Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of May 12-17; events start at 4 p.m. unless noted
MAY 12 BASEBALL Salem vs. Bridgeton, Doubleday Field, Cooperstown, N.Y., 10 a.m. Clayton at Woodstown Pennsville at Glassboro Wildwood at Penns Grove SOFTBALL Glassboro at Pennsville Penns Grove at Wildwood Schalick at Salem Woodstown at Clayton GOLF Salem Tech vs. West Deptford, River Winds, 3:30 p.m. Schalick vs. Pennsville, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. Schalick girls vs. OLMA, White Oaks GC, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown vs. Haddon Heights, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m. TENNIS Penns Grove at Pitman Pennsville at Schalick Timber Creek at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m. TRACK Schalick at Penns Grove Salem at Deptford, 5 p.m. GIRLS LACROSSE Maple Shade at Woodstown
MAY 13 BASEBALL Woodstown at Delran GOLF Schalick vs. West Deptford, River Winds, 3:30 p.m. TENNIS Pennsville at Glassboro, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown at Collingswood, 3:45 p.m. TRACK Pennsville at Woodstown LACROSSE Woodstown at Clearview, 5 p.m. VOLLEYBALL Washington Twp. at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m. MAY 14 BASEBALL Glassboro at Woodstown Penns Grove at Overbrook Pennsville at Salem Schalick at Cumberland SOFTBALL Cumberland at Schalick Overbrook at Penns Grove Salem at Pennsville Woodstown at Glassboro GOLF Woodstown vs. Pitman, Pitman CC, 3:45 p.m. Schalick girls vs. Delsea, Centerton CC TENNIS Pitman at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m. Schalick at Penns Grove Woodstown at Delsea, 3:45 p.m. LACROSSE Rancocas Valley at Woodstown, 4:15 p.m.
MAY 15 BASEBALL Buena at Schalick Pennsville at Triton SOFTBALL Schalick at Buena Triton at Pennsville GOLF Schalick vs. Hammonton, Pinelands GC, 3:30 p.m. Woodstown vs. Sterling, Town & Country, 3:45 p.m. TENNIS Woodstown at Highland, 3:45 p.m. Glassboro at Pennsville GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown at Eastern VOLLEYBALL Timber Creek at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Region 19 Final Four, Rutgers-Camden Salem CC vs. RCSJ-Gloucester or Brookdale, TBA MAY 16 BASEBALL Pennsville at Cedar Creek SOFTBALL Salem at Cape May Tech Triton at Woodstown GOLF Pennsville vs. Millville, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. TENNIS Woodstown at Overbrook, 3:45 p.m. Schalick at Wildwood, 4:15 p.m. TRACK NJSIAA Sectionals LACROSSE Woodstown at Millville VOLLEYBALL Salem Tech at Cape May Tech, 3:45 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Region 19 Final Four, Rutgers-Camden, TBA
MAY 17 BASEBALL Schalick at Paulsboro, 11 a.m. TRACK NJSIAA Sectionals COLLEGE BASEBALL Region 19 Final Four, Rutgers-Camden, TBA
Here are the results from Saturday’s Salem County sports calendar BASEBALL Lee Ware Tournament, Woodstown Washington Twp. 11, Woodstown 0 Cherry Hill East 7, Camden Catholic 1 Consolation: Woodstown 11, Camden Catholic 7 Championship: Cherry Hill East 4, Washington Twp. 1
WOODSTOWN – After being silenced the last four games, Woodstown’s bats came alive and outscored Camden Catholic 11-7 in the consolation game of the Lee Ware Tournament.
Ty Coblentz led the Wolverines’ 12-hit attack with three hits and two RBIs. Sam Chard and Rocco String had two hits apiece and Thomas Tucci drove in a pair of runs.
The Wolverines (11-8) broke a 5-5 tie with six runs in the bottom of the third inning. Noah Williams’ RBI single broke the tie. Caiden Spinelli and String each had a two-run double. And Coblentz had an RBI double.
