Most of the teams at WW-P spent the last two weeks battling for advancement in the state tournament and the remaining Mercer County Tournaments.
The WW-P tradition has continued, and at this point in the season, North tennis and North boys’ track have emerged as state champions.
Teams at both schools still have a chance to add to their trophy cabinets, with the South softball and North baseball teams heading into the state finals on Friday, May 28.
The North tennis team battled Holmdel, edging out a 3-2 victory behind Evan Samet, who won his second singles match in three sets to clinch the title.
South was not as lucky, falling to Montgomery, 3-2, capping off an injury-plagued season.
For South tennis, which won the Mercer County championships, advancing in the state tournament meant narrowly slipping by Freehold Township, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA Central, Group IV tournament on the back of freshman Thomas Weng, who moved up from doubles to third singles and without the Pirates’ two top singles players.
Senior first singles star Demetri Vhranos has been in and out all season with a wrist injury. Then, just before the state tournament began, second singles star Julian Richardson fractured a bone in his wrist, ending his season with the Pirates.
To compensate, third singles player Daniel Ng and Peter Ku, the fourth member of the singles squad, moved up take on the opponents. Against Freehold, it was the doubles teams that led the way, with Abhinay Tumati and Nikhil Gavai winning at first doubles and freshman Daniel Vaysburd and Dan Joe winning at second doubles. Tied at 2-2, it came down to Weng, who won the first set, 6-3, but lost the second, 0-6. Weng bounced back to win the final set, 6-1.
The team moved on to defeat Sayreville, 4-1, in the semifinal round. Ng defeated Tanay Patel, the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament’s second singles champion in three sets in the win.
Meanwhile, at North, the baseball team has been able to stay alive in its quest to defend last year’s state tournament title — and that meant defeating Hamilton, 7-3, in the first round, after having fallen to the team twice in the regular season. The team was led by Chris Hase, who had a pair of RBI doubles; Chet Otis, who tripled and scored, and Ryan DeMouth, who went 2-for-2, stole four bases, scored three times, and knocked in a run. Kyle Reed contributed seven strikeouts in the win.
In the quarterfinals, North defeated Jackson Liberty, 7-1, moving on to the sectional semifinal rounds, where the team defeated Red Bank, 1-0. Kyle Reed pitched a one-hit game, striking out 12 batters. The Knights will make a second consecutive appearance in the sectional final, traveling to take on Hopewell Valley on Friday, May 28.
Despite ultimately falling to Jackson, 1-0, in the quarterfinal round of the Central Jersey Group IV tournament on May 21, South’s baseball team was successful in pulling off an upset of Montgomery, 8-7, mostly as a result of three runs knocked in at the top of the seventh inning to knock the fourth-seeded team out of the state tournament running. Ralph Aurora had an impressive showing, going 4-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs. Paul Balestrieri drove in three runs.
At North, the boys’ lacrosse team relied on sophomore Brendan Kenavan to score with 37 seconds left in the second round game of the NJSIAA Group III tournament on May 18 to send the game into overtime. The Knights eventually came away with an 11-10 victory over Roxbury.
The win set up another crosstown rival match with South, where North was again victorious. Jake Slonaker scored three goals to pace the Knights over the Pirates, 8-5, on May 20 in the quarterfinal round. From there, the Knights overcame a big hurdle, upsetting second-seeded Morristown in the semifinals on May 22.
In the finals, however, Ridge proved to be too much for Knights, who fell 11-5 on May 26. The team finished with a 19-4 record this season.
The North softball team had to bounce back from a back-and-forth Mercer County Tournament final game — which ultimately resulted in a loss to Steinert — to defeat Peddie, 7-1, in the first round of the NJSIAA Group III Central tournament. From there, the team defeated Holmdel in the next round of the state tournament, with a resounding 11-1 mandate. The Knights continued to advance, defeating Nottingham, 4-1, on May 20, after Kristie O’Cone’s two-out seventh-inning single kicked off a three-run rally for North in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. That’s where North ultimately fell to Middletown South, 8-3, despite a rally in the sixth inning. Kaitlin Perrine struck out nine batters in the team’s last game of the season. The team finished 17-7.
The South softball team was also able to advance, defeating Toms River North, 2-1, on May 19, and then defeating Jackson Memorial, 3-0, on May 20. On May 25, the girls shut out Middletown North, 4-0, in the semifinals to advance to the final against East Brunswick on Friday, May 28.
After getting off to a bit of a slow start, the Pirates have been closing out their final games in dominant fashion. Liz Mendez struck out seven batters, scattering four hits. Dana Kong, Anna Schnitter, Darien Lanzetta, Mendez, Hye Jin Kim, and Joanna Schutzer each had singles.
One team that seemed to avoid having to triumph over any hardships is the North boys’ tennis team, which has not lost a game since its 3-2 loss to South on April 7, which it has since avenged.
The Knights have been on a 16-game winning streak, defeating Wall on May 18 to advanced in their quest to defend their NJSIAA Group III Central title. The team advanced after defeating Hopewell Valley, 4-1, on May 20.
Adversity seemed to be an unknown variable for the girls’ lacrosse team at South. The team was having a breakthrough year, having gone 15-3 heading into the semifinal round of the North Group III sectional semifinals. But the Pirates’ momentum came to an unexpected halt when they were stunned by Monroe in double-overtime, 11-10, on May 19 ending any hopes for advancement.
The North girls’ lacrosse team improved to 12-6 with a win over Princeton, 17-8, in the first round of the NJSIAA tournament on May 15. The Knights were off to a good start by scoring six goals in the first 10:15 of the game. Jacquie Mihalyi led the team with six goals.
In WW-P track, both the boys’ teams earned their own accolades. The North boys’ track team has already found success in the states in its sectional championship win over Ocean Township, 83-72, on May 22. In the win, Joe Rosa broke records in the 1,600-meter and 3,200-meter runs, adding to the list of achievements he has collected throughout his career at North.
South took second in the Central Group IV sectional, just falling behind East Brunswick, 67-65. Sam Macaluso won the 3,200 with a time of 9:26.72. Brian Schoepfer and Max Margiotta finished behind him with times of 9:32.18 and 9:36.49, respectively.
