-12
Northampton	20-18	14-13
Montgomery	12-16	11-16

WEEKEND SERIES
Salem vs. Ocean
RCSJ-Gloucester vs. RCSJ-Cumberland
Middlesex vs. Bergen
Montgomery vs. Delaware County
Northampton vs. Union
Morris vs. Brookdale
Camden vs. Atlantic Cape

Dreadful defeat

Mistake-prone Mighty Oaks lack fight in loss to Camden, but still in position to get a home playoff series

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Chip Chapman didn’t really feel like talking after the game. Nobody did. Actually, there really wasn’t much to say.

Chapman ran the team Monday night with Salem CC head coach John Holt serving a one-game suspension following Saturday’s ejection and what he endured was one of the Mighty Oaks’ most dreadful defeats of the year.

They fell to Camden CC 19-8 in a game they were never really in or into. They scored enough to runs to win most games, but just made too many mistakes on the bases and in the field for it to matter.

And this was just hours after receiving votes in the JUCO Division III baseball poll for the second week in a row.

“We just didn’t fight. We didn’t come out to play,” Chapman said. “They were more prepared than we were today.”

The Mighty Oaks gave up four runs in the first inning and fell behind 9-1 in the third. They lost one run in the second inning when Matt Murphy was thrown out and ejected on a home-plate collision and another when Tyler Hacker didn’t get to the plate before Ben Charbonneau was thrown out at third tagging up on Chris Kelly’s fly to right.

And that was before things got really bad. The Mighty Oaks were charged with a season-high nine errors in the game by independent scoring, six in a forgettable fourth inning that ran the score to 13-4. Holt couldn’t be on site during his suspension and was said to be watching the live stream of the game from his office. No one would have blamed him if he turned it off at that point.

He declined to comment when reached after the game.

The Cougars took the game into run-rule territory with a six-run sixth.

The loss may have been more costly to the Mighty Oaks than they know. It wasn’t immediately known how long Murphy will be suspended following his ejection. Salem CC softball second baseman Jocelyn Melendez was suspended four games for her home-plate collision in their April 5 home doubleheader with Mercer. The length of the suspension will be determined by the severity and intent of the hit.

Murphy got caught in a pickle between third and home by Camden starter Garrett Gordy and ran through catcher Kyle Leiser who was standing at the plate with the ball. Leiser suffered a bloody nose, was evaluated for a concussion and came out of the game.

A four-game suspension would leave the Mighty Oaks without their clean-up hitter and top RBI producer through the weekend. In that scenario he would be eligible to return for the Mighty Oaks’ regular-season finale at Atlantic Cape May 5.

Despite the loss, the Mighty Oaks (23-22, 17-10) held onto fourth place in the Region 19 Division III standings, but are tied with Camden (25-14, 17-13) in the win column and have four region games remaining – Northampton Wednesday and three with Ocean.

With one win and one Middlesex loss, they will clinch fourth place and a projected first-round home series in the playoffs. If they win all four and RCSJ-Cumberland gets swept by No. 1 RCSJ-Gloucester, they’ll be third.

“Hopefully ithis game) just fuels the fire, gives us something to play for the next couple days; gets us in there, gets us where we want to be,” Chapman said.

ACRONS: Chapman had been given the reins one time before, as a high school assistant at Olney Charter. He won that game … The Mighty Oaks had two games of seven errors last year … Ian Monteith hit a two-run homer for Camden in the second inning and leftfielder Tyler Gavura pulled a two-run homer back from Hacker in the fifth inning … Yen Rodriguez moved within six hits of 100 for his career with his third-inning RBI single … Tim Bowlby reached base all four times he batted for Salem … The Mighty Oaks used six pitchers in the seven-inning game.

Photo: Camden CC catcher Kyle Leiser braces for impact as he’s about to collide with Salem CC sophomore Matt Murphy in the second inning. (Screenshot of Salem CC live stream)

Camden	423 406 0-	19	11	3
Salem	013 100 3-	8	9	9

WP: Garrett Gordy. LP: Pat Seitzinger. HRs: Ian Monteith (CA),

This week’s schedule

Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of April 28-May 3; events start at 4 p.m. unless noted

APRIL 28
BASEBALL
Penns Grove at Paulsboro
LEAP at Salem
SOFTBALL
Paulsboro at Penns Grove
Salem at Gloucester Catholic
GOLF
Schalick vs. Overbrook, Kresson GC, 3:30 p.m.
Woodstown vs. Cumberland, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m.
TENNIS
Penns Grove at Glassboro
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at Timber Creek, 3:45 p.m.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Camden at Salem CC, 6 p.m.

APRIL 29
SOFTBALL
Schalick at Gateway
GOLF
Schalick vs. Pennsville, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m.
TENNIS
Wildwood at Penns Grove
TRACK
Glassboro at Schalick, 3:45 p.m.

