Todd Smith, the head coach of the Freehold Township High School baseball team, may not be doing cartwheels over his team’s summer success. But wins are wins, and Freehold Township had plenty of them this summer, as it captured the Greater Middlesex Coaches (GMC) Summer Baseball League Monmouth County championship.
After forging the best record during the regular season (10-1), the Patriots beat Shore Regional High School, 4-1, in the semifinals and rallied to beat Red Bank Catholic (RBC) High School, 5-4, in extra innings in the finals on July 24 at RBC’s Count Basie Field.
Joe Silvestrone, who had two doubles and four RBIs on the night, won it for the Patriots in the last of the eighth inning with his two-run double.
Freehold Township’s eighth inning began with Brandon Roth reaching on an error and stealing second base. A single by Ralph Gambino put runners on first and third, setting up Silvestrone’s gamewinning double that scored both Roth and Gambino.
Kyle Fenton picked up the win with three innings of work in relief. Starter Mike Pirrotta had the no-decision through five innings. RBC was a half-game behind the Patriots with a regular season mark of 9-1-1. Freehold Township outscored its opponents, 74-34, during the regular season.
Smith said he doesn’t put a lot of stock in a team’s record over the summer because teams are fielding their full varsity rosters most games, and they often don’t see the best pitchers for more than a couple of innings.
With that said, it was a productive summer for a Freehold Township team that will have many new faces next spring. The Patriots went 17-7 during the high school season, but they graduated 12 seniors from that club. Freehold Township’s GMC team is mostly last year’s junior varsity team, with just one varsity starter in Silvestrone at catcher.
The summer was encouraging for Smith.
“We have improved this summer, and winning does breed confidence,” he said. “There’s still a lot of work and experience to gain for next regular season, which will be very tough.
“I like the way we have learned this summer and competed,” he continued. “Now the key is to individually improve from now until April, and be ready for the legit teams and pitchers we will face next year.”
It was important for the junior varsity players and the four freshmen on the team to make inroads this summer.
“Multiple guys have shown me that they will be solid varsity players as their careers continue,” Smith said. “Some will be seniors, but I have quite a few juniors and a couple of sophomores.”
In general, it was a good summer for the Freehold Regional High School District teams participating in the GMC loop.
Manalapan High School, which fielded a very young and inexperienced team during the scholastic season, had positive results in the summer, going 9-3 and scoring 89 runs. The Braves finished the season on an eightgame winning streak, and they will look to build on that momentum.
Colts Neck High School, which won the Shore Conference A North Division championship, went 8-3-1, just ahead of Freehold High School’s 8-4 record.
Like Manalapan, Freehold needed wins this summer for the Colonials’ confidence, and they got it. Freehold closed its GMC campaign riding a seven-game winning streak.
Marlboro High School came next in the standings with a 7-3-1 mark. The Mustangs allowed just 32 runs for an ERA under 3.00 — the second fewest in the league.
Pitching was Marlboro’s strength this past season, when the Mustangs advanced to the NSIAA Central Jersey Group IV semifinals in June behind its starters. It would appear it is still their bread and butter.