Cranford crushes Jackson Memorial to take Last Dance title
TRENTON » A little rain could not spoil the last night of the Last Dance.
The sold-out championship game of the New Jersey Last Dance World Series presented by RWJBarnabas Health went off without a hitch Friday night at Arm & Hammer Park after thunderstorms had dampened the area earlier in the day.
The 222-team high school baseball tournament, sanctioned by the United States Specialty Sports Association, had to be considered a success in spite of a few blips along the way.
Even though a few teams had to depart the N.J. Last Dance World Series because of COVID-19 concerns at the end of pool play, and a few other games were affected by rainstorms, there was really no reason to think of the experiment as anything other than “magical,” as proclaimed by Gov. Phil Murphy during the high praise he continually bestowed upon the event in his press conferences.
Murphy was in attendance again Friday night as upstart North Jersey champion Cougar Baseball (Cranford) took on the topseeded, South Jersey champ Jackson (Memorial) Jags in the final game of the successful idea created by St. Joseph’s-Metuchen baseball head coach and athletic director Mike Murray Jr. after teams missed out on their 2020 spring season because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In essence, last night’s title game at the home of the Trenton Thunder was like a Tournament of Champions matchup between Group IV Jackson Memorial and Group III Cranford High if the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association had been holding its state tournament.
Instead, the NJSIAA had no ties to the tournament, other than in implementing protocols that the Last Dance organizers did their best to follow, along with those of the N.J. Department of Health and the National Federation of State High School Associations.
The 13th-seeded Cougar Baseball squad, which had outscored its previous three higher-seeded opponents, 30-2, to win North Jersey, and stayed hot against another highly touted opponent, defeating the Jackson Jags, -.
The bats stayed hot for the boys from Cranford in the top of the first inning, touching Jags starting pitcher Joe Santoriello and reliever Dan Greenwood for four runs to set the tone for the night.
Aidan Plick and Lucca Limeira got run-scoring singles off Santoriello, then Joe Meola sent Greenwood’s first offering to left field for a two-run single.
Then Cougar Baseball pitcher Joe Carrea continued his team’s scoreless streak. He allowed a twoout single to Tom Cartnick in the bottom of the first, but did not allow a run for the first four innings, stretching his team’s scoreless streak to 17 innings.
Carrea got some help with a key double play in the third inning, then a dazzling, over-the-shoulder catch by second baseman Jake DeClerico to ruin a Jackson threat in the fourth after Carmine Petosa led off the inning with a double off the right-field fence.
Cougar Baseball’s offense doubled its pleasure in the top of the third inning, scoring eight more runs to put the game out of reach. Plick led off with a double and scored, two batters later, on a sacrifice fly by Michael Murphy. Greenwood never got the third out.
Singles by Limeira and Will Gallagher around hit batsmen Meola and Jake Chapman ended the day for the Jags’ second pitcher.
Zach Crotchfeld came on for Jackson, but problems continued as Marcus Johnson walked to force in a run, then Ryan Jaros cleared the bases with a double. After a walk to Plick, Crotchfeld was replaced by Devin Foderaro, who ended the inning after two more runs crossed the plate.
The game was down to its final strike when Jags pinch hitter Matt Feld broke up the scoreless streak with a two-run single.
Carrea regrouped to strike out Austin Parikh two batters later to give Cougar Baseball what will hopefully be the only New Jersey Last Dance World Series title the state ever needs in the post-coronavirus world.
CougarBaseball 408 00 — 12 10 0 JacksonJags 000 00 — 2 4 1
2B: Plick, RJaros (CB), Petosa (JJ); RBIs: Johnson, RJaros 3, Plick, Murphy, Limeira, Meola 2, Gallagher (CB), Feld 2 (JJ).
WP — Carrea; LP — Santoriello.