Softball, baseball teams from Pennsville, Schalick all clinch pieces of Tri-County division titles with wins around the region; Woodstown baseball gives DeCastro 100th career win

BASEBALL
Clayton 20, Salem 14
Woodstown 9, Overbrook 3
Pennsville 5, Wildwood: 3
Schalick 27, Penns Grove 4
SOFTBALL
Clayton 17, Salem 6
Schalick 20, Penns Grove 2
Woodstown 13, Overbrook 6
Pennsville 12, Wildwood 6
TENNIS
Pennsville 4, GCIT 1
Williamstown 3, Penns Grove 2

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — The biggest rule in playing sports is always be ready because you never know when your number will be called. If that’s the golden rule, the silver rule is control what you can control … and if you happen to get some outside help along the way that’s, well, gravy.

Pennsville softball followed both rules to the letter Thursday in beating Wildwood 12-6 to clinch their third straight Tri-County Classic Division title and second straight outright.

The Eagles (11-4, 8-0 Classic) went into the day with a chance to clinch the division by beating the Warriors and a Pitman win over Gloucester Catholic. Both results happened, giving the Eagles a three-game lead in the loss column with two division games to play, but the only game the Eagles worried about was the one right in front of their dugout.

“I wasn’t really paying attention who was playing what; I didn’t say anything to them about it,” Eagles coach Beth Jackson said. “We talk about the controllables. You can only take care of yourself individually and how you react and what you do. I’ve been telling myself that a lot. In life you can only control what you can do. You can’t control anybody else. You can’t control the strike zone. You can’t control what the other team does. You have to focus on you and what you can do and at the of the day we have to focus on what we do and what they do as a team.

“Help always helps, but first and foremost you have to take care of business with your own and then if there’s other help that’s great. But if you can take care of business yourself that’s your main focus because you want to take care of it yourself.”

Graillyn Weber was scheduled to start in the circle for the Eagles, but she felt too sore to be effective and 10 minutes before first pitch Savannah Guglielmo was moved from left field to the circle and four positions in the lineup shifted. Jackson said it was the first time in her 17 years as coach she can remember making that late a pitching switch. Luckily, all three Pennsville pitchers warm up before games for just such a contingency.

It was Guglielmo’s fourth career start and third this year, but first in such a significant game. The sophomore right-hander went all seven innings, giving up five hits, walking six and tying a career-high with nine strikeouts. Jackson said she did a “nice job.”

“I knew she could do it,” Weber said.

“When I’m warming up I’m always trying to make sure I’m focused just in case something happens like one of these moments, last minute,” she said. “I always try to set goals for myself during a game especially things last minute. Today it was make sure I throw strikes. I just tried to stay calm and into the game.”

Of course, it’s a lot easier to pitch when you have the kind of lineup Pennsville puts on the field. Virtually every time the Warriors scored, the Eagles came back the next half inning to put up a crooked number.

The Warriors scored a run in the second to tie the game 1-1, the Eagles put up four in the bottom of the inning. The Warriors got two in the fourth to make it 5-4, the Eagles got them back when they came in to bat. They eventually broke it open with four in the fifth after their first five hitters all reached safely.

Although she didn’t pitch, Weber still played — at short, moving Avery Watson to third – and came within an extra Wheatie at breakfast of hitting three balls out of the park. She still had a pair of doubles to the warning track that drove in three runs. “I do that all the time,” she said. “I need to start doing pushups or squats or something.”

Kylie Harris had three hits, including a solo homer in the first inning and her 48th career double. Kelsey Cook had two hits at the bottom of the lineup.

“I’m honestly never worried,” Guglielmo said. “I feel like you just have to have confidence throughout the game. You’ve just gotta stay calm and focus on the game and whatever happens happens. You just have to have confidence in yourself and your teammates.”

