Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 123

H14 Asbury Park Press Sunday, June 8, 1997 A nir To Report Scholastic Scores Call 1-800-822-9770 Ext. 4422, 4423 For Local Sports Scores Call Pressto (908) 918-1000 Touch 8802 NJSIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS WD MM. 4 1 arosz RBI single, Strada pitching give Knights title 4, Cy.Dl SCHUMAN JJs.WfrjF WRITER 5-pOVER TOWNSHIP Run-scoring opportunities had been Jarce when Wall's Tracey Yarosz came to the plate with two out Jhe sixth inning yesterday at Toms River High School North. f'jyarosz was in the on-deck Circle when Nicole Strada was hit by 4 MICHAEL SYPNIEWSKISttff Photograph Toms River North's Jay Cervenka is tagged out by Hackensack's Greg Cirmella on a squeeze try in the srxtri. Gold feels left in cold, but still shines irarn 1 7A 3 0 WALL RIVER DELL WALL RIVER DELL obrhM obrhbt 3100Modlgonss 30 0 0 90 11 Bortab 3 0 00 3 0 0 0 Smlthc 30 10 30 10 Oovlsp 30 10 SOIOCppchlonlrf 100 0 Strada YarouK i EnoUshss I Morion lb Sntglsdh a pitch, giving the Crimson Knights their third baserunner of the game.

River Dell pitcher Lindsay Davis had retired Yarosz on infield grounders in each of her first two at-bats. But this time Yarosz drilled Davis' first offering into the gap in left-center for a double, scoring Strada with the game's first run. Wall added two runs in the seventh and held on for a 3-0 victory and the first NJSIAA Group III championship in school history. "I just knew I had to find a hole somewhere, because Nicole got on and she was pretty much the win-, ning run right there," Yarosz said. "I just concentrated and drove it." Wall coach Tony Vodola said, "When Tracey hit that ball, I knew that she had two bases and with Nicole's speed, I knew I was sending Bower 2b-or0 100 Qulnn 26 3 0 0 0 tVvwvnn 1 A A Mrrnrttiw HAd By TONY GRAHAM i STAFF WRITER DOVER TOWNSHIP J.M.

Gold couldn't bear to look, Near the pitching mound, Hackensack players were celebrating their 5-3 victory over Toms River North in yesterday's NJSIAA Group IV championship game at Toms River High School East. In the Mariners dugout, Gold, the losing pitcher despite striking 8 and walking none, buried his head in hs hands. i Lord3b 3 0 0 0 Smith dh 2 0 0 0 1 Ferrtscf 3 0 1 0 ToMtirf 2 0 0 0 i MuWnsrf 2 0 1 2 SeWlerlf 2 0 0 0 i Tot 25 3 3 Tolali 24 0 2 0 000 001 2 -3 000 000 0 -0 Wall (24-4) River Dell (27.5) E-Strata Lor EnaJIsn, Modkjan. LOB WaH River DeU2B-Yorosi. HBP StrodaSAC-MUllraCopplchlonl.

IP RER BB SO Wol Strada (16-1). 7 2 0 0 2 4 Diver Del Dovt.4.(2M) 7 5 3 1 1 4 mm 1 I. HACKENSACK TOMS RIVER NORTH 5 3 "You look back on it you want to do better," said Gold, a junior right-hander. "But I tip my hat to theni. They hit the ball good." The Comets (27-7), who won their second Group IV crown in three years, did most of their hitting in the fifth inning, bunching 6 singles, including 2-run hits by Collin Roache and Eddie" Ec-celston.

HACKENSACK TOMS RIVER NORTH abrhM obrhbl 4 112 Adonis si 4010Pero2b 4 13 3 Pooonolf 4 0 0 0 Plper3b SOOOGoMp 3 110 Cervnkpr 3 12 0 Doyle rf 0 0 0 0 Duncan lb 3 0 10 Tutp pr lOlOFemdeicf 0 1 OOMotoyc 0 0 0 0 Corey pr 31 5 10 5 Totals Roochect Cormorgolf Ecc'stonss Senator rf Torres lb Rodrguez lb Everett 2b artncUac Hemdezdh Nunmckerp Porktonpr Totals 3211 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 40 2 0 3 0 00 0 0 0 0 2 110 1000 00 00 2011 2 0 ooo 34 3 5 2 The 4-run rally wiped put 1 ON 040 l-S 111 000 0-3 Hackensock(27-7) TRNorth(lt-ll) -a' 111 W. a 3-0 lead the Manners (18-11) had built on Greg Adams' first-pitch home run over the right-field fence in the bottom of the first inning, an RBI grounder by Albert Fernandez in the second and an error that PETER ACKERMAN E-Plper, RodrlgueL LOB-Hackensock 5, TR North 1 SB-Piper, Femandei 2. CS-Hemondez. HR-Ecdeston. RER BB SO Hackensack 7 i 3 1 TRNorfh 7 10 5 5 0 I I her.