APRIL 30
BASEBALL
Overbrook at Salem
Penns Grove at Pitman
SOFTBALL
Salem at Overbrook
GOLF
Schalick girls vs. Cumberland, Centerton CC, 3:30 p.m.
TENNIS
Glassboro at Schalick
Woodstown at Penns Grove
TRACK
Pennsville at Overbrook
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Northampton at Salem CC, 3:30 p.m.

MAY 1
BASEBALL
Penns Grove at Bridgeton
Wildwood at Salem
Diamond Classic
Haddonfield at Schalick, 3 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Penns Grove at Lindenwold
Salem at Wildwood
GOLF
Carl Arena Tournament
TRACK
SJTCA at Delsea, 5 p.m.

MAY 2
BASEBALL
LEAP at Penns Grove
SOFTBALL
Penns Grove at LEAP
TENNIS
Penns Grove at Wildwood
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Salem CC at Ocean CC, 3:30 p.m.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Region 19 Tournament at Mercer
Salem CC vs. Delaware Tech, 10 a.m.
Lackawanna vs. Mercer, noon
Losers, 2 p.m.
Winners, 4 p.m.

MAY 3
BASEBALL
Pennsville at Millville, 11 a.m.
Salem at Mastery Charter, noon
TRACK
Schalick girls in SJTCA, Rancocas Valley, 1 p.m.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Ocean CC at Salem CC (2), noon
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Region 19 Tournament at Mercer
Elimination game, 10 a.m.
Championship game, noon

More than a sweep

Salem CC clinches a spot in Region 19 baseball playoffs, but that was only part of the story in bizarre sweep of Union

REGION 19 BASEBALL
Salem 8-3, Union 0-2
RCSJ-Gloucester 22-24, Delaware County 4-0
Brookdale 15-17, Ocean 0-4
Delaware Tech 11-7, Westchester CC 7-3

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – The simple thing to say was there was a lot to digest from Salem CC’s second straight Saturday sweep, but there really was nothing simple about it.

The Mighty Oaks clinched a spot in the Region 19 Division III baseball playoffs in the first game of their 8-0, 3-2 sweep of Union and that should’ve been the headline of the day. But that was only the half of it.

Angel Velez collected his 100th career hit in the opener and then delivered what proved to be the game-winning hit in a nightcap. The Mighty Oaks threw their second no-hitter of the season in the second game. But there’s even more.

Salem head coach John Holt got ejected in the seventh inning, right after Union broke up the no-hitter – or so it seemed – on a bases-loaded triple to take the lead. As Holt was leaving the field, a lightning strike was detected in the area right before a 15-minute deluge rendered the field unplayable reverting everything back to the sixth inning to preserve the Mighty Oaks’ win, the no-hitter and the sweep.

And it just so happened the Mighty Oaks scored in that sixth inning to snap a 2-2 tie.

“After yesterday we were kind of down so it’s cool to have some of this stuff happen that’s kind of uplifting,” first-game starter Jared Vandersteur said after the opener, unknowing, of course, the bizarre events that were to follow.

“This has been the craziest day of baseball I’ve ever played in my life,” Velez added, “and I’ve played a lot of baseball being an old man.”

Vandersteur pitched his best game of the year in the opener. The sophomore right-hander took a perfect game into the fourth inning and retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced. He gave up two hits, allowed only four base runners and struck out seven in his 69 pitches over six innings. Andre Stewart pitched the seventh and completed the shutout.

“Every fastball I threw I knew where it was going for the most part, just getting ahead early,” the Pennsville product said. “Pretty much everything I was throwing was in the strike zone, so it makes it easy to pitch when you’re doing that.”

Second-game starter Seth McCormick took a no-hitter in the fourth inning of the nightcap, too, but the Owls put two runs on the board under the weight of his seven walks. Tyler Hacker was dispatched to keep the Owls silent and he pitched the fifth and sixth without allowing a hit. Leftfielder Yen Rodriguez kept the gem alive and the game tied at 2 with a diving catch in the fifth inning the Mighty Oaks turned into a double play.

The seventh inning started in the rain, turning the mound into a mess and making any ball Hacker threw slippery. He loaded the bases with three walks that included some pitches of debatable location, then Fraelyn Rosario lined a shot into the right field corner that cleared the bases and put Union up 5-3.

“I was slipping,” Hacker said. “Dirt accumulated on my cleats, you couldn’t even see the spikes, I kept slipping. Ball got wet, those things combined you don’t practice too much.”

After Rosario’s hit, Holt and the Mighty Oaks directed their ire at the umpires, which got Holt hooked. Descriptions of “overmatched” and “not a college level umpire” were used.

“I’m not a guy that’s gonna argue balls and strikes and I get ejected for it,” Holt said. “I mean, when both teams are mad about the strike zone there’s a problem.”

Just as Holt was leaving the field a lightning strike was detected in the area, and then the skies opened. As the quagmire that became the Carneys Point infield grew, ended the game and left the facility.

By rule, the game reverts back to the last completed inning and that was the sixth.

