Griffins Among Quartet Seeking Titles

Just about all of the Shore Conference baseball and softball teams have put away their uniforms and equipment for the season but for a handful today is a day that could bring them the type of championships they have been seeking all spring long.

The last day of May finds Point Boro, Point Beach and Wall among the teams playing for baseball titles while Donovan Catholic seeks a softball crown against a Shore Conference rival.

Point Boro will host Robbinsville for the Central Jersey Group II crown and it’s the second straight season the Panthers have reached a sectional final with Coach Dave Drew hoping for better results this time around.

The Ocean County Tournament champions beat top-seed Governor Livingston 6-1 yesterday behind a Nick Guzzi one-hitter to reach the title game and improve to 21-5 on the season.  Senior Sam Collins is expected to get the start today.

Point Beach visits top-seed Middlesex in the Central Jersey Group I championship game and is expected to send freshman Andrew Banick to the mound while Wall will host surprising Northern Burlington in the Central Jersey Group III final.  The Crimson Knights cannot use ace Trey Dombroski but will hand the ball to Teddy Sharkey, who is 5-0 with an ERA under one.

The softball teams from Donovan Catholic and St. John Vianney have been on a collision course since early April and they could be facing one another twice in the next four days with championships on the line.  First up is today’s meeting at Rowan University for the South Jersey Non-Public “A” title, the fourth straight year the two rivals have faced one another in the state tournament.

Last year the Griffins came into the finals undefeated only to lose to Vianney who captured their sixth state title.  This time around the Lancers are undefeated and ranked #1 in the state while second-ranked Donovan comes in with one loss.  Amazingly these two powerhouse programs are a combined 163-7 over the last three seasons.

Vianney will send ace Julia Parker to the mound against the Griffins Lindsay Nelson in this matchup of heavyweights.

By the way the teams could meet again Monday night in the finals of the Shore Conference Tournament where Donovan Catholic beat SJV last year.