The Shore Daily, 5/20/15
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Christian Brothers Academy and Wall battled into the late hours of the night in an instant classic before CBA junior star Brandon Martorano delivered the Colts' second straight Monmouth County Tournament title at FirstEnergy Park to highlight Tuesday's action.
On the boys lacrosse front, it was "Black Tuesday," as Bob Badders put it. All but one team, including previously undefeated Southern, lost in the NJSIAA Tournament to end their seasons. Rumson-Fair Haven, which rolled past Delaware Valley in South Jersey Group I, is the only Shore Conference team to even reach the sectional semifinals. Southern, the Shore Conference Tournament champion, was stunned 10-9 at home in overtime by eighth-seeded Eastern, to end its run as the two-time defending South Jersey Group IV champions.
Freehold Township, Jackson Liberty, Ocean, Lacey, Barnegat, Manasquan and Red Bank Catholic also all had their seasons end with losses on the road, and every loss was by at least six goals, so the Shore still has some work to do in building up to the point where it can make some noise on a state level.
Rumson, which got three goals from Lucas Seckler and a goal and four assists from Robbie Garavente in its 10-1 win yesterday, will travel to second-seeded Madison on Thursday to try to carry the torch for the Shore and reach a sectional final.
As for the MCT baseball final, it was filled with great plays and clutch hits, including the game-winning RBI double by Martorano, a North Carolina recruit, in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Colts a 5-4 victory.
Wall's defense was sensational with three diving catches in the outfield, including two by rightfielder Nick Maciejewski. You can check out all the great highlights from the game by Matt Manley below.
The Crimson Knights came close to becoming the first team to beat CBA junior ace Luca Dalatri since 2013, but the Colts' stars came up clutch with the game on the line. The middle of CBA's order - Dalatri, Martorano and Old Dominion recruit Will Morgan - went 8-for-9 with two walks, five doubles and five RBI in the win, while the rest of the team was 0-for-17.
Dalatri, who is a Wall resident, is now a combined 18-0 over the past two seasons and has a CBA-record 23 career wins, which is 11 shy of the Shore Conference record of 34 set by former Toms River East star Casey Gaynor, who is now the pitching coach at Rutgers. To already have the CBA career record for wins as a junior is an impressive feat at a program that has had numerous stars over the years, including current Red Sox minor-leaguer Pat Light, who went 20-0 in his career for the Colts.
Dalatri is part of an outstanding junior class at CBA across multiple sports that also includes Martorano and basketball star Pat Andree, who has multiple Division I offers and is on pace to break the school's all-time scoring record, which has stood since the mid-1970s. I can't remember the last time a pitcher and a catcher from the same high school team in the Shore were drafted in the same year or if it's ever happened, but that could certainly be the case for Martorano and Dalatri next year.
CBA is now two-fifths of the way toward becoming the second team in Shore Conference history and the first since Wall in 2004 to win five titles (division, county, conference, sectional and Group) in one season, as the Colts have the Class A North and MCT crowns under their belt. They will be right back at it today against Class A North rival Middletown South in another tough game in the SCT quarterfinals as they continue their quest. The two teams split during the regular season, and CBA is out to show that it can get big tournament wins over tough opponents when Dalatri is not on the mound.
More on Wednesday:
- Red Bank Catholic junior offensive lineman Liam Smith, a Duke recruit and one of the top players in the state from the Class of 2016, is one of 13 New Jersey players who have been nominated to play in the prestigious U.S. Army All-American Bowl in 2016. The last Shore player to be selected and participate in the national all-star game was Smith's old RBC teammate, current Notre Dame redshirt freshman offensive lineman Quenton Nelson, who played in it in 2014.
- Howell senior guard Gino Palummo will continue his career at Rowan University.
- Quinnipiac second baseman Scott Donaghue (Marlboro) was named first-team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and Monmouth University catcher Kyle Perry (Toms River South) earned second-team honors.
- Former CBA and Monmouth University star Pat Light is blossoming in Double A for the Red Sox after being converted to a reliever from a starter.
On tap for today: The SCT baseball quarterfinals feature three games in which divisional foes will clash for a third time this season, as Middletown South heads to CBA, and No. 23 Shore heads to No. 15 Manasquan in the underdog game that will put one of those double-digit seeds into the semifinals. Also, No. 8 Red Bank Catholic will try to avenge two regular-season losses to No. 1 seed Colts Neck, while the Cougars will be going all out against the Caseys in the last tournament in which they are still alive. In the other quarterfinal, Wall will try to bounce back quickly from its disappointment against CBA to face a Jackson Memorial team that has been rolling and could have unbeaten ace Brandon Janofsky on the mound unless they are holding him for tomorrow's state playoff game.
I'll end with a nicely done photobomb by some University of California baseball players while their coach was being interviewed.
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