PAGE 30 — THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2011 LOCALSOURCE.COM UNION COUNTY LOCALSOURCE
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UCT softball movesnext to first round
By .IK ParachiniSports Editor
Governor Livingston, seeking to win its fourth county championshipand first since 2001, was selected as the top seed for this month 's 36thannual Softball Union County Tournament
Competition was to begin this week with live preliminary roundgames that must be completed by today. Eight first round games arescheduled lor 4 p.m. Saturday at the higher seeds.
The quarterfinals are scheduled to be played at Linden May 13 - dou-bleheaders at 6 and S p.m. and the semifinals there May 14 at 6 and 8 p.m.
The final, tor the second year in a row. will be at Kean University inUnion, scheduled for May 21 at 2 p.m.
GL began the week 11-2, with Caldwell being the only team it's playedthat is has not defeated. The Highlanders split Union County Conlerence-Watchung Division games with Linden.
GL won its first UCT title in 1997. second in 1999 and third in 2001.Johnson, which has not won the title since 1981, is the second seed.
The Crusaders were judged on an 11-3 record that included losses on thesame day in the Colonia Tournament to lselin Kennedy and Woodbridgeand a conference-crossover setback to GL.
Johnson, which captured the UCT first in 1979 and second in 1981,leads the UCC's Mountain Division with a perfect 10-0 mark and fourleague games to go - as of the start of the week.
Defending UCT champion Cranford, 6-3 at the beginning of the week,is the third seed. The Cougars have won four of the past five crowns andwill be seeking a sixth one overall.
New Providence earned the fourth seed with a 9-3 record thatincluded two Mountain Division losses to Johnson and a season-opening 2-1 setback at home to out-of-county foe Bernards.
Mountain Division teams Brearley. the tilth seed, and RosellePark, the sixth seed, were seeded ahead of Watchung Division schoolsWest field, the seventh seed, and Linden, the eighth seed.
Brearley was 6-5 with a 1-0 record over fellow Mountain Divisionrival Roselle Park and one more league game to go against the Panthers.
Roselle Park has a rare win over Westfield and began the week at 8-6.Westfield is 6-10 and Linden was 4-6 through Saturday's cutoff for
Sunday's seeding meeting. Linden went to 5-7 after falling to Nutley andbeating Bloomfield at home Sunday in the Linden Classic.
Union is the 1 Ith seed, which is its lowest since being seeded eighthin 2001. The Farmers will play at sixth-seeded Roselle Park in one ofSaturday's first round games and it will be the first time the schools arefacing each other in a count} conies! since Union blanked Roselle Park1-0 in a 2008 semifinal at Linden.
Union head coach Chris I'linn. at the helm of the Partners since 1996,and Roselle Park mentor Iran Maggio, at the helm of the Panthers since1997, are close friends. I linn has guided Union to UCT championships in1996, 200(1 and 2009 and Maggio has led Roselle Park to the title in 2003and-2004. Union began the week only 4-8 in a rebuilding season. TheFarmers are led b\ senior captains Megan Bohse, the third baseman, andErica Greenwald, the second baseman. Bohse was batting .513 (20-for-39)and Greenwald an even .500 (20-for-40) as of the start of the week.
• • •36TH ANNUAL SOFTBALL UCTFIRST ROUND: Saturday, May 7TOPSIDE OF THE BRACKET:
9-Union Catholic at 8-LindenOak Knoll/Summit at 1-Gov. Livingston
Plainfield/Kent Place at 5-Brearleyliillside/Roselle Catholic at 4-New Providence
BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:10-Elizabeth at 7-Westfield
Scotch Plains/Dayton at 2-Johnson11-Union at 6-Roselle Park
Roselle/Rahway at 3-Cranford
Crusaders were out toreach UCT semis again
(Continued from Page 29)Seniors A.J. Murray and Steve lorgash also banged
out two hits in the inning and drove in one run. Seniorright) Justin White (3-1) started for Westfield andgave up one run in three innings. St. Mary's, the 19thseed, won its first UCT game winning at New Prov-idence 3-2 last Friday in the preliminary round dur-ing head coach Martin Ferreiro's nine-season tenure.
Union Catholic 2, Roselie Park 0 at UnionCatholic: Senior left bander Rich Birch tossed a one-hitter and the fourth-seeded Vikings received RBI-sin-gles from senior Brandon Suarez and sophomore MikeD'Antico.
Scotch Plains 13, Union 5 at Scotch Plains: TheRaiders will now play the Vikings in the quarterfinalsfor the third straight season and in the UCT for thesixth straight year.