Cherry Hill East won the tournament with a 4-1 win over Washington Twp. in the championship game. SOFTBALL Pitman Tournament Pennsville 6, Pitman 5 Pennsville 9, Deptford 4
PITMAN – Kylie Harris and Savannah Brewer-Palverento drove home runs in the sixth inning to finally give Pennsville the lead and the Eagles held on to claim a division win over Pitman 6-5.
The Eagles trailed 2-0, 4-1 and 4-3 at various points in the game. Harris, Lily Edwards, Avery Watson and Makenzie Widener had two hits apiece for Pennsville.
They followed that with a 9-4 win over Deptford. Edwards had two hits and two RBIs, while Sawyer Simmons and Reagan Wariwanchik had two hits apiece.
Ellie Wygand’s RBI double with none out in the bottom of the seventh scored MMMM LaPalomento with the winning run in Woodstown’s 9-8 walk-off win over Cumberland.
Kendall Young and LaPalomento got the winning rally started with singles. Young was caught stealing, leaving only LaPalomento on the basepaths. She scored on Wygand’s double. Wygand went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs.
Cumberland tied the game 8-8 with four runs in the top of the seventh.
In their first game, the Wolverines fell behind Absegami 14-0 after two innings. Lila Bowling had two hits, including a homer, and drove in three runs for Woodstown.
GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown 20, Haddon Heights 3: Delaney Walker scored five goals and Jaime Deal and Angelina Lindenmuth each scored four to lead the Wolverines. Sienna Land had five assists.
WILDWOOD – A lot of players might have been a little anxious being so close to a milestone they’ve chased all their life and not seeing it happen, but as long as he was helping his team win while he waited Luke Wood was OK with it.
The Pennsville senior needed one more hit since Monday to get the 100th hit of his high school career, which with his eye at the plate figured to come at any minute. It just seemed to be taking forever.
Wood finally reached the milestone Thursday. It came on a two-out single to right field in the fifth inning – his last at-bat of the game – of the Eagles’ 21-3 rout of Wildwood.
Since collecting hit No. 99 – a bases-loaded triple in his last at-bat against Clayton – he went 0-for-2 with two walks against Pitman (reaching on an error in the eighth inning) and 0-for-2 with two walks and an error before finally breaking through Thursday.
“When you’re going for 100 hits it’s frustrating, but at the same time you just have to realize your team’s up a lot of runs and that’s not what matters at the end of the day,” Wood said. “As nerve wracking as it might be or as big a deal as it is to some people, I always kind of push it to the back of my mind and do what I can to help the team win.
“Just through the last 10 plate appearances I had there was a string of bad luck, but that’s kind of how my approach is. I don’t want to make outs easy for them. I want to go up there and I want to get walked, I want to hit balls on the ground. If I don’t get hits because of this but I get on base that’s all I really care about.
“I needed one hit, so it’s not like I was sitting here stressed out about getting it for the rest of the season. I needed 13 coming into the season, I knew it was going to happen eventually. I just wanted to go out and do my job every day, get on base, because that’s always been my best asset, never really being just a hitter.”
Now, he can put this milestone with his 200-plus career strikeouts as a pitcher and 1,000-plus career points in basketball. Soon he can add 100 career runs to his collection of milestones (he needs three).
He is the third Pennsville athlete to collect their 100th career hit this season, joining baseball teammate Chase Burchfield (who has 100-plus RBIs as well) and softball junior Kylie Harris.
“Obviously, it feels really good,” he said. “It’s another milestone I can add to my high school career. It’s nice everything I’ve worked for and everything I’ve done is finally paying off. It’s nice to see the results of all the work you’ve put in.
“It’s super cool. It’s something I thought about doing since I was in seventh and eighth grade. It’s one of the coolest things. I don’t know any other words to put it as. It’s a good feeling.”
“I’m really happy for Luke,” Pennsville coach Matt Karr said. “To be able to achieve 100 hits in baseball is very impressive. And for him to miss most of his junior season due to injury and still be able to achieve the feat speaks volumes … In nine years as head coach I’ve only had three guys get 100; again, speaks volumes about how difficult it is.”
