Wednesday, June 5, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Staff Writer

A surprised starter, Shane Woelfel threw five innings of one0run ball as defending champion Mahwah earned a chance to defend its Group 2 state title with an 8-3 win over Lyndhurst.

UNION – For most high school baseball programs, the chance to play in state final, to be one of the last 12 high school baseball teams left playing on the final day of the season, is a rare occurrence. It is hard to win five straight state playoff games to get down to Toms River for the final, especially in a game like baseball where, more than in any other sport, the best team does not always win. Winning two straight titles is even more rare and no Bergen County public school has done it since Emerson in 2000 and 2001.

Now Mahwah has a chance.

With its 8-3 win over Lyndhurst on Tuesday at Kean University in the Group 2 state semifinals, the defending champion Thunderbirds earned a second straight trip down the shore with only Cinnaminson standing between them and a second straight Group 2 state championship. And it has been hard not to peek ahead.

“All year long long we have only been talking about taking it one game at a time, but in the last couple of weeks the last part of the sentence has been 'Toms River,' and getting that done,” said Mahwah head coach Jeff Remo. “We've been here before and we have a lot of the same kids as last year. They work awful hard and they deserve the chance they are getting.”

Austin Meeney had two hits for Lyndhurst, including a grounds-rule double in the sixth.

One guy who did not know the chance he would be getting a couple of days ago is Shane Woelfel, who, after getting the win against Pequannock in the state sectional semifinals, thought he would ride out the rest of the state tournament run from his position in centerfield. On Saturday, Remo told Woelfel that he would get the ball as the starting pitcher and he went five strong innings, allowing just one run.

“I didn't even know that I was going to pitch until a couple of days ago. I thought Chris [Baldi] was going to pitch, of course. He is our ace. I thought last Wednesday [against Pequannock] was going to be my last game on the mound,” said Woelfel. “I found out that I was pitching this game on Saturday and I got myself all hyped up and came in here really nervous. But as soon as I got through first inning I was good from there.”

Lyndhurst gave Woelfel (5 IP, 1 R, 5H, 4K, 2 BB) a lead to work with in the top of the second inning as it gave up two unearned runs and was forced to play from behind the rest of the way. That was not in the original gameplan for Golden Bears head coach Butch Servideo.

“We knew that Mahwah was a great team and with my pitcher Nolan Kelly, a kid that throws a lot of strikes but doesn't get a lot of strikeouts, that we were going to have to play flawless defense. We did not do that. Even though the scoreboard showed three errors, we really made about six,” said Servidio, who has more than 500 wins in his head coaching career. “We didn't play defense and you can't give a team like Mahwah four or five outs in an inning. That is asking for trouble.”

Shortstop Cole Fabio made at least three standout defensive plays for Mahwah, which improved to 27-3.

Lyndhurst got one run back in the bottom of the third inning, but ran itself out of a chance for more. Brandon Karlock led off the frame by smoking a double into the right centerfield gap and moved to third on Anthony Meeney's sacrifice bunt. But when Dan Tallent swung at a strike three in the dirt, Mahwah catcher CJ Musumeci alertly threw behind the lead runner and got an out in a rundown between third base and home. Tallent got to first on the play and Sergio Turelli came through with an RBI single two batters later, but Mahwah shortstop Cole Fabio made a play in the hole and a strong twisting throw to second for the third out of the inning.

While Lyndhurst struggled defensively, Fabio made a handful of sparkling plays. He started a 6-4-3 double play with two on and one out in fifth and robbed Bobby DeMarco of a leadoff single in the sixth with a leaping catch of a well-struck line drive.

“I have been say all year that my shortstop, Cole Fabio, is one of the best shortstops in the state defensively,” said Remo. “He showed it again today.”

Mahwah scored three times in the top of the fourth inning with a rally that started innocently enough as, with the bases empty, John Pantano drew two-out walk that turned the lineup back over to the top. Woelfel followed with a single that put runners on the corners and then stole second. When the throw down went into centerfield, Pantano scored from third, Woelfel moved up an extra base and then scored a wild pitch. Matt Krupa then came through with a single to left to make it 5-1.

Lyndhurst third baseman Brandon Karlock had two hits and an RBI.

“That is what we have been doing all year long. We have done a pretty good job of scoring runs and the whole mentality is just to get the next guy up and give him a chance,” said Krupa, who also slugged a first inning triple. “That is what makes it easy to hit in this lineup. You do what you can to keep the line moving and somebody always comes behind to pick you up. There is no pressure one guy to do everything. We trust everyone in the lineup.”

Lyndhurst made it interesting with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. After DeMarco was denied the leadoff hit, Frankie DeLeva walked and Austin Meeney's gapper hopped over the wall for a grounds rule double. Karlock singled in a run before Meeney scored on a swing strike three/wild pitch to get the Bears back to within 5-3.

Back-to-back doubles by Eric Kaplan and Baldi leading off Mahwah's final at bat opened the door to a three-run inning that put the game away for good as Pantano also had an RBI double in the inning.

The loss ended an outstanding and surprising season for Lyndhurst which started with losses in two of its first three games followed by an 18-game winning streak. The Bears won the North 2, Group 2 state sectional title with a wild win over Garfield last Friday and finished up with a 23-7 record.

Matt Krupa had two hits and an RBI for for Mahwah, which will play Cinnaminson for the Group 2 state title in Saturday in Toms River.

“It was unexpected to say the least. When we went down to Florida in the preseason, our motto down there was just to try to put something together and find something that we did well. We were missing flyballs, we could throw, we couldn't catch and we could hit. It did not look good,” said Servidio. “We started the season 1-2, but the kids really believed in themselves and they ran off 18 [wins] in a row. To comeback like we did after giving up the lead to Garfield [in the section final] and get here was really a story book way to end this season, a real good season and I am proud of these guys.”

Mahwah's season now includes 27 wins in its 30 games played with one to go. A lot of teams heading to a state final might be a little overwhelmed by the prospect, but not these Thunderbirds.

“Once we get a chance to look back on the season maybe we will realize what an accomplishment it was just to get back down there [to Toms River], but the whole year we have kind of expected it,” said Krupa. “I think we just planned for this to happen again and it is good to be back.”

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