Freehold Borough and Manalapan, moved into the second round of the Monmouth County Baseball Tournament with opening-round wins Saturday.
The Colonials beat Middletown North, 3-1, while Manalapan topped Red Bank Regional, 10-7.
Right-handerMatt Yuhas improved his record to 3-1 spinning a five-hitter in Freehold Borough. The three wins tie the senior for the most wins in the Shore.
The Colonials, the sixth seed, advanced to the quarterfinals with the win. They will play the winner of Christian Brothers Academy’s game with the winner of the Marlboro-Keansburg first-round tilt. That game must be played by Saturday.
The quarterfinals have to be played by May 3 and will on the home field of the higher seed.
Freehold Borough is 7-4 overall. James Frost, RyanKreskly and JoeQuinones have been sparking the Colonials offense.
Manalapan, seeded 10th, will play the winner of Shore Regional’s game with the Long Branch (18) and Red Bank Catholic (15) game. Shore is the No. 2 seed.
Ryan Harvey’s home run in the top of the eighth broke a 7-7 tie and catapulted the Braves to the second round. Cook picked up the win for the Braves.
Cook is second in the Shore Conference in home runs with three.
Colts Neck is the area’s highest-seeded team at No. 4. The Cougars, of course, have the one-two punch of Anthony De- Sclafani and Ethan Jackson at the top of the pitching rotation that can make the Cougars dangerous. The Cougars are 7-2 and drew a first-round bye. They will host the winner of the Raritan (13) and Holmdel (20) first-round contest.
Besides their strong pitching, the Cougars have been getting big seasons with the bat from Ashton Jackson (.563) and Tim Goldberg (.500).
Marlboro (3-6), seeded 14th, is on the upswing. The Mustangs have won three of their last five games. Jeremy Paster smacked a pair of home runs in the team’s recent 9-3 win over Monsignor Donovan. Marlboro is counting on a deep eight-man pitching corps to carry it through the season.
The semifinals will be May 10 at the home of the higher seed, with the championship game slated for May 10 at Monmouth Regional High School.
The softball tournament began with Colts Neck riding Nicole Wisniewski’s onehitter to a 5-0win in the play-in-game for the Red (Championship) Division. Kate Kuzma blasted her fourth home run of the season as the Cougars evened their record at 5-5. Kuzma is now the Shore leader in home runs and also leads in RBIs with 13. She’s also among the leaders in runs scored (right).
The Cougars will meet the fifth-seed Matawan in the second round in a game that must be completed today.
Manalapan (5-5)was seeded 11th andwill visitNo. 6 seedMater Dei in the first round. This game must be played no later than today. The winner moves on to play No. 3 seed St. John Vianney in the quarterfinals that have to be completed by Tuesday. The semifinals are May 3 at Wall High School with the final onMay 10, also atWall.
Manalapan has been getting strong pitching from sophomore Deanna Daluise.