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The Burlington County team showed great resilience in winning the 39th annual Carpenter Cup. The clincher was a 4-0 win over Chester County in the championship game at Citizens Bank Park.
This 16-team single elimination tournament of high school all-star teams from the tri-state area, is among the top events for any sport. The first two rounds are played down the street from Citizens Bank Park at FDR Park. The four quarterfinal winners then get the opportunity to compete at the Phillies stadium, where the semifinals and finals are staged.
What made this run more impressive is that Burlington County played without any of the members of Northern Burlington’s state Group 3 championship game.
That’s because NBC was involved in the state tournament, which ended the night before last Tuesday’s Carpenter Cup championship game.
In addition, one of its best pitchers, Cherokee lefthander Brett Gable, was unable to throw the entire tournament since he pitched 5 1/3 innings the previous Saturday in the Chiefs’ 6-0 Group 4 state title win over Westfield.
Yet Burlington County, guided by Shawnee head coach Brian Anderson, won its fifth Carpenter Cup title and first since 2019.
Burlington County received outstanding pitching and timely hitting.
Carpenter Cup games this season were seven innings for the first time. The games were nine innings the previous 38 years. Pitchers were allowed to throw a maximum of two innings per game.
Two pitchers from Bordentown, graduating senior Connor Collora, and junior Andrew Forster, each threw six innings of shutout ball during the tournament. Collora appeared in three of the four games, while Forster pitched in all four.
Cherokee graduating senior Josh Litsky pitched four shutout innings in two appearances, holding the opponents to a .077 batting average. Franklin Fernandez, a graduating senior from Pennsauken Tech, threw three scoreless innings in two appearances, while Cherokee graduating senior Henry Radbill, also had a 0.00 ERA, allowing one unearned run in two innings.
Litsky was 2-0 along with his 0.00 ERA. Shawnee junior Kayden Maybury was 1-0 with a 2.80 ERA in three appearances covering five innings.
Offensively, both Cherokee junior second baseman Brett Jackson and Burlington Township graduating senior shortstop Sean Heffernan hit .667. Jackson was 6-for-9 with five runs scored, two doubles, two triples and a team-best five RBI. He had a 1.333 slugging percentage.
Heffernan went 4-for-6 with one RBI and two stolen bases.
Cherokee sophomore Alex Odud, who went 2-for-7 (.286) hit the lone Burington County home run.
Burlington County opened with a 2-0 win over Pennsylvania’s Bux Mont as Collora, Fernandez and Maybury each pitched two shutout innings, while Foster threw one scoreless inning to earn the save. Rancocas Valley junior third baseman Connor Whitall and Odud, who hit a solo home run, each had one RBI.
Next was a 13-8 quarterfinal win over South Jersey’s Olympic/Colonial in which Burlington County overcame an 8-5 deficit after three innings.
Whitall had a triple and three RBI to lead the 12-hit attack.
In the semifinal, Burlington County broke open a close game with five seventh inning runs during a 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Catholic League.
Cherokee’s Jackson was 3-for-3 with two triples, two runs scored and two RBI. Collora started the game with two shutout innings.
In the 4-0 championship win over Chester County, Heffernan, Rancocas Valley sophomore leftfielder Jaylen Alvarez and Bordentown graduating senior shortstop Luke Guire each had one RBI.
Collora, Litsky and Forster each pitched two shutout innings, while Fernandez added one shutout inning.
The team will be honored on Aug. 4 before the Phillies game against the Baltimore Orioles.
Photo: County Carpenter Cup / Marc Narducci
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Author: Marc Narducci
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