Brody Barber had two hits and 3 RBI for Ramapo, which advanced to the Bergen County Tournament semifinals with a 6-4 win over Bergen Catholic.
ALLENDALE – This edition of the Bergen County Baseball Tournament has had the right mix. Enough early upsets to make it interesting, enough close games to keep it interesting and enough high-end players sprinkled between teams to make it hard to predict.
There was still plenty of intrigue in the final quarterfinal contest heading into the top of the seventh inning on Saturday as No. 3 Ramapo was trying to find a way to close out surging 6-seed Bergen Catholic.
The Crusaders had pushed Ramapo starter Charlie Wingfield past his pitch limit with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and then Aquiles Hache and Devan Zitt drew two straight walks to open the seventh. Even a whacky double play when both runners tried to advance after the infield fly rule was invoked was not enough to bring down the curtain.
Jamie Zee, BC’s Notre Dame-bound shortstop and leadoff hitter, crushed a no-doubter, a two-run homer to left field to get the Crusaders within two runs and deeper into the Ramapo bullpen. A walk to Anthony Tetto meant that Bergen Catholic had the tying run in the on deck circle when Ty Barber induced a game-ending ground ball to finally close out a 6-4 win that puts the Green Raiders back into the semifinal round for the second straight season.
For all of the close calls and the overall competitiveness of the tournament, the top four seeds will all be present when the Final 4 commences on Saturday at Northern Valley/Demarest High School.
Bergen Catholic; centerfielder Anthony Tello making a sliding catch in the fifth inning.
“I am just so proud of everyone and I couldn’t be more happy right now. Back to the semis. I have been there twice in my high school career and just have not been able to get over the hump,” said Wingfield, who struck out 11 in his 5 1/3 solid innings. “We are excited to get to the semis, but now we have to get to the finals and win it.”
Bergen Catholic jumped in front in the top of the first inning as Zee scored on a Michael Alberto fielder’s choice, but Ramapo got three in three runs in their half of the opening inning and then two more in the second to take control. Two of their first three runs came on wild pitches, a feature at Northern Highlands which has a deep backstop and the other were knocked in by cleanup hitter Brody Barber, who singled in a run in the first and added a two run double in the second.
“Bergen Catholic is a good team. We knew that and we had to come out swinging with the bats and put some runs up early,” said Barber. “Everybody has to do their job. Runners get on, we move them along and we have to come through when we get the chance and it’s always a team effort.”
Ramapo then leaned on Wingfield and the senior right-hander carried the Raiders deep into the game. By appearances, Wingfield, who will start his football career at Wake Forest University in a few weeks, looks like the kind of pitcher that can throw the ball through the backstop. Instead, just about everything he throws has movement weather it is the snap of his curveball or the swoop of his slider and he has racked up more than 200 strikeouts in his varsity career.
Ty Barber got the final out to notch the save for Ramapo, which will play Pascack Valley in the semifinals.
“He didn’t have his stuff early on and his pitch count got up a little bit, but then he got into that groove and you could see that he was really feeling it,” said Garrison Ward, Ramapo’s co-head coach. “There is nobody else that we would want out there. He is the man and we are lucky we have them.”
Wingfield struck out 9 of the 10 batters he faced from the second through fourth innings before giving up a double to Zee, the second batter he faced in the fifth. Zee eventually scored when home plate was left unattended on Anthony Tello’s steal of second, but Wingfield got his 11th and final strikeout to end the inning.
“He is an unbelievable athlete and every time he steps on the mound it’s just domination and I am honored to catch him. I have so much confidence in that kid,” said Bellovich, who helped his starting pitcher by picking off a runner and first and catching Polanco stealing. “His sliders and his curveballs are crazy.”
Wingfield (5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 11 K, BB, W, 103 pitches) gave up a leadoff single to Andres Polanco to start the sixth, but Bellovich cut him down trying to steal with his team down 6-2 and Wingfield got a flyball to right for the second out before exiting.
Brayden Resch K’d the only hitter he needed to face in the sixth, but there was the wild finish that only finished with Ty Barber came in from shortstop to take over on the mound. He walked the first batter he faced to ratchet up the tension, but got the next hitter to ground out to second base and send the Raiders through to the semifinals.
Zee (3-for-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R) and Brody Barber (2-for-3, 3 RBI) were the only hitters in the game to have multiple hits. Tello, Polanco and Michael Alberto had the other three hits for Bergen Catholic (14-5).
Liam Hayward (1-for-4, R) and Wingfield (1-for-3, 2 R, RBI, BB), who is now just three hits from 100 for his career, had the other hits for Ramapo, which will join two other public school teams. The Raiders will play second-seeded Pascack Valley on Saturday while top-seeded Don Bosco Prep will take on No. 4 Northern Valley/Old Tappan with all four teams likely to have their aces ready and on full rest.
“I am excited. PV, man. I have so much respect for Will Lynch and his club. We played them a couple of weeks ago (an 11-7 Ramapo win) and we know they are going to give us their best effort,” said Ward, whose team is now 17-3 on the season against one of the toughest schedules in the state. “It will be fun.”
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