Schalick scores first Diamond Classic win in 30 years, Pennsville baseball turns game-ending triple play, county track athletes have fun at TCC Showcase, and more
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
BURLINGTON – Things were going so well for so long for the Schalick baseball team in its Diamond Classic opener at Doane Academy Wednesday and then it got “real interesting” real fast.
The Cougars carried a five-run lead into the last inning and just needed to get three easy outs. It was anything but easy. They survived a three-run homer in a four-run seventh and faced the winning run on first with two outs, but held on for an 8-7 win and their first Diamond Classic victory in 30 years.
“They made things interesting,” said Cougars coach Sean O’Brien, playing in the Classic for only the second time in his 10 years as the Schalick coach. “I think it happens to us way too often, more often than it should happen.
“For Mason (Sanchez) to have the confidence to come back and get that last out there is big. He did a good job. The situation didn’t go his way, he gave up a big hit, but he then he was able to (bounce back). I think in the long run moments like that just kind of helps us. It makes us better, where in tight situations where we don’t panic and we get the job done.”
The Cougars were pummeling the undefeated Spartans early in the game, building a 5-0 lead after four innings against Chestnut Hill-bound starter Jake Powell and an 8-3 cushion through five. Through that stretch, the meat of their order – Ricky Watt, Evan Sepers and Bo Schalick – were a combined 8-for-11 with six extra-base hits and six RBIs.
Sepers and Schalick had back-to-back doubles in the first, Sepers had a two-run double in the second, and in the fifth Watt had an RBI double, Sepers a run-scoring single and Schalick an RBI triple.
“We did a great job as a whole as a team jumping on their starter,” O’Brien said. “He was pretty good too. We hit the guys really well 1 through 5 and even Cooper (Willoughby) in the 9-hole he almost knocked the kid’s head off – he hit a line drive right back at his face and he got his glove up in time. Overall, we hit their guy hard the entire time, which was huge, and we put pressure on their defense.”
The ninth started innocently enough with a pop out and a single, but then Matt Kulyk reached on a squirter back to the box and Chris Powell followed with his three-run homer to center to give the Spartans hope.
Jake Powell kept the line moving with a single, but was erased on Hunter Johnson’s fielder’s choice for the second out, then Josh Rivera reached on a ball that took a wicked hop past Schalick to move the tying run into scoring position. Mason Sanchez closed it out with a grounder back to the box.
“It was little things like that that kind of made things interesting,” O’Brien said. “Mason was throwing strikes, they hit a couple and there were some bad hops here and there, but he beared down and got the last out.”
The Cougars (12-5) will now play sixth-seeded Clearview (13-4) in the second round at Clearview Saturday 10 a.m. Before that, however, they’ll face Penns Grove with the possibility of clinching a second straight Tri-County Diamond Division title Thursday and, unless they can move the game, Collingswood Friday for their fifth game in five days.
It’s been a grind, of course, but in the end the rewards would be historic.
“It’s a cool situation where we’re kind of doing things we want to achieve that haven’t been done in the school’s history,” O’Brien said. “The Diamond (Classic) hasn’t been done in a long time, probably 30 years. You look at the division title – we have a chance to win back-to-back division titles for the first time ever in school history. You have a chance to win back-to-back South Jersey titles; it’s never been done. The first ever team to win a state title.
“You’re putting your name, your stamp, on your careers and what you’ll never forget for the rest of your life.”
PENNSVILLE 12, CLAYTON 1: The Eagles started big and ended bigger in clinching a share of their fifth straight Classic Division title. They can win it outright by beating Wildwood for a second time this season Thursday.
The Eagles took charge of this one early, scoring eight runs in the first inning, highlighted by Jeff Wagner’s two-run double and Grady Sanders’ two-run single. Logan Cooperthwait, Jake Layfield, Gavin Spears and Mason O’Brien also drove home runs in the inning. Wagner and O’Brien both had two hits and three RBIs in the game. Three pitchers held the Clippers to one hit and they ended the game on a triple play.