After scratching and clawing to score the runs to beat Pitman the day before, the Eagles batted around twice and erupted for 15 runs in the first inning against the Warriors.
Twenty batters saw 76 pitches from three pitchers in the inning. Logan Streitz, Cohen Petrutz, Jeff Wagner and Mason O’Brien all had two hits in the inning. Wagner and O’Brien both drove in four runs. Wood walked twice.
“We came out today and were swinging the bat well and getting a lot of things go our way,” Wood said. “We swung the bats extremely well top to bottom. We had I think three JV guys get their first hits today (Jay Nickels, Jacob Hand and Grady Sanders). We just swung it well up and down the lineup.
“It goes to show when we bear down, work at bats, and be what I would call reasonably aggressive at the plate we’re gonna be really hard to beat. Like you saw today, we put up a ton of runs.”
Sanders’ first hit kept the fifth inning alive bringing Wood to the plate for his 100th.
With the win, the Eagles can clinch their fourth straight TCC Classic Division title and first outright since 2023 with a win Wednesday at Salem.
OVERBROOK 4, WOODSTOWN 1: The Wolverines slump at the plate against some pretty good arms continued as they were held to just two hits by a pair of Rams pitchers. Over the last three games the Wolverines have managed just four hits.
Woodstown tied the game 1-1 in the fifth on Caiden Spinelli’s run-scoring ground out, but the Rams answered with three in the bottom of the inning. They loaded the bases against Wolverines starter Aaron Foote on two singles and a walk, then Louis Hanna cleared them with a double to left.
CLAYTON 7, SALEM 6: After losing in a walk-off the day before, the Clippers turned the tables on the Rams with three in the bottom of the seventh. Jamison Emerle provided the crushing blow, a two-out double to center after Jackson Petsch stole second to move the winning run into scoring position.
The Rams took a 6-1 lead on Chase Davis’ grand slam in the fourth inning.
Softball
PENNSVILLE 15, WILDWOOD 1: Avery Watson continued to swing a hot bat, going 3-for-4 with a pair of triples, four runs and four RBIs. Over her last eight games the Eagles’ infielder is 16-for-24 with six of he seven triples and 17 RBIs. She has a 10-game hitting streak.
Savannah Brewer-Palverento also two extra-base hits and four RBIs for the Eagles. Makenzie Widener had two hits and three RBIs and Kylie Harris added two more hits to her state-leading total.
Brewer-Palverento held the Warriors to two hits and an unearned run on 55 pitches over five innings and faced only two batters over the minimum. She struck out five.
WOODSTOWN 17, OVERBROOK 7: Ellie Wygand went 3-for-4, Talia Guardascione and Aubrie Rennie both had three RBIs and the Wolverines erupted for 10 runs in the fifth inning to turn a close game into a walkoff rout.
Actually, it was a come-from-behind win for the Wolverines. They trailed 2-0, 6-5 and 7-6 at various points in the game.
Rennie tied the game for the last time in the fourth inning when she raced home on Kendall Young’s bunt, then gave the Wolverines the lead for good in the fifth with a two-run single. Guardascione had a three-run double later in the inning.
Grace Hitchner, Young, Shyann Higinbotham, Wygand and Lila Bowling each drove in a run in the big inning.
Golf
Woodstown 176, Highland 194: Woodstown’s Erich Lipovsky (41) was low medalist at Valley Brook. Washington Twp. girls 177, Schalick 202: WT’s Tessa Reilley’s 2-over 37 was low medalist at Centerton. Lena Virga had Schalick’s low round (47).
Tennis
PENNSVILLE 5, GCIT 0 Gabe Schneider (P) def. Ilan Torres, 6-2, 6-0 Maddox Efelis (P) def. Jeffrey Smith, 6-0, 6-0 Brody Wiggins (P) def. Gabe Ferraro, 6-1, 6-0 Lucas Cooksey-Sawyer Humphrey (P) def. James Helder-Jacob Everson, 6-1, 4-6, 12-10 Ian Peacock-Carter Willis (P) def. Robert Helder-Gavin Shainline, 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 Records: Pennsville 13-0, GCIT 4-11.
