BY VIN RAPOLLA
Staff Writer
When you lead your conference in home runs, you generally don’t expect to see the opposition pitch around the batter in front of you.
But that was the position Ocean Township’s Mike Chiarella found himself in on Tuesday, as the Spartans battled with Lakewood in a Central Jersey Group III semifinal.
With the score tied at 1-1 in the top of the 10th inning, the senior first baseman, who had already launched his ninth home run of the season to tie the game in the sixth, stood anxiously in the on-deck circle while Lakewood ace John Girgenti carefully pitched around sophomore Keith Weinkofsky, the Spartans’ cleanup batter.
Needless to say, the strategy backfired on the Piners, as Chiarella launched his second home run of the game, this one a three-run shot, to lead the Spartans past the Piners, 5-1, and into their first sectional title game since 1996.
“I was kind of surprised they pitched around Keith in that spot,” Ocean head coach Del Dal Pra said after the game. “That’s kind of tough to do when you have the Shore’s leading home run hitter on deck.”
The Spartans will take on local rival Monmouth Regional, the top seed and a 10-4 winner over Ewing in the other semifinal, on Friday in Tinton Falls.
Chiarella’s second home run provided him with both satisfaction and redemption. The satisfaction came with making the Piners regret pitching around Weinkofsky, who had four home runs on the year, but had been 0-for-4 on the day.
The redemption came after Chiarella struck out with the bases loaded just two innings earlier.
But Chiarella wasn’t the only hero for Ocean. Senior right-hander Joe Barbarise provided the Spartans with six stellar innings, allowing just one hit and striking out six. He also escaped quite a jam in the sixth after the Piners had loaded the bases with no outs.
Barbarise got a key strikeout, followed by a brilliant double play, started when center fielder Colin Truax made a diving catch on a line drive. The runner on third was then called out for leaving the base too soon while trying to tag up, ending the inning.
Sophomore lefty Eric Hinkle replaced Barbarise in the seventh, and also avoided a bases-loaded jam with a clutch strikeout. He eventually earned the win for the Spartans, striking out five, walking two and allowing two hits over the last four innings.
Monmouth Regional got a game-breaking grand slam from Nick A. DeFillipis in the fourth inning to pull away from Ewing in their semifinal.
DeFillipis finished 2-for-3 on the day with five RBIs, while third baseman Mo Williams also tagged a home run — a solo shot in third. Bobby Wyrwa got the win for the Golden Falcons, giving up four hits and a walk while striking out six over five innings.
Wyrwa improved to 9-2 with the win.
Ocean and Monmouth did not face each other this year, but did play twice last year in the semifinals of both the Monmouth County and Shore Conference tournaments. Both times, Ocean prevailed, 2-1.
Dal Pra expects a similar low-scoring game today.
“(Monmouth pitcher) Keith Cantwell is a very tough pitcher, and we’re throwing our No. 1 guy, Walt Taylor,” the coach said.
Don’t expect either guy to be pitching around too many batters, with two of the Shore’s most potent line-ups facing off.;
Diamond notes … The only other two local baseball teams in state tournament action on Tuesday, Red Bank Regional and Red Bank Catholic, both suffered losses, eliminating them from contention.
The top-seeded Bucs, who advanced to the semifinals via a 7-0 blanking of Warren Hills on Friday, fell to fifth-seeded Montgomery on Tuesday, 11-5.
Ryan Andrew and Dave Mohns each doubles in a pair of runs in a six-run seventh that put the game out of reach for Montgomery.
Corey Young, who has been virtually unhittable all year, struck out 10 and walked two, allowing four runs over five innings. But once he was out of the game, the wheels came off for RBR.
Michael Livingston led the Red Bank offensive attack, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
With the loss, Red Bank ends what was a stellar year at 18-6.
RBC ran into the Parochial A South’s top seed Holy Cross, and found out just how good the Lancers actually are in a 13-0 loss.
Holy Cross smacked five home runs in the game, improving to 24-3 on the season.
As for the Caseys, they immediately turned their attention to Wednesday’s Shore Conference Tournament finals, where they were set to face Toms River North.
The Caseys, who were making their first SCT final appearance since an 8-0 loss to Freehold Township in 1985, advanced to the tourney final thanks to a brilliant pitching performance from senior Kyle Bradley in the semifinals.
The senior right-hander pitched his first varsity complete-game shutout, allowing just seven hits and striking out seven, while Casey Walko continued his torrent hitting by belting a two-run home run in the first.
The Caseys added another run in the fifth with a Chris Messa sacrifice fly, and chalked up the game’s final run in the seventh on J.C. Menna’s single.
The win marked the Caseys 10th in a row, and 13th in their last 14 games.
Meanwhile, the Red Bank Catholic softball team sure had a busy week as they continued in their pursuit of a couple of titles.
On Tuesday, the Caseys took to the field for their NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A quarterfinal game, riding the heels of an 11-game winning streak.
Their opponent, sixth-seeded Haddonfield, became the latest victim as the Caseys rolled to a 3-0 win, behind a stellar pitching performance from Natalie Cruz.
Cruz struck out 13 batters in a two-hit shutout, while also driving in a run with an RBI double, one of two hits she had on the day.
Carley Walko ripped a bases-loaded line drive in the second inning that was misplayed, leading to the first two Casey runs. That would be all the run support that Cruz would need as she recorded her seventh shutout of the season.
RBC was hoping for, and would need, a similar performance on Wednesday, as they took on top-ranked St. John Vianney in Shore Conference Tournament finals at Brookdale Community College.
RBC was also scheduled to be back in action yesterday, taking on second-seeded Bishop Ahr in the state tourney, with the winner to advance to the sectional finals on Tuesday.