SOFTBALL
WOODSTOWN 8, MILLVILLE 1: Karly Spears drove in three runs and Leah Clark spun a two-hit shutout as the Wolverines won for the second day in a row to get back over .500. Spears had a two-run single in the second when the Wolverines opened a 4-0 lead and an RBI ground out in the third. Clark gave up a leadoff single, then didn’t allow another hit until two outs in the fifth inning.
CAPE MAY TECH 7, SALEM TECH 6: The Hawks walked it off on Cheyanne Enright’s RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning. The Chargers never led in the game, but tied it with four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Shelby Drummond’s two-run triple. They scored the tying run on a bases-loaded walk.
GIRLS GOLF
WASHINGTON TWP. 157, SCHALICK 166: Washington Twp.’s Azure Meares won medalist honors at The Birches with a 5-over-par 33. Natalie May shot the low round for Schalick (40).
GIRLS LACROSSE
HADDONFIELD 18, WOODSTOWN 12: Riley Austin and Lauren Hamblin each scored five goals for Haddonfield. Delaney Walker netted four (208) for Wolverines. The other Woodstown goals came from Emma Morgan (3), Blair Baldi (2), Arianna Hyman (2) and Emma Perry (1).
TRACK
FRANKLINVILLE — On a day designed to promote fun and maybe give a shot at events they might not otherwise experience, it’s safe to say all the Salem County athletes had fun in the Tri-County Showcase at Delsea.
County athletes claimed 45 medals in the non-scored meet. They won eight events, had eight seconds and eight thirds.
Woodstown won five events (4 boys, 1 girls) and established eight PRs. Schalick’s David Stewart won twice individually (400 hurdles, triple jump); his 400 hurdles was a close 1-2 finish with Penns Grove’s Bryan Garlic that some are projecting as the top two in the event at the state meet.
Winning gold for Woodstown were Josh Crawford (1600), Karson Chew (800), David Farrell (3200), Aidan Taulane (discus) and Kami Casiano (girls high jump). For Crawford, it was his first time running the 1600 in competition and he won it in 4:32.57.
“I went into it just telling myself that it’s only two more laps than usual and there was no pressure so have fun,” said Crawford, an 800 specialist. “So I did just that. I went out there running with the experienced runners and had fun.”
Penns Grove’s 4×400 relay team held off Woodstown down the stretch to win that race.
Kylee Goodson, who ran a leg on Penns Grove’s winning 4×4, finished second in the 400 to impressive Overbrook junior John Froehlich. Other second-place finishes belonged to Penns Grove’s Will Roy (long jump), Woodstown’s Eli Caesar (high jump) and Abby Marino (girls 800), Salem’s girls 4×100, and Schalick’s Navaeh Robinson (girls javelin).