That’s when Velez gave the Mighty Oaks the lead, singling home Demetrius DeRamus after falling behind 0-2. It was his third hit of the game and fourth of the doubleheader. Since the team returned from Florida, he is 16-for-23 in doubleheader nightcaps coming from behind the plate in the opener to DH, 9-for-11 in the last three.

His first hit of the day, an RBI single in the opener, was the 100th of his career. He’s the third Salem player to reach the milestone this season (DeRamus and Matt Murphy). Rodriguez needs seven hits to become the fourth.

“It was a great feeling,” Velez said of the milestone. “Being the first one my family to play baseball in college, to get 100 hits, not a lot of people it’s going to mean something to, but to me it was a big deal. So it was great to get that.”

The rain stopped and the skies cleared shortly after the game was called. The Owls wondered why the game couldn’t have continued with work – the field has lights and there was plenty of time in the day – but were told by the umpires they couldn’t compel the home team to do yard maintenance.

“We don’t need the win with respect that it’s not going to move us up or anything like that,” Union coach Rich Martin said. “The only thing, and I have to blame the umpires, is we’re here, we’ve got lights, it’s 5 o’clock, if we can get this field in shape in two or three hours then let’s play the last inning or if we can’t do that let’s come back.

“The idea the umpires called it as opposed to anybody else I’m going to look into and write up myself. What he said to me – and this is a quote — I can’t force the other team to fix the field.”

Holt has a reputation for going to the wall to make sure his field is game ready, but said in this situation “there’s nothing I could have done to get this right.”

Since the seventh inning of the nightcap technically didn’t happen, it’s uncertain if Holt’s ejection even formally exists. If it is upheld, it’s also uncertain if his subsequent suspension is just for the next game or three games as softball coach Angel Rodriguez served after his ejection in the April 5 Mercer doubleheader. Holt is four wins shy of 400 for his coaching career and the Mighty Oaks have six games left in the regular season.

The Mighty Oaks have a special night game scheduled with Camden CC Monday to honor the memory of Rob Andrey and his family. Andrey, a South Jersey baseball coach and close friend of both head coaches, passed away unexpected in February. The game and ceremonies are expected to continue whether or not Holt is in attendance.

Winning the opener Saturday guaranteed the Mighty Oaks a winning record in region play, one of the criteria for making the playoffs. The currently hold the fourth spot.

“That was the expectation all along,” Holt said. “Going into the season the expectation was playoffs. We have a tough road the next few games, but we want to play for the highest seed we can possibly get and that was kind of the goal going into this, to maybe get a home game first round.

“We’re still in OK shape for that, but we’ve got to play better baseball. We’ve got to tighten up a little bit. We’ve just got to keep grinding.”

Photo: Salem CC catcher Angel Velez delivers his 100th career hit in Saturday’s opener against Union.

REGION 19 DIVISION III PLAYOFF CONTENDERS	REG	ALL
x-RCSJ-Gloucester	27-0	40-3
x-Brookdale	24-6	32-8
x-RCSJ-Cumberland	20-7	27-12
x-Salem CC	17-9	23-20
x-Camden	16-13	24-14
x-Middlesex	15-12	27-17
Northampton	13-13	19-18
Montgomery	11-16	12-16

x-clinched spot; standings updated Sunday

Softball sweep

BRANCHBURG – The Salem CC softball team should feel a little better about themselves going into the Region 19 Division II playoffs after sweeping Raritan Valley in its final regular-season doubleheader, 18-4 and 12-1.

Ella Hayes, Chantelle Haskie and Bella Rappa all had two hits and three RBIs in the opener and Callie Rozak hit a game-tying homer. The Mighty Oaks (19-23) erased an early 2-1 deficit with eight runs in the second inning.

Hayes continued to pound the ball in the nightcap, going 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. Lilly Peverelle also went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Tiana Wilson went 3-for-3 and Val Hatterer and Haskie each had three RBIs.

This one hurt

Gambone has no-hitter, lead through six, but Salem CC gives up 5 runs in next two innings and falls to Union

REGION 19 BASEBALL
Union 5, Salem CC 2
RCSJ-Gloucester 25, Delaware County 10
Northampton 12, Camden 9
RCSJ-Cumberland 17-26, Bergen 2-6
Montgomery 5-7, Middlesex 3-11
Brookdale 12, Ocean 9
Raritan Valley 28, Rockland 1
Harford 11, Mercer 5

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CRANFORD – Jon Gambone had it going on for six innings, then as these things sometimes do, it got away from him in a hurry.

The Salem CC ace took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Union Friday, but he lost the gem and the shutout in the inning and the Mighty Owls eventually lost the game 5-2 to delay clinching a spot in the region playoffs.

Gambone had allowed a few baserunners in the first six innings, but still looked strong enough to record his second no-hitter of the season striking out eight on 76 pitches. But Union opened the seventh with back-to-back singles, then the right-hander either lost his focus or certainly his command briefly and the Owls ultimately tied the game.