Wildwood	011	200	2-	6	5	4
Pennsville	140	241	x-	12	12	3

WOODSTOWN 13, OVERBROOK 6: Ellie Wygand continued to wield a hot bat for the Wolverines, going 4-for-5 with a three-run homer in the seventh inning. The Wolverines pulled away from a 6-5 lead with four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Kendall Young’s two-run single and a couple RBI ground outs. The top four hitters in the Woodstown lineup – Wygand, Talia Guardascione, Leah Clark and Young – were a combined 11-for-19 with eight RBIs. Madison LaPalomento drove in three runs from the 5-hole.

SCHALICK 20, PENNS GROVE 2: The Cougars scored nine runs in the first inning and went on to clinch their first Diamond Division title since 2021. They put 11 hits together with 11 errors and nine walks to score the win. The Cougars are now 7-0 in the division, hold a two-game lead in the loss column over Woodstown, their closest pursuer, and have one division game remaining. 

CLAYTON 17, SALEM 6: Gabrielle Searle had three hits and three RBIs and Lana Kastrava struck out 10 from the circle to lead the Clippers. The Rams scored two in the top of the first, but Clayton answered with four in the bottom of the inning and never lost the lead. The Rams cut their deficit to 8-6 in the third, but the Clippers got one back when they came in to bat and then broke it open with six runs in the fifth.

TCC DIAMOND	ALL	DIV	TCC CLASSIC	ALL	DIV
Schalick	11-3	7-0	Pennsville	11-4	8-0
Woodstown	9-7	4-2	Pitman	13-8	6-3
Glassboro	10-7	2-3	Wildwood	8-8	4-4
Overbrook	5-13	2-6	Gloucester Cath	7-8	3-3
Penns Grove	1-13	0-6	Clayton	5-10	2-5
			Salem	1-13	0-8

Baseball

PINE HILL — Woodstown pulled away from a tie game with seven runs in the third inning and four relievers allowed one run and four hits over the final four innings as the Wolverines beat Overbrook 9-3 and handed coach Marc DeCastro his 100th career coaching victory.

To commemorate the feat, the players presented their sixth-year head coach a poster and signed baseball. DeCastro is now 100-60 with a state championship in 2022. Thursday was his third attempt at the milestone win.

“Our kids have said things to me along the way and I kind of had an idea that they wanted to celebrate it some way,” he said. “I said something similar to this before, I don’t particular care about the accomplishment, but I care about the fact that the people that I coach care enough to want to celebrate it. At least that means to me that the relationship I have with them is a good one and one they want to be a part of something like that. Whether it means anything to me is kind of irrelevant. It’s important to them and anything that’s important to them is important to me.”

It wasn’t just another game. The Wolverines needed it to keep alive any hope they had of sharing the TCC Diamond Division title with rival Schalick. They remain one game behind the Cougars with one division game to play.

Luke Fraley had three hits to lead the offense. Noah Williams and Tommy Tucci had two hits apiece, while Walker Battavio and Ty Coblentz both had a pair of RBIs. 

Their big inning started by loading the bases on a walk and two singles. Tucci broke the tie with pop single. The Rams looked like they were going to get out of it, retiring the next two batters, but Chase Harding walked to force in a run, Battavio doubled home two, Luke Fraley singled home another and Coblentz singled home two.

“Even before the seven-run inning I thought every out we made was really good contact,” DeCastro said. “Any time you have a seven-run inning it’s surprising, but with the contact we had in the first and second innings we were going to score eventually, it just so happened we scored in a big bunch. Overall, it was probably one of the better offensive performances that we had.”

Blake Rodriguez worked the first three innings on the mound for Woodstown and gave up four hits, two runs and struck out three. He was followed to the hill by Talyn Priore, Tucci, Drew Sutton and Carter Smathers. 

The milestone adds on to the long-standing DeCastro family coaching legacy. His father was a long-time successful Haddon Heights American Legion baseball coach. His brother Jamie is a 700-game winner in basketball, and brother Greg coached in college. DeCastro credits them all with helping him develop into the coach he has become.

“I’ve learned a lot from the people who came before me,” he said. “My dad coached me my whole life. I was taught how to play the sport from him and then continued to learn as I got older from different people, paying attention to Jamie and learned how he goes about winning, big games and general character-based stuff. There’s a lot that goes on in our family of coaches.”