SCHALICK 5, WASHINGTON TWP. 0 George Gould (S) def. Zach Torbik, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 Rocky Monticolo (S) def. William Minchin, 6-0, 6-1 Conor O’Toole (S) def. Alex Fogg, 6-4, 6-4 Cayden Brzozowski-Cayden Brzozowski (S) def. Aaron Begin-Andy Wu, 6-4, 6-2 David Santana-Anthony McGrath (S) def. Jack Hanson-Jack Laubin, 6-2, 6-2 Records: Schalick 12-4, Washington Twp. 1-15.
Photo: Pennsville’s Luke Wood comes out of the batter’s box after delivering his 100th career hit Thursday at Wildwood. (Screenshot from Gamechanger video)
Here are the results of Monday’s Salem County sports action
BASEBALL Pennsville 14, Clayton 6: Luke Wood 5 RBIs; Jeff Wagner, Logan Streitz each 2 hits, 2 RBIs; Pennsville can claim a share of TCC Classic Division with win over Pitman Wednesday Schalick 4, Overbrook 2: Lucas D’Agostino scattered six hits, fanned nine in six innings, Luke Pokrovsky fanned two in his closing inning, passed 300 career Ks; Ricky Watt, Pokrovsky 3 hits each; Schalick can claim TCC Diamond Division title with win over Woodstown Tuesday at Elmer LL Glassboro 12, Penns Grove 1: The Bulldogs took a no-hitter into the fifth. Alex Paz drove in Penns Grove’s run. Pitman 10, Salem 0: Two pitchers combined on one-hitter; Nick Watson HR, Hudson Rue 4 RBIs.
SOFTBALL Pennsville 20, Clayton 4: Lily Edwards 4 hits, 4 RBIs; every starter had at least one hit in Eagles’ 21-hit attack. Glassboro 24, Penns Grove 9: Scarlett Saicic 3 doubles, 6 RBIs. Penns Grove had a season-high runs Pitman 14, Salem 1: Jess Bretz’ grand slam highlighted Panthers’ 14-run second inning; Isla Bohn 3 hits for Salem. Schalick 12, Overbrook 8: Cougars erupt for nine runs in last two innings. Cloe Elliott 3×5, 5 RBIs; Maddie Brown 5×5, 3 RBIs.
GOLF Schalick’s Jaxon Weber posted a 6-over-par 78 and finished tied for seventh in the South Jersey Group I sectional, but didn’t finish high enough to advance to the state group championship. The Cougars finished 12th as a team (365). Woodstown was 13th (375). Jack Bucksar and Erich Lipovsky had Woodstown’s low rounds (86).
Triton 194, Salem Tech 226
TENNIS Deptford 3, Woodstown 2
LACROSSE Egg Harbor Twp. at Woodstown
VOLLEYBALL Highland 2, Salem Tech 0 (25-18, 25-18)
Here is the Salem County sports schedule for the week of May 5-11; events start at 4 p.m. unless noted
MAY 5 BASEBALL Clayton at Pennsville Overbrook at Schalick Penns Grove at Glassboro Salem at Pitman SOFTBALL Clayton at Pennsville Glassboro at Penns Grove Pitman at Salem Schalick at Overbrook GOLF Salem Tech vs. Triton, Sakima CC, 3:45 p.m. TENNIS Deptford at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m. Pennsville at Burlington Twp., Green Acres Park LACROSSE Egg Harbor Twp. at Woodstown VOLLEYBALL Highland at Salem Tech, 3:45 p.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC at Atlantic Cape CC, 3:30 p.m.