A sacrifice advanced the baserunners in the seventh, then Gambone walked the next two hitters to force in a run. The Owls tied on Fraelyn Rosario’s single to right, but the Mighty Oaks avoided further damage when rightfielder Matt Murphy cut down Brandon Brito at the plate. But the storm was brewing.

The Mighty Oaks (21-20, 15-9 Region 19) threatened in the eighth, putting runners at first and second with two outs, but with designated hitter J.D. Wilson at the plate Murphy was tagged out after getting caught between second and third.

Gambone got the first two outs in the eighth, then the Owls (11-21, 7-18) got to him again and ultimately got him out of the game.

They put runners at second and third on a single, walk and wild pitch. Robert Mateo knocked in the go-ahead run when he singled. He fell coming out of the box but had plenty of time to get to first.

Holt lifted Gambone at that point – after 112 pitches – for fireman Alex Newman. Brito greeted Newman with a two-run double and suddenly a game the Mighty Oaks looked to have in hand with their ace on the mound had gotten away 5-2.

Demetrius DeRamus drove in both of Salem’s runs with a first-inning ground out and a fifth-inning triple. Angel Velez had two hits, leaving him with 99 for his career.

The Mighty Oaks had runners in scoring position in each of the three innings between the runs they scored, but left them all stranded. They had a runner at third with two outs in the second, a runner at second with one out in the third and a runner at second with one out in the fourth.

The teams play a doubleheader at the Carneys Point Rec Complex Saturday at noon. One win will guarantee the Mighty Oaks a winning record in Region 19 and mathematically clinch a spot in the region playoffs.

REGION 19 DIVISION III PLAYOFF CONTENDERS
x-RCSJ-Gloucester (38-3) 25-0
x-Brookdale (30-8) 22-6
x-RCSJ-Cumberland (27-12) 20-7
Salem (21-20) 15-9
x-Middlesex (27-17) 15-12
x-Camden (22-14) 14-13
Northampton (19-17) 13-11
Teams .500 or better either in region or overall qualify
x-clinched a spot

Taking the fifth

Thursday roundup: Pennsville softball uses a five-run fifth inning to take down Gloucester Catholic; Woodstown 4×400 third in Penn Relays, includes baseball, tennis, golf, lacrosse and Salem CC softball

THURSDAY SOFTBALL
Pennsville 6, Gloucester Catholic 1
Woodstown 18, Penns Grove 1

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Savannah Brewer-Palverento is determined to throw her pitch when she’s in the circle. She approaches hitting the same way.

After falling behind 0-2 and fouling off two more pitches to the right side of the field, Brewer-Palverento straightened one out over the first baseman into right field for an opposite-field two-run single. It broke a 1-1 tie and sparked a five-run fifth inning that helped Pennsville take down Gloucester Catholic 6-1 for sole possession of first place in the Tri-County Classic Division.

“I think she put herself in hole 0-2, but that’s her call,” Eagles coach Beth Jackson said. “Some (hitters) want to wait until they see that good pitch. I don’t know if she’s one of them, we don’t talk about it, but some want to see all their pitches, all the strikes they get. Some of them feel like they perform better when they have that stress on them.”

Interestingly, the Rams intentionally walked Kylie Harris, the state leader in hits, to load the bases for Brewer-Palverento. Jackson did the same thing to Madelyn McGinn with a runner on second in the fifth inning to set up a force and the Eagles got an inning-ending ground out on the next hitter.

The Eagles weren’t done after Brewer-Palverento’s tie-breaking hit, though. A walk to Sawyer Simmons reloaded the bases and Avery Watson followed with a bases-clearing, opposite-field triple to right make it 6-1.

“My dad kept telling the girls to hit it to right field, take the outside pitch because that’s where she was throwing most of the balls,” Jackson said. “He kept saying hit the ball to right field. Avery’s ball went out there and the girls wasn’t anywhere near it because she had shaded more towards right center. It fell in the right spot.”

The Rams scored the game’s first run in the first inning, but the Eagles tied it in the fourth on Watson’s RBI single. In the Eagles’ last eight games Watson is 14-for-23 with seven walks and 16 RBIs.

Brewer-Palverento pitched the first four innings giving up two hits, an unearned run and striking out six. Graillyn Weber threw two perfect innings of relief behind her.

After playing four games in four days for the second week in a row, the Eagles now have 10 days off. They did the same thing last year and when they returned won 10 in a row all the way into the South Jersey semifinals, so Jackson isn’t worried about rustiness when they come back.

“We did it last year, too,” she said. “I think we’ll be fine.”

WOODSTOWN 18, PENNS GROVE 0: The first six batters in the Wolverines’ lineup all had two hits and combined for 12 RBIs and pitchers Maddie Roback and Ava White combined on a four-inning no-hitter with five strikeouts.

The three Pennsville runners who scored ahead of Avery Watson’s triple applaud their benefactor at home plate. Top photo, Savannah Brewer-Palverento pushes her tie-breaking hit into right field. (Screen shots from Gamechanger video)

Track: Penn Relays

PHILADELPHIA – Woodstown’s boys 4×400 relay team finished third in the South Jersey Small Schools race and just missed qualifying for the Philadelphia Area final at the Penn Relays.

