The Central New Jersey Home News from New Brunswick, New Jersey • 33

PAGE C9 IT" To report scholastic scores call between 5 and 8 p.m. at (908) 246-5500, i ext. 7233, 7234, 7324, 7334 or 7335 Call Pressto For local sports scores call Pressto (908) 545-6000, touch 8802 DdqdgHs mw uuu dwmtd SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 1997 ft I Cougars' pitcher throws two-hitter at Sayreville By RICH HALEY STAFF WRITER EAST BRUNSWICK In the biggest game, Pat Pepe pitched his best pme. The senior right-hander fired a four-hit shutout to send Cranford to a 2-0 victory over Sayreville yesterday in the NJSIAA Group III championship game, played before a standing-room-only crowd at East Brunswick Tech. The state championship is the first for Cranford (27-2) since winning Group IV in 1971.

Sayreville ended its season with a 19-4 record. Pepe made it happen by outdueling Sayreville starter Nick Spiewak (9-3) in a battle of four-hitters. Pepe, tHrCIiUlir II who finished the I son 7-1, walked two and hit a batter and MARK R. SULLIVANStaff photographer A 1 1 V- Bound Brook pitcher Heather Yarashas winds up as she delivers a pitch against wallington in Group I softball title game yesterday. Bound Brook ends a perfect season UKANI-UKU cmvdcuiiic ran8 UP 10 strike outs.

"This is the best game I've pitched all year," said Pepe, who gave up two hits over the last five innings. "It was the biggest game I've ever been in and my best game, and my first shutout of the year. I was nervous." It showed in the first inning, when Pepe loaded the bases with one out by walking Mike Popowski and Mark Duggan around a single to Jim Osmond. That forced pitching coach Dennis McCaffrey to make a trip to the mound. "Pat has done this before.

He's really nervous and not ready, and not in command of his pitches," Cranford head coach Jamie Shriner said. "But you can tell when he settles down." The conference at the mound settled down Pepe. He struck out John Nuber and Ken Hays back-to-back to end the inning. In the second inning he escaped a first-and-second, one-out jam with a strikeout and a flyout to the wall in right field by Popowski. Pepe, who overpowered Sayreville most of the time with his fastball, is one of those pitch-ers you have to score on early to beat.

The Bombers didn't, stranding five baserunners in the first two innings. "I felt the first inning was the hardest ning," said Pepe. "To get through that, I was fine the rest of the way." Pepe retired the lead-off hitter in all seven innings. Spiewak did not. Cranford's lead-off men reached base in five of the first six innings.

Spiewak walked seven and struck out five and gave up one earned run. He walked Greg Bazilus to start the first inning and gave up a hard-hit RBI double to left-center by Chris Baran. Spiewak got out of it without further damage with a strikeout, a po-pout and Popowski gunned down Baran trying to steal third. BISHOP EUSTACE WINS SLUGFEST MIKE NIXON'Statf photographer Immaculata can't dig witz struck out batters. With two outs and two on, Jaime Micklos and Yarashas drove in a run apiece on back-to-back singles, giving Bound Brook the margin of victory.

Yarashas who had already whiffed the side in the third did the rest. She allowed just one hit over the last three innings, including career strikout no. 600 to close the fifth inning. "I was throwing pretty good," she said. "I wanted perfection on every pitch because it was my last game.

It didn't happen, but that's what I was thinking." The Crusaders also needed one huge play in the field to help get them over the top. That came in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, a runner on second and Bound Brook leading 1-0, center fielder Jen Zappulla fielded an errant throw in right center and fired a perfect strike home to catcher Kate Jannuzzi, who tagged out Wallington's Julie Vierzhalek as she tried to slide in for the tying run. "That was perfect," Kania said of the play, whibx seemed to deflate the Panthers. "It was a super peg and Kate did a good job of getting the out." Also helping the Crusaders was an aggressive strategy that resulted in seven stolen bases.

It was another example of how everything the Crusaders did clicked to perfection. "You could feel the pressure," Kania said of the team's mood prior to the game. "Nobody wanted to make the screwup that costs you an unbeaten season and a state championship." No such mistakes were anywhere to be found yesterday. As a result, the Crusaders were the ones mobbing one another in a tear-filled postgame victory celebration. "The seniors are all a little emotional," Yarashas said.

"I didn't want the last inning to stop. I just wanted to play and play." WALLINGTON (21-5) BOUND BROOK (31-0) OOOOOO 00 32 010 200 3 6 1 2B: BB Calderone 2: Zanetti; RBI: BB Jannuzzi. Micklos, Yarashas. WP Yarashas (29-0); LP Pietrowitz (20-5). fall one run inning, JFK came back to take a 10-8 lead after four innings.

Hanover Park cut that lead to one on the sixth, then took the lead and the game in the seventh. Sean Atchison kept JFK from adding another piece of hardware to its trophy case. After surrendering a run-scoring double in the fourth to the first batter he faced JFK's Joe Massimino Atchison retired the next seven in a row. A hard-throwing sophomore southpaw, Atchison (8-1), fanned seven, including the side in the sixth, to raise his season total to 72 Ks in 57 innings. JFK's Maddock, the starting pitcher, was nearly as effective.

Maddock surrendered only two earned runs and four hits in a 4V3-inning By JERRY CARINO STAFF WRITER DOVER TOWNSHIP "First to start, last to finish" is the motto of the Bound Brook High School softball team. The words were fitting in yesterday's Group I softball final, as the Crusaders finished off Wallington 3-0 to capture their third Group I title in four years and conclude the first undefeated season in the school's illustrious softball history. From the first pitch to the final out against Wallington, the North Jersey Section 1 champ, coach Steve Kania's Crusaders showed why thev played 31 BOUND BROOK WALLINGTON 3 0 games this spring and won them all. Senior pitcher Heather Yarashas, who of-- fered yet another mound masterpiece in her final high school game, got things started by fanning Wallington leadoff batter Kim Downs. She would strike out nine more before the game's end while giving up just three hits and one walk to raise her mark to 29-0.