PENNSVILLE 5, WILDWOOD 3: The Eagles broke a 2-2 tie with three unearned runs in the fifth inning and Mason O’Brien basically gave them a quality start in relief as they completed a season sweep of the Warriors and clinched their fifth straight Classic Division crown.

The Eagles had runners at first and second with two outs in the fifth, then scored the go-ahead runs on a pair of errors on infield grounders hit by Stevie Fatcher and Logan Cooperthwait. Grady Sanders singled home the third run of the inning.

“It’s a great feeling to accomplish that against a good team on the road,” Pennsville coach Matt Karr said. “Today had a playoff game feel to it and it’s always fun to play in those type of games.”

Both teams scored twice in the first, with Wildwood knocking out Pennsville starter Logan Streitz with two outs. O’Brien put out the first with a strikeout and was unyielding the rest of the way. He pitched the final 6 2/3. scattering five hits, allowing an unearned run and striking out eight while walking only two.

“He pitched lights out,” Karr said. “He had to come in relief earlier than we expected and went the distance.”

SCHALICK 27, PENNS GROVE 4: The Cougars used a dominating performance in their fourth game in as many days to clinch at least a share of their second straight Diamond Division title. They hold a one-game lead over Woodstown with one division game to play.

The Cougars broke on top with nine in the first inning, then erupted for 15 in the second. Ten players had at least one hit, 10 scored at least one run and 11 drove runs home. Jamari Whitley went 3-for-4 with four runs and four RBIs. Ricky Watt had two hits and four RBIs. Evan Glaspey, starting pitcher Will Sieminski and J.T. Fleming all had three RBIs.

The Cougars were playing their fourth game in as many days. They’ve won all four. They were scheduled to play Collingswood Friday before taking on Clearview Saturday in the second round of the Diamond Classic — an MLB like six games in six days — but the game was reschedule for May 20.

CLAYTON 20, SALEM 14: The teams put on a scoring fest over the final three innings to rival their basketball series with the Clippers outscoring the Rams 19-8 over the stretch to win the game. Jaiden Keller and Jameson Emerle drove in five runs apiece for Clayton

The Rams scored all their runs on only three hits, but with the help of 12 walks, 11 hit batsmen and four errors. They got an inside-the-park grand slam in the fifth inning to answer the Clippers’ four runs in the top of the inning and take a 10-5 lead.

TCC DIAMOND	ALL	DIV	TCC CLASSIC	ALL	DIV
Schalick	13-5	6-1	Pennsville	11-6	8-0
Woodstown	11-7	5-2	Wildwood	13-7	5-2
Overbrook	8-9	4-4	Pitman	6-10	3-4
Glassboro	6-10	3-4	Clayton	5-10	2-5
Penns Grove	3-12	0-7	Salem	0-14	0-7

Tennis

WILLIAMSTOWN 3, PENNS GROVE 2
Ethan Torres (WI) def. Stuart Mondragon, 6-0, 6-1
Joshua Gailliout (WI) def. Anthony Pacheco, 6-0, 6-0
Sal Everhart (WI) def. Juan Ortiz, 6-3, 6-1
Jesus Arredondo-Doel Torres (PG) def. Ben Passaro-Brett Quintavalle, 6-4, 6-2
Jordan Hernandez-Fernando Palacios Lima (PG) def. Aryan Patel-Ayaan Patel, 6-0, 6-1
Records: Williamstown 5-7, Penns Grove 4-5.

PENNSVILLE 4, GCIT 1
Records: Pennsville 12-6, GCIT 1-15.

Golf

EGG HARBOR TWP. — Woodstown and Schalick both shot 260 as a team and finished tied for 33rd at the Carl Arena Memorial at Blue Heron Pines GC. Logan Jones shot Woodstown’s low round (83 with two birdies). Seth Fisher was low man for Schalick (82 with two birdies). Mainland won the boys title, while Moorestown won the girls crown.