The team of Joshua Crawford, Cole Lucas, Kyle Reitz and Karson Chew ran 3:22.25 and finished behind Camden (3:20.26) and Deptford (3:20.89). They were leading the race after usual anchor Crawford’s opening 400 meters (49.50).

Camden made the Philadelphia Area final as a flight champion and Deptford is one of three alternates.

The Schalick and Salem boys ran in the same flight of the High School Boys 4×100. The Schalick team of Michael Eberl, Kenai Simmons, Reggie Allen and David Stewart ran a 43.126 and finished second in their heat. Salem’s team of Jelani Beverly, Omarion Pierce, Terrance Smith and Anthony Parker ran a 43.7.
Schalick’s boys 4×400 team of Allen, Eberl, Stewart and Steve Chomo ran 3:39.99 and finished 13^th in its flight.

The Schalick and Salem girls 4×100 teams run Friday and the Schalick 4×400 runs Saturday.

Woodstown’s Kyle Reitz passes the baton to Karson Chew in the final exchange of their boys 4×400 New Jersey Small Schools race at the Penn Relays. The Wolverines placed third in their flight behind Camden and Deptford (Submitted photo)

Baseball

Woodstown 13, Penns Grove 2
Schalick 9, Glassboro 1

WOODSTOWN 13, PENNS GROVE 2: The Wolverines’ bats came alive in the fourth inning, erupting for seven runs to break it open. Blake Bialecki, Noah Williams and Walker Battavio had two-run singles in the inning and Tommy Tucci had an RBI triple.

SCHALICK 9, GLASSBORO 1: The Cougars broke open a close game with six runs in the sixth inning. J.T. Fleming had two hits and two RBIs, Luke Pokrovsky had a pair of doubles and Ricky Watt had two RBIs. Starting pitcher Jamari Whitley scattered six hits and gave up one run over five innings and struck out six.

Golf

Kingsway 153, Pennsville 222
Schalick vs. Cumberland
Schalick girls vs. Williamstown
Woodstown vs. Overbrook

KINGSWAY 153, PENNSVILLE 222: Kingsway’s Christopher Parris was low medalist with a 5-under-par 31 at RiverWinds GC.

Tennis

Pennsville 5, Clayton 0
Schalick 3, Haddon Heights 2

PENNSVILLE 5, CLAYTON 0
Gabe Schneider (P) def. Chase Fronczkiewicz, 6-2, 6-0
Maddox Efelis (P) def. Troy Hollis, 6-0, 6-0
Brody Wiggins (P) def. James Mai, 6-0, 6-0
Lucas Cooksey-Saywer Humphrey (P) def. Ian Johnson-Jacob Turpin, 6-0, 6-0
Jacob Cheeseman-Ian Peacock (P) def. Michael Tummings-Eliut Ramirez, 7-5, 6-2
Records: Pennsville 10-0, Clayton 1-5.

SCHALICK 3, HADDON HEIGHTS 2
Owen Peakes (H) def. George Gould, 6-7 (0-7), 6-3, 10-8
Rocky Monticolo (S) def. Jackson Zalkind, 6-2, 6-0
Conor O’Toole (S) def. Mike Pender, 6-1, 6-3
David Santana-Cayden Brzozowski (S) def. Gavin Ewing-Milan Stocker, 6-2, 6-3
Aske Hammer-Nibal AlKhaltib El Baayni Abou (H) def. Kaden Barnes-Christian Negron, 3-6, 6-3, 13-11
Records: Schalick 8-4, Haddon Heights 6-3.

Lacrosse

Washington Twp. 14, Woodstown 3

College softball

REGION 19 SCORES
Lackawanna 11-8, Salem CC 2-7
Raritan Valley 10-7, Sussex 4-5
Middlesex 18-6, Bergen 6-4

SCRANTON, Pa. – Kizbelth Ortiz singled home Laniah Tasker with one out in the bottom of the seventh to give Lackawanna an 8-7 walk-off win over Salem CC and a sweep of their doubleheader.

The Mighty Oaks (17-23) are guaranteed a spot in the Region 19 Division II playoffs despite a losing record, but they’ll be limping into post-season play. Going into their final doubleheader of the season Saturday at Raritan Valley, the Mighty Oaks have lost nine of their last 10. They are 7-15 in April.

They led the nightcap 7-3 in the sixth inning, but Lackawanna tied it with four in the bottom of the sixth before winning it in the seventh.

Ella Hayes had four hits in the nightcap and six hits in the doubleheader for Salem. Callie Rozak three RBIs in the nightcap.

Lackawanna won the opener 11-2.

