Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 41

COURIER-POST, Sunday, June 7, 1998 13C I. .1. II .1, I Thompsons shot lifts City i A fJT' it: 7 7 By DAVID EVANS Courier-Post Staff TOMS RIVER No offense. It was the top of the fifth inning of the Group 1 state softball final between Burlington City High School and Cedar Grove on Saturday at Toms River East. The score was tied.

There were two outs. City was threatening with two runners on base and Theresa Davison at the plate. Cedar Grove decided to walk Davison and pitch to Erin Thompson. None taken. Thompson laced a single down the right-field line, knocking in two runs.

With the lead, Burlington City piled on eight more runs as the Blue Devils earned their, first state title with a 15-5 victory. "I'm more comfortable in pressure situations. I like the pressure," Thompson said. "Two outs is my forte I hit the ball best in that situation. "I wasn't mad.

Theresa probably would have cleared the bas Davison then launched the ball deep between left and center, and it kept going. "I really thought we were capable of hitting the ball," Burlington City coach George Masters said. "Once Theresa hit the home run, I think it got contagious." An inning later, with Andrea Haggard crossing the plate for the tying run and the same two on board, Michaels walked Davison intentionally to load the bases for Thompson. "I was surprised. It was a show of respect," Davison said.

"Everything started clicking then. We knew we could hit (Michaels)." That move gave an old friend to chance to play hero. Davison, Thompson and pitcher Olivia Faulkes had been teammates on traveling teams years before high school. "It was awesome. It felt really good," Davison said.

"We've been playing together for a long time." Cedar Grove, the North I champion, opened the scoring with a three-run second. Cathy Fitzpatrick walked and scored on Kristine Sinisi's triple. Sinisi scored when Jessica Locascio reached second on an error and Locascio scored on Kelly Sinisi's single. Burlington City got a run back in the top of the fourth, but Cedar Grove answered with two in the bottom half on an RBI single by Megan Clark. Davison made a diving attempt on that shallow-center blooper, but the ball popped out of her glove.

"That 5-1 lead was kind of scary there for a little bit," Davison said. With the Blue Devils back in the game in the fifth, Faulkes pitching with a brace on her right leg thanks to a torn anterior cruciate ligament seemed to bear down and handle the Cedar Grove lineup. She didn't allow a runner past second base in the final three innings. es. When Burlington City, 18-2 and ranked 12th in the fourier-Post Top 20 Poll, had advanced to the state final with a 6-4 win over Montgomery on Thursday, it was already one step beyond what the team had done last season.

On Saturday, City's offense got in sync in the fourth. Cedar Grove pitcher Liz Michaels had kept Thompson, a senior first baseman, and most of the City team off-balance for most of four innings while building a 5-1 lead. "We're a good batting team. We scored a lot of runs Ihis year," Thompson said; "I think our problem was adjusting to her style." Davison, however, was on the senior center fielder had doubled in the fourth and scored on Lisa Fronczkiewicz's single, and closed the gap to 5-4 with a three-run home run in the fifth. In the Blue Devils' first true rally in the fifth, Kristen Bohn-berger and Heather Fronczkiewicz reached base on infield singles.

5' lv. By Peter Ackerman, Gannett News Service Rare run: Cedar Grove's Denise Fitzpatrick slips by Burlington City catcher Lisa Fronczkiewicz to score. City won 15-5. ALL ROADS LEAD TO SacredHeart on small end Sn title game -j 1 3 TURlttlSRSVIIJLlS li Ifc I AtJnrRIIKFRC 4 Door Sedan, Auto. Air PI Steering, PBrakes, 4 Cylinder, PWindows, Ik TO CHOOSE! rl LOCKS, AMrlvl btereo, V1N WU1 8o9 1 MoHr $20,852 36 month closed end lease.

Total due at inception $3,500 plus tax tags. TOP $7,524, 12,000 milesyear, mi. overage. BELM3 By MIKE BALLARD Courier-Post Staff EAST BRUNSWICK -The Sacred Heart High School baseball team rode a magic carpet into the Group state championship game Saturday. Yet in a season of major accomplishments, the smallest plays proved too big for the Lions to overcome.

