Marlboro’s Kali Zamkoff, 12, won the Region VII Level 8 Junior B allaround title with a score of 37.8. The meet was held in Charleston, W.Va. Competing against more than 300 other athletes, Zamkoff also won region championships on the vault and balance beam.
Zamkoff, who trains at Rebound Gymnastics in Cliffwood, the National Training Center for New Jersey, qualified for the Region VII competition at the New Jersey State meet, where she won the vault championship and tied for first on the floor exercise.
She has been at Rebound for the past five years and is coached by Diane Farrel. Zamkoff will move up to Level 9 next year.
Brad Brach, who established several Monmouth University career pitching records, was named to the All-Northeast Conference Baseball First Team for the second straight year. It marked his third selection to the NEC Team (he made the Second Team as a sophomore). The Freehold Township graduate was also selected to the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association (NJCBA) First Team. It was his second straight selection. The right-hander won NEC and NJCBA Pitcher of the Year awards during his stellar career.
Brach was 8-2 this spring with a 3.36 earned run average. Besides leading the Hawks in wins, he led the team in strikeouts (70). He won 28 games in his career.
Monmouth University won the NEC regular-season title before falling in the conference tournament final to Central Connecticut State.
Wagner College sophomore Damian Csakai, a former teammate of Brach’s at Freehold Township, was named to the NEC Second Team. The center fielder, who led the conference in stolen bases, batted .290.Wagner qualified for the NEC tourney this year.
Sophomore Ryan Cuneo was named University ofDelaware’sOffensive Player of the Year at the college’s baseball banquet.
The Freehold Borough High School graduate, who had a 24-game winning streak during the season, led the Blue Hens in batting average (.351) and RBIs (48). He had 13 doubles, a triple and six home runs while slugging .565.
Freehold Township’s JimAscolese is the co-president of the University of Delaware Club Baseball Team that won the North Atlantic Region East Conference Championship. The team advanced to the North Atlantic Regional tournament. Delaware’s Club team finished the season 12-4 overall and 11-1 in conference and was ranked 22nd in the country.
Ascolese, a senior, had a huge season, batting .604, slugging 1.204 with an onbase percentage (OBP) of 1.854 that led the country in all three categories. He had 29 RBIs, nine doubles, five home runs and four triples. He was one of 16 players to participate in the Demarini Longball Challenge (Home Run Derby) at the Red Sox Spring Training Complex in Fort Myers, Fla.
Ascolese graduated from Delaware with a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice. He is a graduate of Freehold Township High School, where he played varsity baseball for four years.
The Manalapan Eclipse U-17 girls travel soccer team is looking for players for the 2008-09 season. Girls must be born between Aug. 1, 1991, and July 31, 1992, to be eligible. There is no residency requirement to play for the Eclipse. Interested players should call coach Manny at [email protected] or call (908) 415- 4621.
The Manalapan Flamethrowers U11 travel baseball team had an impressive showing this weekend in the Marlboro Memorial Day tournament. The Flamethrowers, who won two of three games to earn a playoff berth, were two outs away from reaching the championship game before allowing a walk-off grand slam to the Holmdel Hornets in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Pitcher Thomas Malik, who suffered the loss, went the entire way, throwing 5 1/3 shutout innings to that point. He allowed only four hits including the home run, striking out 10 batters, including striking out three consecutive hitters in the third inning with the bases loaded. Malik yielded the walk off blast to the Hornets’ catcher, Nick Bruno.
To earn the playoff berth, the Flamethrowers routed the Holmdel Stampede 11-2 on Saturday, and defeated the Colts Neck Stampede, 9-3 on Sunday. Zach Koenig was the winning pitcher in both of the Flamethrowers victories, allowing 11 hits,10 strike-outs, walking six, giving up seven runs in seven innings. Christian De- Vito also pitched six scoreless innings, allowing only three hits, striking out three and walking one, in relief for the tournament.
Offensively, the Flamethrowers were led by: Malik (four for seven, one double, four RBIs, two runs scored) Jake Kupfer (seven for 10, double, triple, three runs scored), Jordan Gonzalez (five for 11, three RBIs), Kyle Glickson (seven for 11, one home run, four stolen bases, three runs scored),Kevin Tress (four for nine, two doubles, one triple, three RBIs, two runs scored),WilliamMeany (5 for 10, one triple, one RBI, two runs scored, two stolen bases) and StevenKnable (four for 11, one double, two RBIs, two runs scored).