Perri, Fullmyer lead Florence to second CJ Group I championship
By Anthony Williams, Special Writer
FLORENCE — It has been said that the key to success is consistency; but in sports, it would be unwise to play the game by a single theory.
The Florence High School Baseball Team proved that one can overcome midseason struggles and inconsistency en route to capturing its second consecutive Central Jersey Group I Baseball State Championship, beating Point Pleasant Borough 4-2 on June 1.
The Flashes started the 2012 season strong, jumping out to a 4-0 start, with wins over Life Center Academy, Maple Shade, Trenton Catholic, and Westampton Tech, but went 5-7 over its next 12 games, including dropping both meetings against rival Burlington City, to sneak into the NJSIAA playoffs with a 9-7 record. However, once on the inside of the playoffs, the Flashes found the cohesion it needed to make another spectacular championship run.
Entering the playoffs as the sixth seed, behind BCSL counterparts No. 4 Burlington City and No. 5 New Egypt, Florence earned a first round home game against East Brunswick Tech and quickly dispatched the 11th seeded Tigers 10-0.
Sandwiched between its pre-quarter final and its quarter-final game was a BCSL match-up against the Bordentown Scotties. Florence held a slim 1-0 lead heading into the sixth inning and looked poised to walk away with a slim win, before a throwing error from the pitcher to the first baseman gave the Scotties an extra at bat. The error would prove costly for the Flashes as Bordentown’s Cullen Carter smashed a two-run homer to put the Scotties ahead by the decisive score of 2-1.
”Despite the loss, I think we really surprised ourselves,” Florence Head Coach Joe Frappolli said. “We sent out a sophomore pitcher against a very good team and played them tough. We played solid defense and could have very easily won that game, so I think it was more of a positive game for our kids than a negative one.”
Bordentown would go on to lose its quarter final playoff game against No. 6 Rumson, 6-5, however Florence would use the confidence booster to propel themselves to a 5-0 win over No. 3 Highland Park and earn a berth in the Central Jersey Group I Semi-Finals.
After blanking the Owls, Florence delivered a crushing performance against No. 10 South River, beating the Rams by a score of 16-3 to advance to the Central Jersey Group I Finals for the second time in as many years.
”Our bats weren’t great early on this year, but they really started picking up later in the season,” Coach Frappolli said.
In the finals, the Flashes’ bats would strike early, as the team posted three runs in the top of the first inning to jump out to an early 3-0 lead. The team’s defense wouldn’t let them look back.
Ben Horner, a junior, hit a first inning triple, driving in T.J. Karwowski and Heath Fillmyer to get Florence on the scoreboard early. Horner would eventually score on a Mike Muchowski sacrifice and become the deciding run in an eventual 4-2 win for the Flashes.
Point Pleasant Borough did not go down without a fight however, as it bounced back for two-runs of their own in the bottom half of the second inning to cut Florence’s lead to 1, but senior right-hander Greg Perri would shut down any other threats the Panthers would try to mount over the first five innings.
Point Pleasant Borough’s clean-up hitter smacked a lead-off double to begin the bottom of the fifth inning, but Perri teamed up with senior short stop Fullmyer to pickoff the would-be tying run at second to eliminate the scoring threat.
”It was something we had worked on a little at practice,” Coach Frappolli said about the pickoff move. “But, a lot of it was our players knowing each other and being able to communicate on the field without saying a word.”
Perri and Fullmyer played a huge role in the Flashes’ championship victory, with Perri (5-2) getting the win and Fullmyer pitching two scoreless innings in relief to earn the save. Fullmyer also scored an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning when sophomore Kellen Groover drove him in with an RBI base hit.
”Both of those guys have been big contributors to this team,” Coach Frappoli said. “They are both senior captains and our 2-3 hitters, so they are guys we rely on heavily.”
Lost in the mix of the Flashes’ championship run has been the outstanding play of sophomore catcher Jon Sensi, who has proven to be a true leader for this Florence team. Sensi missed the first three-quarters of the season due to a knee injury suffered during early-season practices. Yet, he has proven invaluable over the last couple of weeks.
”We got Jon back just in time for the stretch run,” Coach Frappoli said. “He is a great catcher that controls the tempo of the game and handles all of our pitchers well. Not only has he been solid behind the plate, but he’s also a solid bat at the plate.”
Florence needs a total team effort the rest of the way if they want to win an NJSIAA Group I State Championship. The team played South Jersey Group I Champion Audobon on Tuesday, June 5, at The College of New Jersey in the Semi-Finals. Audobon ended Florence’s run last year in this same game, eliminating the Flashes’ with a 6-5 extra-inning win.
However, on Tuesday, Audobon defeated Florence 4-1 at The College of New Jersey.
Perri was scheduled to take the mound for Florence in a bid to avenge last year’s loss, while Coach Frappolli said he expected Audobon to send out one of their two left-handed pitchers, including last year’s starter Kevin Kraemer.
”We’re facing a good hitting team in Audobon,” Coach Frappolli said ahead of the June 5 game. “We’re going to have to play solid defense, play with confidence, and just keep doing what we’re doing.”
”Unfortunately for Florence, for the second year in a row Audobon won thegame 4-1,” said Flashes supporter Janet Pierce on Tuesday night.
”It was a good game though, the score was 2-1 at the end ofthe sixth inning,” Ms. Pierce stated. “Audobon scored (twice) in the beginning of the seventh andFlorence just couldn’t make up the difference in the end.”
She continued, “There’s always next year.