You take your shot the sixth inning and if you score the run, the pressure's back on them. That's what we've done effectively all year. We've managed to make other teams have to match us defensively and offensively." The defense showed through in the bottom of the sixth when River Dell had the heart of its order coming up. Karen Smith's fly to center stayed up long enough for Wall's Abby Ferris to haul it in. That brought up Davis, the cleanup hitter who had hit the ball hard twice.

She hit a scorching line drive that had extra base potential. But Ferris took three steps to her right, extended her glove and grabbed it. line drives are hard to track down," Ferris said. "The "wind was a major factor on everything hit in the air. It was holding everything up, but that line drive shot right through the wind Jike you wouldn't believe." The Wall offense was back on the attack in the seventh.

Leah I Morton and Kristy Szeigis singled and Shannon Donovan reached on an infield error to load the bases with no one out. Davis re- tired Lord on a foul pop and Ferris attempted a safety squeeze, but River Dell first baseman Deirdre McCarthy threw Morton I out at the plate. i That left it up to freshman Marissa Mullins, who stroked a single past shortstop Tara Madigan that scored Jodi Bower (who ran for Szeigis) and Donovan. "I saw it coming in and I waited on it," Mullins said. "And I got it." Strada allowed just two hits none after the fourth inning struck out six and walked two, to close out her high school career with 67 wins.

knew if we kept them from scoring that eventually we'd break through," Strada said. "To end it like this is the best feeling in the world." Staff Photofrapher Above: Wall shortstop Beth English (left) and pitcher Nicole Strada mis-play a pop. Below: Kristy Szeigis (facing) hugs Shannon Donovan to celebrate the school's first softball title. allowed Erin Doyle to score in the third. Eccelston, a senior shortstop, had three hits and finished the season batting .547.

He added his 16th home run and his team's 57th of the year in the seventh when he rifled a solo shot over the right-field wall on an 0-2 pitch for the game's final run. "We had a little trouble with (Gold) in the beginning," Hackensack coach Rich Mauriello said. "That was probably the fastest throwing we've seen all year. But we've been able to hit any pitcher." Where the game slipped away from the Mariners was not the fifth or seventh innings, however, but the Winning pitcher James Nunnermacker (11-2), who struck AJ r2 ri Middletown South is nearly perfect in loss CLIFTON MIDDLETOWN SOUTH CLFTON MIDDLETOWN SOUTH obrhbl obrhM Tomolerocf 4 0 0 0 Klllevlb 3 110 Veechsi 4 0 0 0 ErDljcf 3 0 0 0 BosMklJb 3 0 0 0 BeH3O 3 0 0 0 Smlttllf 3 1 2 0 BorsokWMU 312 1 Tynlop SlOODorxleroc 3 0 0 0 Oorrato lt 3 112 Slmprmi It 3 0 0 0 Annktl 2t 3 0 0 0 MurtDo dh 3 0 0 0 Bonlwno JOllSttlwp 0 0 0 0 Doalc 0 0 0 0 SuWvon rf 2 0 0 0 Collierf 3 0 3 0 tgieslas 2b 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 Keppler pti 10 0 0 Totals 2B 3 7 3 Totals 25 2 3 1 St i i Srt- I is 7 fir' i 1 out three and walked five, walked Gold to open the inning. Doyle bunted for a hit, and an error on a sacrifice attempt by Mike Duncan loaded the bases with nobody out.