MAY 6 BASEBALL Pilgrim Academy at Salem Schalick vs. Woodstown, Elmer LL, 6:30 p.m. SOFTBALL LEAP at Salem Schalick vs. Woodstown, Elmer LL, 6:30 p.m. GOLF Pennsville vs. Gloucester Catholic, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. Schalick vs. Delsea, Centerton CC Schalick girls in State Championship, Rutgers TENNIS Highland at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m. Kingsway at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m. Wildwood at Schalick TRACK Woodstown at Penns Grove
MAY 7 BASEBALL Pitman at Pennsville Woodstown at Pennsauken Tech, 3:45 p.m. SOFTBALL Pennsville at Pitman TENNIS Vineland at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m. Woodstown at Deptford, 3:45 p.m. Pitman at Penns Grove TRACK Tri-County Conference Meet, Delsea, 3 p.m. GIRLS LACROSSE Clearview at Woodstown VOLLEYBALL Salem Tech at Riverside, 3:45 p.m. MAY 8 BASEBALL Pennsville at Wildwood, 3:45 p.m. Salem at Clayton Schalick at Penns Grove Woodstown at Overbrook SOFTBALL Overbrook at Woodstown Pennsville at Wildwood Penns Grove at Schalick GOLF Salem Tech vs. Pennsville, Sakima CC, 3:30 p.m. Schalick vs. Gloucester Catholic, Centerton CC Schalick girls vs. Washington Twp. Centerton CC Woodstown vs. Highland, Valley Brook CC, 3:45 p.m. TENNIS GCIT at Pennsville, 3:45 p.m. Schalick at Washington Twp. Williamstown at Penns Grove MAY 9 BASEBALL Millville at Pennsville South Hunterdon at Penns Grove, 4:15 p.m. Salem vs. Schalick at Elmer LL, 6:30 p.m. SOFTBALL Clayton at Salem Pennsville at Paulsboro Schalick at Haddonfield GOLF Pennsville vs. Overbrook, Kresson GC, 3:30 p.m. TENNIS Schalick at Woodstown, 3:45 p.m. Pennsville at Clearview LACROSSE Vineland at Woodstown GIRLS LACROSSE Woodstown at Washington Twp.
MAY 10 BASEBALL Lee Ware Tournament, Woodstown Washington Twp. at Woodstown, 10 a.m. Camden Catholic at Cherry Hill East, 10 a.m. Consolation game, noon Championship game, noon SOFTBALL Pennsville in Pitman Tournament Woodstown in Williamstown Tournament GIRLS LACROSSE Haddon Heights at Woodstown, 10 a.m. COLLEGE BASEBALL Salem CC in Region 19 Tournament, TBA
Salem CC softball eliminated from Region 19 Tournament in two games
REGION 19 TOURNAMENT Friday’s games Delaware Tech 10, Salem CC 4 Mercer 5, Lackawanna 1 Lackawanna 9, Salem CC 0 Mercer 9, Delaware Tech 3 Saturday’s games Delaware Tech vs. Lackawanna, 10 a.m. Del Tech-Lackawanna winner vs. Mercer, noon If necessary, 2 p.m.
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WEST WINDSOR – A tough season ended in a tough way for the Salem Community College softball team Friday.
The Mighty Oaks had hoped to carry the energy they had in a spirited opening-round loss to Delaware Tech in their elimination game with Lackawanna, but it just didn’t materialize.
They were held to two hits and five base runners and lost to the Falcons 9-0 in five innings to exit the Region 19 Tournament in two games.
“It was a tough Game 2, it looks like we just left a lot of our energy in that Game 1,” Salem coach Angel Rodriguez said.
The two pitchers the Mighty Oaks faced in the tournament hurt them at the plate as well as in the circle. They were a combined 4-for-7 with two homers, two doubles and 10 RBIs.
Del Tech’s Kylee Hill snapped a 2-2 tie with a three-run homer in the first-round game and Lackawanna’s Jillian Heimberger put the Falcons out front with a two-run homer in the first inning of the elimination game.
The Falcons doubled their lead with two runs in the third and broke it open with five in the fourth highlighted by Heimberger’s two-run fielder’s choice. The Mighty Oaks threatened in the third, loading the bases with two outs, but couldn’t get the runs home.
The Mighty Oaks finished the season 19-25. Fourteen of their losses came to the other three teams in the tournament.
“We just wanted to get here and compete,” Rodriguez said. “We started out that way, it just didn’t end that way. We just have to make sure we’re getting better for next year.”
