Hands In
What a year it was for high school baseball in South Jersey. Three teams from the seven-county area advanced to the state championship, and all three won.
In addition, South Jersey Group 2 champion Haddonfield lost an 8-6 state semifinal game to a Gov. Livingston team that ended 28-0 and was the No. 1 team in New Jersey according to NJ.com.
The three state champions were Gloucester Catholic in Non-Public B, Cherokee in Group 4 and Northern Burlington in Group 3.
Gloucester Catholic beat Pope John XXIII, 7-4 in the final, to finish 24-3. Cherokee defeated Westfield, 6-0 in the title game to end 28-3 and Northern Burlington was a 6-0 winner of Morris Knoll to finish 28-2, setting a single-season school record for wins.
What’s interesting is that the three teams went a combined 80-8 and two of the losses were to one of the other two. In the Joe Hartman Diamond Classic, Cherokee scored a 4-1 quarterfinal win over Gloucester Catholic. During a late regular season game, Gloucester Catholic was a 7-1 winner over Northern Burlington.
Gloucester Catholic’s toughest game was the state championship. A resilient Pope John team led 2-0 after two innings before the Rams began gaining their footing. The Rams cut it to 2-1 in the third on an RBI single by hit machine Braeden Lipoff and then got some needed breathing room with a five-run fourth inning.
Senior righthander Jackson Smallets, gutted out 6.1 innings to earn the win and finish his season 9-2. Smallets, who is headed to Coastal Carolina, pitched many of the big games this season for the Rams and responded with an outstanding senior season.
Cherokee’s toughest tournament game was not surprisingly against Olympic Conference American Division rival Eastern. The Chiefs earned a 5-4 win over Eastern in the South Jersey Group 4 final.
The two teams met twice in the regular season, with Cherokee winning 11-1 the first time, and Eastern coming back for a 2-1 win in 10 innings in the rematch.
In the state semifinal and final, Cherokee then outscored Hillsborough and Westfield by a combined 17-0. Henry Radbill pitched the shutout against Hillsborough and Brett Gable earned the win over Westfield, with Radbill, pitching the final 1.2 innings.
Northern Burlington, which was the Central Jersey Group 3 champion, had its two most difficult games to begin the sectional tournament, beating Red Bank Regional, 5-3 and Brick Township, 9-8.
Like Cherokee, NBC would win its state semifinal and state championship games over Toms River East and Morris Knolls, by a combined 17-0 total.
Luca Mannino pitched the complete game shutout in the state championship game, finishing the season 9-0 with a 0.72 ERA.
What can’t be comforting to future opponents is that all three South Jersey state champions bring back strong teams next season. While they may not win state titles, they also can’t be counted out.
These were the top three teams in South Jersey this year and it won’t be surprising if they start that way next season.
Photo: Northern Burlington / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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