TRI-COUNTY SHOWCASE
(Event winners and Salem County medal winners)
BOYS
No team scoring
4×100: 1. Williamstown 42.71; 4. Penns Grove (Will Roy, Messiah Allah, Tommy White, Kylee Goodson) 43.77
4×800: 1. Highland 8:20.25; 4. Woodstown (Anthony Costello, Michael Turner, Pacey Hutton, Torsten Duva) 8:44.86; 5. Salem (Grady Buzby, Gavin Cronrath, Josh Gilbert, Jean Pierre Pozo) 8:46.48
400 Hurdles: 1. David Stewart, Schalick 55.36; 2. Bryan Garlic, Penns Grove 55.67; 6. Grady Buzby, Salem 58.79
1600: 1. Josh Crawford, Woodstown 4:32.57
400: 1. John Froehlich, Overbrook 49.42; 2. Kylee Goodson, Penns Grove 49.83
100: 1. Timothy Whitaker, Timber Creek 10.80
800: 1. Karson Chew, Woodstown 1:55.86
110 Hurdles: 1. Kareem Brown, Deptford 14.17
200: 1. John Froehlich, Overbrook 22.12; 3. Timothy Gregory, Salem 22.55
3200: 1. David Farrell, Woodstown 10:06.27; 5. Pacey Hutton, Woodstown 10:29.96
4×400: 1. Penns Grove (Bryan Garlic, Tommy White, Savior Allah, Kylee Goodson) 3:25.25; 2. Woodstown (Karson Chew, Anthony Costello, Michael Turner, Josh Crawford) 3:25.82
High Jump: 1. Moses Robles, Glassboro 6-0; 2. Eli Caesar, Woodstown 5-10; 5. Kaden Robinson, Salem 5-8
Pole Vault: 1. Mason Henry, Deptford 14-6; 3. Caleb Jenkins, Schalick 13-0
Long Jump: 1. Moses Robles, Glassboro 21-3; 2. Will Roy, Penns Grove 21-0.25; 3. David Stewart, Schalick 20-10.5; 6. Danny Knight, Pennsville 20-1.25
Triple Jump: 1. David Stewart, Schalick 45-5.75; 3. Andrew White, Woodstown 43-6; 5. Will Roy, Penns Grove 42-0
Discus: 1. Aidan Taulane, Woodstown 164-3; 3. Ethan McLean, Schalick 144-1
Javelin: 1. Richard Pierce, Cumberland 175-0; 3. Gary Simonini, Schalick 166-1; 5. Noah Chiu, Woodstown 143-9
Shot Put: 1. Eneas Tavella, Delsea 53-7.5; 4. Aidan Taulane, Woodstown 49-8.5; 5. JaKai Ingram, Penns Grove 49-1.5
GIRLS
No team scoring
4×100: 1. Kingsway 48.62; 2. Salem (Raniyah Parsons-Smith, Dynastie Tucker, Anyzha Williams, Amaia Massengill) 43.19
4×800: 1. Triton 10:17.72
400 Hurdles: 1. Norah Brown, Kingsway 1:04.14
1600: 1. Toni-Loren Powell, Highland 5:42.32
400: 1. Noemi Haller, Kingsway 56.91; 5. Dynastie Tucker, Salem 1:01.18
100: 1. NiaLeila Cuascut, Washington Twp. 12.05; 4. Raniyah Parsons-Smith, Salem 12.53
800: 1. Kayla Asis, Kingsway 2:26.36; 2. Abby Marino, Woodstown 2:29.02
100 Hurdles: 1. NiaLeila Cuascut, Washington Twp. 14.34 (meet record)
200: 1. Noemi Haller, Kingsway 25.26
3200: 1. Sophia Aldridge, Williamstown 11:25.79
4×400: 1. Deptford 4:06.18; 5. Schalick (Kiley Parvin, Caylen Taylor, Brooke Valentine, Jaelynn Jarmon) 4:27.48
High Jump: 1. Kami Casiano, Woodstown 5-2; 3. Kallie Morrison, Pennsville 4-10
Pole Vault: 1. Brynn Greenwood, Williamstown 11-0
Long Jump: 1. Kennedy Downs, Washington Twp. 16-8.5; 4. Arianna Dowe, Penns Grove 15-5.25; 5. Ramiyah Jones, Salem 15-5
Triple Jump: 1. Onye Peoples, Overbrook 34-11.5; 4. Jaelynn Jarmon, Schalick 32-4.75; 5. Kami Casiano, Woodstown 32-2
Discus: 1. Sunny Moore, Glassboro 148-6; 5. Sara Lodge, Woodstown 110-9; 6. Sebrina Bradford, Schalick 105-7
Javelin: 1. Kylie Shinn, Kingsway 113-10; 2. Navaeh Robinson, Schalick 113-8
Shot Put: 1. Hannah Nuhfer, Delsea 46-5.5 (meet record); 3. Tatiyonna Crawford, Pennsville 35-5; 6. Zoey Caesar, Penns Grove 34-1.5