SJ Sports: Diamond Recap

It's an old axiom that is true whether it's high school, college, the minor leagues or major league baseball. Pitching is 90 percent of the game. That certainly applied to Sterling, which captured the 29th annual Joe Hartman Diamond Classic over the weekend.

It was the first time the Silver Knights had won the 16-team single-elimination tournament, consisting of South Jersey's top teams. All season long, onlookers have talked in glowing terms about the depth of Sterling's pitching and the Silver Knights were worthy of that praise in the Diamond.

Coach Chris Carpenter has said all year that he has three No. 1 pitchers, juniors Adriano Petrutz, Karl Beckett and Mike Reagle. That is true in the sense that any of the three would be a certified No. 1 pitcher on many teams in South Jersey. Still, Petrutz would likely be named the No. 1 among the trio. What's impressive about the Diamond Classic championship is that Petrutz didn't pitch in any of the games. Sterling has used him for its state tournament and key Colonial Conference games.

Even without Petrutz, Sterling dominated a strong field. Appropriately, Beckett, who is righthanded, and the lefthanded Reagle, each won two of the Silver Knights games in the Diamond. Reagle got things started positively with an opening round 5-3 victory over Haddonfield. That was significant since it was Haddonfield which handed Sterling it's first and only loss of the season.

The following week it was Beckett's turn and he defeated Shawnee, 6-2. That's a Shawnee hard-hitting team that has advanced to the semifinals of the Group 4 tournament. Then this past weekend both Beckett and Reagle sparkled to both improve their records to 7-0. First up was Beckett in the semifinals, where he pitched one of the best games of the season in Sterling's 3-0 win over Mainland.

That game matched the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 teams in South Jersey. Mainland entered the contest with a 12-game winning streak and was playing as well as anybody in South Jersey, with the exception of Sterling. Beckett limited the potent Mustangs attack to four hits, all singles.

In the final, it was Reagle's turn and he pitched a complete game in a 10-4 win over Buena, the No. 3 team at the time in South Jersey. Reagle allowed three home runs, but the game was played in one of South Jersey's most noted bandboxes, Union Field in West Deptford, where centerfielder is only 350 feet from home plate. Holding a team with the offensive capability of Buena to just four runs in a hitter's ballpark, is a notable feat.

"We like to think with our pitching that we can be competitive with anybody we face," Reagle said. The pitching is what has given Sterling so much confidence. The offense, while not considered explosive, has more than done its job. For instance, Sterling was able to score 10 runs on a Buena team that hadn't yielded more than six to any other team this season. When Sterling jumped to a 7-1 lead after two innings, it put Reagle in a comfort zone.

"When you have that kind of early lead, it makes you relax more on the mound," he said. "Our offense did a great job."

So did the pitching, which is why Sterling is the latest Diamond champion. With all three pitchers returning next season, the Silver Knights won't relinquish that title very easily.

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Author: Marc Narducci