The only two hits the Mighty Oaks managed off Heimberger were Callie Rozak’s leadoff single in the second inning and Ella Hayes’ two-out double in the fifth.
The loss brought to a close to Hayes’ decorated JUCO career.
The sophomore shortstop, who was the Region 19 Player of the Year as a freshman, finished with a .586 career average with 154 hits, 117 runs, 16 homers and 115 RBIs. She was aggressive all the way to the end. Her final Salem at bat was a two-out double in the fifth inning to keep the inning alive.
“I’ve been in that position before,” Hayes said. “I remember one game, it was a big game and it was pretty close. We had two outs on us, no runners on, and my dad’s behind me (saying) put the pressure on the next batter. That kind of stuck with me, so that scenario was very similar – two outs, put the pressure on the next batter and keep it going. That was going through my mind the whole time.”
Del Tech 10, Salem CC 4
The Mighty Oaks will go into the afternoon session of the first day of the Region 19 tournament with a different vibe than they did a year ago.
Last year they went into Round 2 with a sense of confidence after knocking off the top seed that handled them in the regular season in the opening round. This year they go to the afternoon session with a sense of urgency after falling to top-seed Delaware Tech 10-4.
It’ll now take four wins to take the title.
“It’s a different year, we weren’t really comparing both, but we knew going into the playoffs everyone is 0-0,” Salem coach Angel Rodriguez said. “There was pressure being the 4 seed, we knew we had to go out there and compete and get some momentum.”
For a while early on it looked like the Mighty Oaks might find that first-round magic for the second year in a row.
Facing a pitcher who had one-hit them in their last meeting, the Mighty Oaks took a 2-0 lead in the third on Chantelle Haskie’s two-run single and some aggressive baserunning by Ella Hayes and scored two more runs in the fourth. Hayes scored a run in each inning from first base on hits by Haskie.
But Del Tech answered each outburst with five-run innings of their own to take control. Pitcher Kylee Hill snapped a 2-2 tie with a three-run homer in the third and had a two-run double in the fifth.
Hill had allowed the Might Oaks one run and five total hits in the two games she faced them this year. Salem got seven hits off her Friday morning and that gives Rodriguez reason for optimism going into the afternoon.
“We played our best game against a team we only got four hits off the whole season,” he said. “I think our momentum is there and confidence is there, now we’ve just got to go out there and play like we just did and hopefully things will go our way this time.”
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
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.
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
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 13th 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.
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.
Pennsville softball rallies twice from two-run deficits, but comes up just short in a third attempt; Woodstown baseball holds off Collingswood; includes tennis, golf, lacrosse results
SALEM COUNTY SOFTBALL Haddon Heights 8, Pennsville 7 Kingsway 10, Woodstown 2 Cumberland 19, Salem 2
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – With the type of lineup Pennsville softball has built to get to this season no deficit is out of reach. But sometimes the well just comes up dry.
The Eagles came back from two-run deficits twice Wednesday and were on the verge of doing it a third time in the seventh inning, but their bid to either walk it off or keep it going came up just short and they lost to Haddon Heights 8-7 to end a nine-game winning streak.
The Eagles erased deficits of 2-0 and 4-2 to tie the game at 2-2 and then take a 6-4 lead after five innings. The Garnets went back up 8-6 in the seventh and for one of the rare times this season, Pennsville couldn’t catch up.
“That’s something we talked about,” Eagles coach Beth Jackson said. “It’s a dangerous life to live. You get all these hits and score all these runs and then you’re making mistakes in the field, you can kind of get away with it, but sometimes, at some point, that might end.
“You’re not going to always have all those hits. You might run into a really good pitcher. You might only squeeze out one or two runs. You’ve gotta be up to defense. You’ve got to play well and not give the other team outs and not give them extra outs in the field.”
Sophomore Ruby Caviston gave the Garnets a 2-0 lead in the first with the first of her two home runs, but the Eagles tied it on Mackenzie Widener’s two-run single in the second.