Mighty Oaks cut down

Top-ranked RCSJ-Gloucester rides a big second inning to complete midweek sweep of Salem CC

REGION 19 BASEBALL
RCSJ-Gloucester 14, Salem CC 4
Brookdale 12, Montgomery 8
Northampton 10, Bergen 0
Middlesex 9, Camden 4
RCSJ-Cumberland 20, Union 10

By Riverview Sports News

SEWELL – Top-ranked RCSJ-Gloucester erupted for eight runs in the second inning and that’s all it really needed to turn back Salem CC 14-4 and sweep their midweek Region 19 series.

The Roadrunners sent 11 batters to the plate in the second. Gabriel Reyes delivered the big blow, a three-run homer that made it 8-0. They tacked on three more runs in the third against Salem starter Will Jones, who gave up eight hits and walked seven in his first career start.

With the win, the Roadrunners (37-3) formally clinched the Garden State Athletic Conference title.

The Mighty Oaks finally got on the board in the fourth. Demetrius DeRamus led off with a homer and Tyler Hacker delivered an RBI single. They added one in the fifth on Cole Dawson’s RBI single and another in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk.

Hacker had two of the Mighty Oaks’ seven hits.

The Mighty Oaks return to action Friday at Union.

REGION 19 DIVISION III BASEBALL STANDINGS	R19	ALL
RCSJ-Gloucester	24-0	37-3
Brookdale	20-6	29-8
RCSJ-Cumberland	18-7	25-12
Salem CC	15-8	21-19
Middlesex	14-11	26-16
Camden	14-12	22-13
Northampton	12-11	18-16
Montgomery	10-14	10-15
Union	6-18	10-21
Ocean	5-16	7-22
Bergen	4-19	6-27
Delaware County	2-22	3-26-1

Non-competing marker

Salem CC baseball overwhelmed by top-ranked RCSJ-Gloucester; Salem CC softball wins final home game to split DH

TUESDAY REGION 19 BASEBALL
RCSJ-Gloucester 18, Salem CC 1
Delaware County 13-8, Ocean 12-17
Mercer 7, Rockland 5
Raritan Valley 11, Westchester 0
Brookdale 15, Montgomery 4
Middlesex 18, Camden 16
Northampton 12, Bergen 2
RCSJ-Cumberland 19, Union 8
Morris 15, Orange 1

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – When you play baseball in JUCO Region 19 you can expect to play several nationally ranked teams during the season. Salem CC has played its share of ranked opponents over the years, even played several already this season, but this game had a different air about it.

The Mighty Oaks have played some of their ranked opponents this year tough, even beaten a few, but they were out of their league in Tuesday’s 18-1 loss to No. 1 RCSJ-Gloucester from the first pitch.

The Roadrunners (36-3) scored seven runs in the first two innings, added four homers to their nation leading total – three in one inning – and held the Mighty Oaks to three hits total and eight baserunners .

After Salem scored its only run on Matt Murphy’s two-out RBI double in the first, Gloucester starter Tommy Bradley retired 12 in a row and 15 of the next 16 before Demetrius DeRamus’ two-out infield single in the sixth. The only blemish in the run was plunking Jared Vandersteur with two outs in the fifth.

“We didn’t compete today,” Mighty Oaks coach John Holt said, measuring his words trying to stay as positive as the circumstances would allow. “With a good baseball team like that you can’t fall behind in counts and not expect to get hurt. I don’t think we were ready to compete today.”

The Mighty Oaks were swamped by Top 5 Brookdale early in the season, but they played current No. 2 SUNY-Niagara tough in Florida and beat Middlesex, Montgomery and Northampton when they were either in the poll or getting votes. The Mighty Oaks received votes in the official JUCO Division III poll for the first time this week.“it was out of character for us today,” Holt said. “I’m hoping tomorrow (in the return game) we can learn a lesson from it, pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and compete.”

Freshman starter Pat Seitzinger didn’t feel nervous facing the No. 1 team in the country in the run-up to the game. The left-hander said it was exciting “up until the first pitch.”

He hit Roadrunners leadoff man Luca Reyes with his first pitch of the game and then hit him twice more – all with the same pitch. Then he hit 3-hole hitter Kyle McSorley to load the bases after giving up a double to Matt Brunner. He then walked in a run and gave up a two-run double to Joe Meier before finally getting an out – and even that play brought home a run.

Gloucester tacked on three more in the second inning. Seitzinger had his best inning in the third when he set the Roadrunners down in order, but then he gave up a three-run homer Nick Slozik in the fourth to make it 10-1.

“I was fine, I just couldn’t throw a strike,” Seitzinger said. “I was confident. I knew they could hit, but I never really tried to pitch around them. I just couldn’t throw strikes.”

The Roadrunners pushed the game into run-rule territory with two runs in the fifth off Alex Newman, then completely broke it open with eight in the seventh. The inning featured a three-run homer by Meier and solo shots by Reyes and Alex Apicella.

“Pat’s a freshman, sometimes those nerves get to you a little bit,” Holt said. “He’s a freshman going against the No. 1 team in the country and he knew that. Sometimes you try to be too perfect and when you’re too perfect things kind of fall off the rails a little bit.