St. Mary scored four times in a fifth-inning rally, where the first five batters couldn't get the ball out of the infield. The Gaels padded their lead on a two-run sixth-inning homer by winning pitcher Lou Wieben and survived Sacred Heart's seventh-inning rally to defeat the Lions 7-6 for the Group title. It was the first state baseball title for St. Mary (22-5) since back-to-back Group crowns in 1976-77.

It capped a tremendous day for the Rutherford-based school, which also captured the Group state softball title. "I'm not taking anything away from them," said Sacred Heart coach Don Rob-bins, whose 21-8 team set a school record for victories. "They had four infield hits. How often does that happen? They put the ball in play, and that's what good teams do. The home run was a hard-hit ball, but other than that it seems like we were snake-bitten.

They're on a magical ride, and maybe that's what it was." Nowhere was that magic more evident than in the top of the fifth inning, moments dfter Sacred Heart parlayed five hits including RBI singles by Brian Stringari, Keith Bernhardt and Matt Barber into three runs to grab a 3-1 lead. Gaels third baseman Mike Piscitelli, whose pair of hits in the game didn't appear to travel 90 feet combined, started the frame with a short bleeder that hugged the third baseline and stayed fair. Anthony Marrone followed with a fielder's choice grounder, but Piscitelli was safe at second when Lions shortstop Anthony Gioielli was ruled off the base on the force play. Dennis Hulse loaded the bases with a bunt single and Wieben was hit by a pitch, making it a 3-2 game. Joe Reid's ground out tied the score and Mickey Hulse ripped a two-run single up the middle, giving St.

Mary the lead for good. "I've been stressing to my kids that you've got to put the ball in play," said Gaels coach John Farley, referring to the strange inning. "Strikeouts aren't going to do it, so choke up on the bat with two strikes and just put the ball in play. Those things happen. That's part of the game.

That's what makes baseball interesting." Wieben (11-1) added a two-run homer in the sixth off losing pitcher Justin Cheesman (6-4). It was a big hit, because the Lions rallied in the seventh on back-to-back singles by Matt Tambellini and Cheesman and a three-run homer by Kevin Konschak, who also singled and scored earlier. Mickey Hulse relieved Wieben and immediately got into trouble when he missed tagging first base, allowing Gioielli to leg out an infield grounder to the right side. "You can't always be the best, but you can always try your best, and that's what we did," Robbins said. QTJB 4 1 Jlllfr.T.f.IL J.lf.l Tl It I I ,1 If ill 1 TTTTnTVTfPPWI 1 it if '1 -t i JTiTt, rr r.

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AMFM 32,274 AMFM Cass 17 341 Mi Tilt AMFM 26.978 AMFM 38,490 RY005231-F VIN SH520311TP VIN TA086512-FP VIN VU785533-TP VIN V2145642-TP SU008660-TP 1 3,995 $14,995 1 5,995 $1 8,995 I $18,995 1 9.995 Continued from Page 12C Ould have been caught but instead produced a 1-0 lead. 'The fielders said they lost the ball off the bat and couldn't pick it up in time to make the play." Tropiano said. The first one glanced off Renter fielder Stambolian's glove. Actually the windblown fly wound up closer to left field than center, One out later, Kibler's fly ball found right fielder Mike Appalucci, who was playing shallow, turning the wrong Iway and unable to recover in Jtime to make the catch. Bishop Eustace got that 'run back in the third and Jhad a potential go-ahead run gunned down on a perfect throw by Green Knights center fielder Todd Okolov-tch, who nailed Craig Rutter at the plate.

With one out, Italiano jsingled to begin the Crusad-im' tying rally. He stole vSecond and stayed there as Gallo fanned Stambolian for ihe second out. Rutter and bases. Voelker sent a base hit up the middle to score Italiano, but Rutter was thrown out to end the inning. St.

Joseph's took the lead in the sixth inning when Dan Distaulo doubled to the center-field fence and reached third on an errant pickoff attempt. With no outs, Tropiano brought his infield in. Rutter, the shortstop, made a run-saving stop on a ball hit by Kibler and threw him out. Graziano followed by laying down a perfect bunt toward first that Sauer fielded and threw late to the plate. "It was a tough loss," said Sauer, who was selected on the eighth round of the amateur baseball draft last week by the Florida Marlins and must decide between that offer (when it comes) and a full-ride scholarship to Clemson.

"We played our best. We had a couple runners thrown out at third but we've played aggressive all year)".