Caviston’s second homer gave the Garnets a 3-0 lead in the fifth and they added another later in the inning on a ball that got under third baseman Savannah Brewer-Palverento’s glove. This time, the Eagles answered with four in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.
The two tying runs scored when Kylie Harris, the state’s hits leader, hit a ball that stayed down and through on Heights second baseman Kayla Kellogg. Brewer-Palverento tripled home Harris with the go-ahead run and Brewer-Palverento scored on a passed ball.
The Garnets answered with four in the sixth for their third two-run lead of the game.
Both Jackson and junior infielder Avery Watson had “absolute confidence” in the Eagles being able to come back again – even when they got down to their last out. They were behind four times during their winning streak and had no trouble overcoming those deficits.
“I have no doubts in us at all,” Watson said. “With the way our energy was and how we’ve been playing recently I had zero doubts that we could come back, even at the end (with) two outs I didn’t have any doubt in myself and nobody had any doubt in me.”
Watson kept the inning alive and got the rally started with a single to left. Mackenzie Widener kept the line moving with a single and Reagan Wariwanchik singled home Watson to make it a one-run game. Widener went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.
“Facing a really good team like that, our energy was high all game and that kept me going,” Watson said. “Going into the seventh, I really wanted to win this game; we all really wanted it.
“I wanted to get anything out there. I wanted to just poke a ball out there if I had to. I hardly remember what I did, my adrenaline was pumping so much.”
Now, the Eagles had the tying run at second and winning run at first, but the game ended on a comebacker to the circle.
The loss stung, of course, but it was hard for Jackson to be angry. She called the game “a great measuring stick” for her team and how it compares to the other SJ Group I contenders Heights plays regularly in the Colonial Conference.
Despite the loss, Pennsville (11-3) remained the No. 1 team in the South Jersey Group I power points standings. Haddon Heights (6-2) moved into the No. 1 spot in South Jersey Group 2 after the win.
“You go out there and you’re swinging and you put it all on the line and walk away,” Jackson said. “Even with what we had with the loss you can still be proud, if you go out and give it 110 percent and you play your good game. Sometimes you come out on the short end of the stick; unfortunately, that’s just a part of the game. From today’s loss I want them to take the positive into tomorrow.”
The Eagles play their fourth game in four days Thursday against Gloucester Catholic in a big TCC Classic Division game.
KINGSWAY 10, WOODSTOWN 2: Lila Bowling’s leadoff homer in the second inning gave Woodstown an early lead, but the Dragons (7-0) answered with three in the third and put a competitive game out of reach with five in the seventh. Ava Snyder gave up three hits and struck out 12 over six innings for the top-ranked team in the South Jersey Group 4 power points standings.
CUMBERLAND 19, SALEM 2: The first 16 batters off the bus for the Colts reached safely and 12 scored to decide this one. Lizzy Pflieger had two run-scoring hits in that first inning and finished with three hits and three RBIs. Salem had three hits – a double by Isla Bohn and singles by Kyla Henderson and Rylee Doerr.
SALEM COUNTY BASEBALL Woodstown 3, Collingswood 2
Rocco String homered on the first pitch of the fifth inning for what was at the time was an insurance run that ultimately became the winning run
It was his first homer or the season and eighth in 203 career at-bats.
Woodstown starter Aaron Foote was perfect through three innings before that Panthers broke up the gem with the first of three singles in the fourth inning that produced their 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines rallied to take the lead in the bottom of the inning on Tommy Tucci’s sacrifice fly and a bad throw by the pitcher on Lucas Fulmer’s grounder. String extended the lead in the fourth.
Foote gave the Wolverines 5 2/3 solid innings and Michael Valente came behind him with 1 1/3 innings of perfect relief. They ended the game on a hard-charging play by shortstop Tucci, who snagged a chopper over Valente’s head and threw on to first in the same motion for the final out.
GOLF Gateway 193, Salem Tech 207
Alton Rattle (44) and Daniel Romero (45) shot the two low rounds to lead Gateway to its first win of the season. Mason Griffith (47) had Salem Tech’s low round.
Riverview Sports News 