“We tried not to make too big a deal out of (playing a No. 1). We’ve been saying all week as we were coming into this one not to worry about what the jersey says just play our baseball game and I don’t we did that today. We didn’t execute today top to bottom.”

The Mighty Oaks will look to be more competitive with a bullpen game Wednesday as they try preserve arms for a sweepable weekend series against Union.

Softball wins final home game

TUESDAY REGION 19 GAMES
Morris 10-5, Salem CC 7-5
Delaware Tech 7-9, Mercer 0-5
Northampton 21-16, Ocean 0-0
Lackawanna at Sussex
Middlesex at Camden
Bergen at Brookdale

PENNSVILLE – Chantelle Haskie had three hits and Ella Hayes drove in three runs as the Salem CC softball team took a 9-5 victory from Morris in its final home game of the season to snap a seven-game losing streak.

The win gave the Mighty Oaks (17-21) a split of the doubleheader after dropping the opener 10-7.

The Mighty Oaks rallied from an early 2-0 deficit with four runs in the third inning to take the lead. Hayes, playing in the final home game of her decorated Salem CC career, tied the game with a two-run single. Bella Rappa singled home the go-ahead run and Haskie singled home Rappa to make it 4-2.

Morris made it a one-run game in the fifth, but Salem erupted for five in the bottom of the inning to take control. The first run rode home on an error, Tiana Wilson’s fielder’s choice brought home another, Jolee Robinson singled home a run and Lilly Peverelle and Hayes had RBI doubles.

The Mighty Oaks fell behind 5-0 in the opener, but rallied to tie it 5-5 in the fifth on Tessa Wise’s RBI single. Morris responded with four in the sixth that Salem couldn’t overcome.

Callie Rozak homered and drove in three runs for the Mighty Oaks. Jocelyn Melendez, Rappa, Val Hatterer and Tessa Wise had two hits apiece.

The Mighty Oaks wrap up their regular season later this week at Lackawanna and Raritan Valley and are expected to be the fourth seed in the Region 19 Division II playoffs May 2-3 at Mercer.

Looking for more

Salem CC softball guaranteed a spot in Region 19 playoffs field, ends scoring drought despite being swept but needs more consistency going forward

MONDAY REGION 19 SOFTBALL
Delaware Tech 10-13, Salem CC 0-9
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Morris at Salem CC
Mercer at Delaware Tech
Lackawanna at Sussex
Middlesex at Camden
Bergen at Brookdale
Northampton at Ocean

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – After struggling to score runs in its previous three games, the Salem CC softball team’s bats started coming back around in the late innings of Monday’s nightcap with Delaware Tech.

The Mighty Oaks were swept for the third straight doubleheader 10-0 and 13-9. They haven’t won since smashing Sussex on April 17 finally saw some success The Salem CC softball team has already been told it has a spot in the Region 19 Division II playoffs,

Its their longest slide since the end of the 2023 season when they lost their last seven. But at least they scored with some regularly in that slide.

The Mighty Oaks had been held scoreless for 21 consecutive innings before putting up a run in second inning of Game 2, then scored eight runs in the final three innings to make things interesting.

While that has brightened the Salem players’ spirits, head coach Angel Rodriguez is looking for more as the Mighty Oaks turn toward the playoffs.

“Consistent hitting, that’s what I would like,” he said. “We just took too long to make an adjustment (Monday). We finally caught up to it and hopefully they understand when we kind of do that earlier good things will happen but we just have to be able to it do more consistently

“We’ll see if it carries in, but we’ve been very inconsistent, so we’ll see what tomorrow looks like.”

Normally, to make the Region 19 playoffs a team must have a .500 or better record either overall or within the region. After Monday, the Mighty Oaks must go 4-2 in their final six games this week to meet that criteria and have two sweepable twinbills among them, starting with Tuesday’s final home date with Morris.

Failing that, however, the Mighty Oaks are still in because it takes a minimum of four teams to make a playoff field and Salem is solidly the fourth best team evened if they struggled of late.

Playing their fourth doubleheader in five days, the Mighty Oaks were shutout in both games at Mercer over the weekend, limited to two hits in each game. They were held to one hit by Del Tech in Monday’s opener – Bella Rappa’s first-inning single – and struck out 11 times against hard-throwing Kylee Hill.

They were on track to being run-ruled in Game 2, too. They did have five hits over the first four innings, but fell behind 10-1.

Center fielder Val Hatterer gave the Mighty Oaks a chance to keep playing when she took away a potential three-run homer with her fourth homer-robbing catch at the fence.

The Mighty Oaks needed at least two runs in the home fifth to stay alive and that’s what they got. Ella Hayes got it started with a leadoff homer and when they were down to their last out consecutive singles by Tiana Wilson, Hatterer and Tessa Wise extended the game.

“Just seeing a number on the board definitely gave us confidence,” Hayes said. “Just like in basketball, once you see it in, you just get confidence and see your own bucket go in. I think that’s kind of what happened for us. Once we saw it on the board it’s almost like we can do this. Just seeing a crooked number up there was good.”

