When Brick Township and Brick Memorial baseball teams square off in their annual showdown at BlueClaws Stadium in Lakewood 4 p.m. Sunday evening, the game is expected to still hold that intensity that comes with the crosstown rivalry, even though it lost a little luster when both teams were bounced from the Ocean County Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday.
Both teams came into the season with high expectations and still are in contention for NJSIAA and Shore Conference Tournament berths. But Brick Township was foiled in its bid to regain the Ocean County Tournament championship it won two years ago when Lacey scored a 4-1 victory at Brick’s home field on Saturday. It is believed to be Lacey’s first advance to the OCT semifinals.
Brick Memorial (5-6) also fell in the quarterfinals to streaking Toms River East, which pulled out a 4-3 victory on a delayed double-steal with two out in the fifth inning for its 11th straight victory after an opening-day loss.
As a result, Sunday’s game also is important because both teams need to keep winning to make the other two tournaments that Brick Township missed for the first time in recent years. The state tournament cutoff is Friday, but the Shore Conference Tournament cutoff is Monday.
Brick Township (6-5) snapped a five-game losing streak in its county tournament opener earlier on Saturday when it hammered Manchester, 11-1, in a game stopped after five innings because of the 10-run rule. Junior left-hander F.J. Lucchetti was the fortunate recipient of the hitting onslaught for his fourth victory in five decisions. Bill Winters led the barrage with three doubles for five RBIs.
Brick Township continued to hit the ball hard, but right at opposing fielders in its loss to Lacey. Mike Murano parted with seven hits in taking the loss. He struck out nine and walked three to fall to 1-3.
“I don’t think we could have hit the ball any harder,” said Brick Township coach Jason Groschel. “We hit the ball well but right at people.”
Early last week, Brick Township lost to Jackson, 8-6, to fall into a tough position to win the Shore Conference A South title with four league losses. Dan Gallagher had two hits for two RBIs as Brick Township battled back, trimming a 5-0 deficit to 5-4. Bill Winters took the loss.
Brick Township’s softball team, meanwhile, also was eliminated in the Ocean County Tournament quarterfinals by Central, 4-3, in nine innings. Elizabeth Erbig, the tough-luck losing pitcher, forced the extra innings when she lashed a bases-clearing double in the last inning. Central improved to 10-3 while Brick Township fell to 4-7 and finds itself in a desperate situation for victories in its games leading up to Friday’s state tournament cutoff.
– Wayne Witkowski