"This is tremendous for us," Yarashas said afterwards, fighting back tears. "Never was our goal to go undefeated. We've worked as a family and we all came together." Kania was less emotional but equally nostalgic about a season where everything went right. "This is beyond my wildest expectations," he said. "You need a little luck, and you need kids who stick together and work hard.

That's what they did." At the plate, Bound Brook needed just six hits to get the job done. The first came in the bottom of the second, when senior shortstop Eleana Calddbone belted a two-out double. Freshman Liz Jannuzzi followed with an RBI single to make it 1-0. Calderone got things going again in the fourth with a leadoff double down the left-field line. Jannuzzi then walked and stole second before Panther pitcher Tara Pietro- JFK's rallies By JOSEPH SKREC STAFF WRITER DOVER TOWNSHIP John F.

Kennedy High School's baseball team came up one comeback short of winning a state championship yesterday. Despite a pair of five-run rallies and a strong relief pitching HANOVER PK. J.F. KENNEDY 11 10 performance from Chris Maddock, the Mustangs suffered an 11-10 setback to Hanover Park in the Group II state championship final at Toms River High School East. After falling behind by five runs in the first pile on to each other in celebrating over Sayreville yesterday.

pected be a teammate of Popowski's at Rutgers next year, got Popowski to ground out to shortstop Fionn Fitzgerald for the final out. "I thought in the last three or four innings (Pepe) started throwing harder than he did in the first four," Spiewak said. "He's a great pitcher and they're a great team. But we were 19-4 and have nothing to be ashamed of." SAYREVILLE (19 4) CRANFORD (27-2) 000 000 0 04 1 100 010X 2 0 2B C-Baran 3B S-Shaver RBI C-Baran WP Pepe (7-1). LP Spiewak (9 3).

out of hole Since the sectional final was shifted from Tuesday to Wednesday because of rain, this game, as well as most state finals played yesterday, was a matchup of No. 2 pitchers. Eustace won out in that department as 7-0 Drew Chiesa (5V3 innings) and Mike Maley (l23 innings) gave up just six hits. But four of those hits went over the fence, which raised the Spartans' home run total to 67 on the season. "Their pitchers did the job and their defense made some great plays as well," said Gambino.

"We just gave them too much early and you can't do that against a great team." Please see Slugfest, page C5 MARK R. SULLIVANStaff photofnphei 0 J.F. Kennedy's Chris Buglovsky watches the flight of his two-run home run in second inning against Hanover Park. i Members of the Cranford baseball team their Group III baseball championship win The Cougars' second run was unearned in the fifth. Second baseman Mark Duggan's wide throw on a ground ball couldn't be handled by shortstop Rob Wrobel and Andy Jobe scored from second base on the error.

A walk loaded the bases with one out, but Spiewak shut the door. Pepe retired nine in a row to reach the seventh inning with two outs. Bill Shaver tripled to center to keep it alive and bring up Popowski, Sayreville's leader in batting, home runs and RBI, representing the tying run. Pepe, ex crown in 1995, completes its season at 27-3, while Eustace, which captured BISHOP EUSTACE 9 IMMACULATA 7 its fifth parochial state crown (first in A), winds up 30-3. "We gave them too much too early in the game," said Immaculata coach Tom Gambino, whose four pitchers combined for 10 walks.

"The walks hurt us and that's something we haven't done all year. "We didn't like just getting to this game, we really wanted to win it, but the kids didn't give up. They battled right until the end." took an 8-5 lead. NaDolitano singled, Tim Si- monitis walked, and Chris Buglovsky singled to load the bases. WJith two out, senior Rob Castellucci walked to force in a run and Johnson followed with a wind-aided double to put JFK up 9-8.

Up stepped Massimino, who delivered nearly the exact same hit to nearly the exact same spot for a two-run advantage. "We weren't surprised to see Kennedy come back," said Hanover Park coach Dave Minsavage. "Any time a team wins 22 games you know they have the ability to fight." So did Hanover Park, which scored an unearned run the fifth after a pair of JFK in Please see Mustangs, page CIO By JOHN HALEY STAFF WRITER DOVER TOWNSHIP Immaculata High School baseball team has specialized in home-run hitting all season. The Spartans put on a longball show yesterday against Bishop Eustace in the Parochial A state final, but it wasn't quite enough. Despite cranking out four homers, including a pair by Jack Cust, first-round pick in the recent Major League draft, the Spartans couldn't dig themselves out of an early hole as the Crusaders for a 9-7 victory at Toms River High School North.

Immaculata, which won the Parochial short to Hanover Park stint. Before Atchison put out the fire, Kennedy's bats were sizzling during a pair of rallies. "I reminded (the Mustangs) we were down 7-0 against Monroe," said Kennedy coach Jerry Smith, whose club rallied to beat its division rival last month. "We had 18 outs left. I said 'Don't quit, especially with the way the wind was blowing to right field." The Mustangs listened to their coach.

Comeback No. 1 came with JFK down 5-0. Johnson, Massimino and Matt Buglovsky walked to start the second, and first baseman Craig Napolitano followed with a bases-clearing double. One out later, Chris Buglovsky clouted a two-run homer to tie the score at 5. Comeback No.

2 occured after the Hornets.