It ignited what Callie Rozak called “the drive to want to do better.” They rallied for four in the sixth on two-run singles by Bella Rappa and Wise to make it 10-7. They proceeded to get the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs, but Rozak flew out to right field ending the inning.

Del Tech’s Cecelia Johnston hit a three-run homer in the seventh to make it 13-7. The Mighty Oaks scored twice in their half of the inning when Hayes and Rappa both raced home on wild pitches, but they couldn’t get anything else going.

Still, they seemed to shake whatever was holding them back and the drought was over.

“Coming in we knew Del Tech was going to be a hard team, we knew that pitcher threw very fast and we had to adjust to it and we didn’t do very well adjusting to that fast pitching,” Rappa said. “Those last couple innings was us working together as a team for once, hitting our pitches not their pitches, so it was nice to come back and fight and not go 0-0 on the scoreboard.

“We do have to get more consistent but I feel like this was probably the first game we all actually at the end wanted to fight it out.”

Now they’ll see what Tuesday brings.

Baseball

On the eve of Tuesday’s Carney Point opener of its home-and-home series with No. 1 RCSJ-Gloucester, Salem CC received votes in the JUCO Division III baseball poll for the first time since the revival of the program.

The Mighty Oaks (21-17) were one of four Region 19 teams receiving votes in the poll, but didn’t crack the Top 15. RCSJ-Gloucester (No. 1) and Brookdale (No. 4) made the top 15.

“Happy to get votes, happy to get recognized; one step at a time,” Salem coach John Holt said. “We’ve just gotta control what we can control.”

This week’s schedule

Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of April 21-27; events start at 4 p.m. unless noted

APRIL 21
BASEBALL
Kings Christian at Woodstown, 10 a.m.
Pennsville at Williamstown, 10 a.m.
Salem at Paulsboro, 11 a.m.
SOFTBALL
Pennsville at Williamstown, 10 a.m.
Delsea at Woodstown, 10:30 a.m.
GOLF
Woodstown vs. GCIT, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m.
TENNIS
Triton at Schalick, 10 a.m.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Delaware Tech at Salem CC, 3 p.m.

APRIL 22
BASEBALL
Pennsville at Penns Grove
Schalick at Pitman
Woodstown at Salem
SOFTBALL
Pennsville at Penns Grove
Pitman at Schalick
Salem at Woodstown
GOLF
Pennsville vs. Cumberland, Running Deer CC, 3:30 p.m.
Schalick vs. Overbrook, Pinelands GC
Schalick girls vs. Delsea, White Oaks CC
TENNIS
Schalick vs. Pitman, Shertle Park 11 a.m.
Overbrook at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m.
Penns Grove at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m.
TRACK
Salem County Championships, Pennsville, 3:30 p.m.
LACROSSE
Woodstown at Kingsway, 5:15 p.m.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Woodstown at Kingsway, 6 p.m.
VOLLEYBALL
Salem Tech at GCIT, 3:45 p.m.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
RCSJ-Gloucester at Salem CC, 3:30 p.m.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
CC of Morris at Salem CC, 3:30 p.m.

APRIL 23
BASEBALL
Collingswood at Woodstown
SOFTBALL
Cumberland at Salem
Kingsway at Woodstown
Haddon Heights at Pennsville
GOLF
Pennsville vs. West Deptford, River Winds GC, 3:30 p.m.
Salem Tech vs. Pitman, Pitman GC, 3:45 p.m.
TENNIS
Pitman at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m.
GIRLS LACROSSE
Woodstown at Haddonfield
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Salem CC at RCSJ-Gloucester, 3:30 p.m.

APRIL 24
BASEBALL
Schalick at Glassboro
Woodstown at Penns Grove
SOFTBALL
Gloucester Catholic at Pennsville
Penns Grove at Woodstown
GOLF
Pennsville vs. Kingsway, River Winds GC, 3:30 p.m.
Schalick vs. Cumberland, Centerton CC, 3:30 p.m.
Schalick girls vs. Williamstown, Centerton CC, 3:30 p.m.
Woodstown vs. Overbrook, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m.
TENNIS
Clayton at Pennsville, 3 p.m.
Haddon Heights at Schalick
TRACK
Penn Relays
LACROSSE
Woodstown at Washington Twp.
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Salem CC at Lackawanna, 3:30 p.m.

APRIL 25
TENNIS
Schalick at Clayton
Williamstown at Penns Grove
TRACK
Penn Relays
GIRLS LACROSSE
Woodstown at West Deptford
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Salem CC at Union, 3:30 p.m.

APRIL 26
BASEBALL
Gloucester County Christian at Woodstown, 10 a.m.
LACROSSE
Woodstown at Bishop Eustace, 10 a.m.
COLLEGE BASEBALL
Union at Salem CC (2), noon
COLLEGE SOFTBALL
Salem CC at Raritan Valley CC, noon