By Wayne Witkowski
Riverside High School’s outfield has an open area behind it without a fence, which was bad news for the home team and good news for New Egypt High School’s softball team.
The Warriors rolled to their third straight NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group I title, 13-1, in a game stopped after five innings June 3 by the 10-run rule.
Faith Weber backed her three-hitter on the mound with three hits and five RBIs to move the Warriors (17-7) into the Group I semifinals June 7 at Rowan University against Gloucester City High School (17-6), which beat Arthur P. Shalick High Schol, 6-2, for the South Jersey sectional title. Weber, who is reported to be headed to George Washington University, struck out eight and walked one.
Last year’s team lost in the state semifinals, but the Warriors look to return this year to reclaim the title they won two years ago, 1-0, over Butler High School.
But for this year’s run, it was a grand slam legged out by Chloe Lewis in the first inning that got New Egypt off to a 5-0 lead in the sectional championship game before Riverside even came to bat.
“I knew it was the first inning, and we had to get runs in to kill their spirits,” Lewis said.
Weber was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded before Lewis came to bat. Lewis bats .446 with 22 RBIs.
Weber struck out eight and walked one to notch the fifth straight shutout after a 1-0 loss to Burlington Township High School May 21. Included in that string was a 1-0 victory over Keansburg High School in the sectional semifinals May 27, as Sam Goetz drove in the deciding run in the sixth inning of that game. She has 18 RBIs.
Weber felt her team needed to perform better and get an early jump on Riverside, and her teammates did. Meagan Smith smashed four hits, and Rebecca Lombardo notched three hits. Each drove in a run. Smith is batting .494 with 19 RBIs.
Lombardo drove in the sixth run of the game in the third inning, and Weber lined a two-run double for an 8-1 lead. Lombardo bats .404 with 20 RBIs.
Weber bats .362 with 25 RBIs and six home runs.
Baseball
The fifth inning continued to be the twilight zone for New Egypt’s baseball team (14-7), which was eliminated in the Central Jersey, Group I tournament semifinals. It squandered a 3-0 lead in a 5-3 loss to Pitman High School, which scored all of its run in the fifth inning.
“That’s been our Achilles’ heel,” coach Matt Carroll said.
Chris Tereszczyn lashed a run-scoring single and also scored on a delayed double-steal. On the mound, Tereszczyn allowed just two hits with three walks and four strikeouts through four innings before getting knocked out in the fifth inning.
Tereszczyn won the Warrior award and he and center fielder/pitcher Nate Peacock were selected for the Burlington County Carpenter Cup team. Catcher Gino Tortoriello also is among those graduating with Tim Morera, Liam Snell and Cameron Miraglia. Tereszczyn batted .436 with three homers and 19 RBIs. Tortoriello also batted in 19 runs.
Peacock will handle much of the pitching with Kyle Frimel for next season, while Anthony Burr got a lot of opportunities pitching in relief. Peacock, who was 1-2, allowed eight earned runs in 30 innings pitched. He struck out 43 and walked 18.
Frimel, whose 4-1 record was one win behind Tereszczyn, allowed four earned runs in 24 innings pitched. He had a 23-to-18 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
“We’re pretty excited for next year,” Carroll said. “It’s tough to see the seniors go, but we’ve talked about defining success and this team has been successful. Making the [sectional] semifinals surprised a lot of people. This figured to be a rebuilding year, getting people settled and having fun, but people saw we could make a run.”
The junior varsity team lost only one game under coach Dan O’Reilly, and Carroll said there are three leading players there who have left him feeling excited about their potential.
“It comes down to how hard they work and how much they want it,” Carroll said.