South baseball swinging for it all

Mauro homers as Pirates knock PHS from MCT

By: Justin Feil
   Anthony Mauro looks as though he’s swinging for the fences every time he’s at bat. Saturday, his big cut delivered a home run in a five-run first inning as West Windsor-Plainsboro High South topped Princeton High, 9-0, in both team’s Mercer County Tournament opener.
   "If you get on top early, you can relax the rest of the game," said Mauro, who went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in. "That’s what we tried to do.
   "I’d never faced (PHS’ Kevin Peterson). Of all the pitchers we faced, he was the slowest and we just had to wait on it. It was an outside pitch and I took it to right field."
   The home run was the first of Mauro’s varsity career, though he had hit four-baggers as a junior varsity player at South Brunswick. He moved to WW-P South before last year, but his playing time was limited.
   "I didn’t have a place to play last year," Mauro said. "I was new to this school and we had a lot of athletes. I got my chance to play this year and I proved I could play."
   With the graduation of Dan Portnoy, Jeff Patterson and Justin Muir, the outfield was less packed this season, and Mauro has fit in well in right field while being a power threat every time he steps to the plate.
   "He’s a strong kid," said WW-PS head coach Don Hutchinson. "He takes a big swing no matter what the count. He hits the ball hard. He’s doing adequately in the outfield. He hasn’t botched any plays. He made a diving catch the other day in the Lawrence game. He hasn’t hurt us out there. And anytime you can get a big bat like that in the lineup, that’s good."
   It’s given a fairly loaded Pirates team just what they need — another weapon. With Saturday’s win, WW-PS improved to 9-1 while PHS dropped to 1-9. The Pirates will play Notre Dame, which topped Hun, 3-2, in eight innings despite RBIs from Jack Martin and Matt Stillitano, 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Mercer County Park in the MCT quarterfinals. In other action, Jono Chirumbolo pitched a five-hitter in a 9-2 win over Nottingham. They’ll play McCorristin 3:30 p.m. Saturday also at MCP.
   For the Pirates, Notre Dame is their next hurdle as they try to defend their county crown, but they don’t want to start looking ahead too early to a rematch with the Fighting Irish, who they topped, 5-3, in their season opener.
   "I was very impressed with them the first game," Hutchinson said. "They put guys on base and just made a couple baserunning blunders. They’re one of the most talented teams we’ve played. It’s going to be pretty tough. They’re a heck of a 10-seed.
   "In the (county) tournament, you have to have a solid four-game streak, or three to get to (the final). But we have a big couple weeks coming up. We have to focus on this week first. We have five games this week. We’ll start to think about Notre Dame Friday night."
   With a Major League-type stretch, it’s hard to keep the tournament games apart from the regular-season games.
   "To me," Mauro said, "they all blend together. You just try to win them all. The tournament’s a little different. If you lose, you’re done. You can’t take anyone lightly. You have to play everyone hard.
   "The goal’s pretty much the same," he added. "You want to play as best you can, go as far as you can, don’t leave anything behind. We’re trying to go for the gold this year."
   And other than an early-season loss to Hunterdon Central, the Pirates have been right on target for another load of honors after winning the Central Jersey Group IV championship and the county titles as well as the regular season Colonial Valley Conference championship.
   "Everyone talks about the tournaments, but I think winning the conference championship is a bigger accomplishment," said Hutchinson, whose squad hosts Hopewell Valley today. "It shows more consistency. To win a tournament, you have to have everything go right. You have to be lucky and good. We were both last year."
   So far this season, the Pirates have been a model of consistency. WW-PS was up to its usual with timely hitting and solid pitching and defense against Princeton on Saturday. It’s what Hutchinson likes to see from his experienced group.
   "There wasn’t anything more other than continuing to score and finishing them off (in five innings)," Hutchinson said. "We’ve been pretty consistent with our pitching and we’ve had really good fielding. That’s been our main strength — our fielding. That’s what keeps us in games."
   "One of my top priorities is definitely fielding," said Mauro who kicked for the football team. "I have a strong arm. I need to help out the team. It’s starting to come around again. I’m doing what I can to help the team."
   His home run on Saturday was just the latest big bang to help push the Pirates to their ninth win of the year while keeping alive their chances to repeat as county champions.
   "We still think we have something to prove," Mauro said. "A lot of teams think that last year could be a fluke. We’re trying to prove it wasn’t as best we can.
   "We’re definitely getting there. We’re not in full stride yet. Our bats are coming alive and our pitching is coming alive."
   And that makes WW-P South a dangerous baseball team with as much potential as one of Anthony Mauro’s full swings.