The substantial Mariner rooting section was in an uproar. But then everything that could go wrong, went wrong for Toms River North. Fernandez tapped a grounder on the right side that might have squirted through the infield, but instead struck pinch runner Guy Tulp between first and second base. Tulp was called out, Fernandez was credited with a base hit and the other runners returned to their bases, leaving the sacks loaded. Then a suicide squeeze attempt failed as Mark Maley was unable to make contact on a high pitch and pinch runner Jay Cervenka was out at the plate.

Maley walked to reload the bases but Adams flied to right to end the inning. "Bases loaded, no outs, I thought we'd at least tie it," said Toms River North coach Ted Schelmay. "We didn't Things happen. 1 "How often does a kid get hit by a baseball runninglthe; bases? Not often, but it's happened to us twice in Jwq games." An East Brunswick runner was out in a similar situation in the seventh inning of the Mariners' Group IV semifinal victory Wednesday. 1 "It's nobody's fault," Schelmay said.

"I didn't pitch my best game," said Gold, whose fastball was clocked by a big-league scout in the high 80s. tl "The team kept me in it," he said. "We just fell a little bit short." Toms River North "played a hell of a game and I'm pryd of these kids, real proud of them," Schelmay said. "I think Toms River is real proud of them. Look at trie crowd you had.

Look at everything around us. It was a great year for Toms River baseball. We're still playing June 7.tl'li take that again next year and any year I ever cqach." laid down or fallen apart because of that, but we didn't." Tynio finished with five strikeouts. "We came into the game hoping to stay at five or less strikeouts against Tynio," coach Tom Erbig said. "If we did that, we felt we'd be in the game, and we were right.

We were trying to stay in the game against a very solid club. "We wanted to keep it close, and maybe something good would happen if we did," he said. "That forces them to make the plays. It's not that we expected to lose. I would never go into a game with that attitude.

But we needed things to go well." Barsalona cracked a home run into the gap in right-center field to lead off the seventh, but Tynio, a junior, got the next three hitters on a groundout, strike out and ground out to finish the season at 25-0. The home run was Barsalona's eighth of the season and first to the opposite field. "If I was sitting in the stands, I would have been on the edge of my seat the whole game, no matter which team I was rooting for," LaDuke said. The game ended the scholastic careers of South seniors Betz, Kitley, pitcher Stacy Slater and second baseman Robyn Iglesias. CliftotValso had four senior By FRED SIEGLE STAFF WRITER DOVER TOWNSHIP Middletown South couldn't prevent Clifton from finishing with a perfect season, but the Eagles -Came close.

Clifton beat the Eagles 3-2 in the state Group IV championship game yesterday at Toms River High School East to finish with a 31-0 record. Middletown South finished at 22-4. "We've lived a dream this year," said Clifton coach Rick LaDuke. "As the season went on, there was a lot of pressure on these kids to finish unbeaten. They knew there was a lot on the line." "They were 30-0.

We had to come in with determination and see what we could do," said Eagles third baseman Jami Betz, "a senior. "It was a close game and we played well against them. We probably "surprised a lot of people out there." The Mustangs scored all their runs in the second inning, in part by taking tage of Middletown South's only error. Amanda Smith led off with a single up the jmiddle and went to second on a passed ball. Pitcher Laura Tynio reached on an error, sending Smith to third, then stole second.

Bobbi Jo Gonnello singled to right to bring home both runners, took second on the throw home, then went to third on Clifton (31-0) 030 000 0 -3 Middletown South (22-4) 100 000 1 -2 Smith, Anzoldl, Slater, DP Clifton 1. LOB Clifton Middle-town South 1. HR Borsolona RER BB SO Clifton TynlaW(25-0) 7 3 2 0 5 Middletown South Slater, (17-3) '7 7 3 0 0 3 BOB BIELKStaff Phofographtr Catcher Jen Dondero is down after watching failed rally. a ground ball to short. Gonnello scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Amanda Boniorno.

"A couple of mistakes in the second hurt us," said shortstop Aimee Barsalona, speaking also about mental errors by the Eagles. "We tried to pick it up at the plate after that, but we 3ust didn't come through with the bats." The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first as Mary Beth Kitley led off with a bloop single to center, then scored when center fielder Tamara Tinajero and left fielder Smith collided on a fly ball in the gap. "They started out with a hit then scored because of the collision," said LaDuke, whose team hki had only two other one-run games this season. "We could have.