This time, for a change, Union Catholic is the high-er seed and will host the game.
The teams scrimmaged at Union CatholicMarch 1 I, which was the first scrimmage for both.
"We've had quite a history with Scotch Plainslately in the tournament,1' said Union Catholic headcoach Jim Reagan, now in his 10th season at the helmof the Vikings.
Union Catholic earned its highest UCT seed underReagan's tenure this season. The Vikings are seekingto reach the semifinals for the first time under Reagan.
Since Tom Baylock became the head coach atScotch Plains in 2004, Scotch Plains is 5-1 vs. UnionCatholic in UCT play, with wins in 2004, 2007, 2008,2009 and 2010. Union Catholic won the 2006matchup. The teams did not face each other in the2005 tournament.
Scotch Plains has reached the semifinals the lastthree years.
The top four seeds advanced to the semifinals thelast five years.
The last time the top four seeds did not advance tothe semifinals was in 2005 when top-seeded Cranfordlost at home to eighth-seeded Dayton and seventh-seeded Roselle Catholic defeated Johnson on the roadin quarterfinal round play.
Roselle Park, the 13th seed, defeated 20th-seededHillside 11-1 Friday in a prelim game.
Elizabeth 12, Dayton 7 at Dayton: Elizabeth, theninth seed, was the only road team to win Saturday, oust-ing eighth-seeded Dayton :ii Springfield's Ruby Field.
Cranford 13, Rahway I at Cranford: The top-seeded and defending champion Cougars are now onewin away from reaching the semifinals for the fifthconsecutive year. Rahway, the 17th seed, won at 16th-seeded Brearley 8-5 Friday in prelim play.
Roselle Catholic 6, Orator}1 Prep 1 at Nomahe-gan Park: The seventh-seeded Lions won their sixthstraight to improve to 10-4. Orator)' Prep, the 10th seed,won four of five coming in and is now 9-5.
Gov. Livingston 6, Summit 1 at GL: The second-seeded Highlanders received a six-inning mound effortfrom junior right hander Joey Graziano, who is now 3-1.
In less than 24 hours GL went 3-0 to improveto 12-2.
The Highlanders first defeated Union Catholic 5-0last Friday night in a Union County Conference-crossover game at Snyder Park in Berkeley Heights.Then after GL ousted 15th-secdcd Summit at home inUCT play, the Highlanders remained at their fieldSaturday and blanked visiting Plainfield 11-0 inanother conference-crossover contest.
GL junior catcher Keith Skinner, a lefty batter, hadsome week.
He went 9-for-14 (.643) with seven RBI. In a 4-2home win over Scotch Plains Tuesday he was l-for-3with one RBI and vs. Union Catholic he was 3-for-4.
On Saturday he was 2-for-4 with an RBI againstSummit and 3-for-3 with five RBI vs. Plainfield.
GUERRERO HAS A GAMETO REMEMBER FOR ST. MARY'S
St. Mary's of Elizabeth sophomore right handerFernando Guerrero was largel) responsible for seeingthat the Hilltoppers won a UCT game for the first limeunder the leadership of head coach Martin 1 erreiro.
He handcuffed 14th-seeded New Providence lastFriday and then produced the game-winning hit to liftSt. Mary's to a 3-2 road win in prelim play,
Guerrero improved to 3-1 on the mound, tossing asix-hitter that included 15 strikeouts, two walks andone hit batter.
Guerrero's game-winning hit came with one outand two runners on in the lop of the seventh.
Guerrero no-hit Union Catholic in a 1-0 loss Mon-day in Scotch Plains, with St. Mary's giving up thegame's only run on a throwing error. The batter thatscored was struck out by Guerrero, but reached firstbase on a wild pitch.
Against New Providence four days later, Guerrerogave up hard hits to the first three Pioneer batters hefaced, with two of them scoring. He then settled downand allowed only three other hits the rest of the way,including an infield single where he followed up bypicking the runner off first base.
His fastball and curveball worked equally well,with six of his strikeouts swinging and nine looking.The drop on his curveball was unhittable.
"It was a gutsy performance.'" I erreiro said. "Theball was high up to the first three baiters he faced andI thought they caught up to him. He then regroupedand threw strikes."
The two runs he gave up to New Providence - atwo-run double by Pioneer senior first baseman DougPastore - were the first earned runs he has yielded sofar this year. His 3-1 record includes two shutouts(Roselle home and Perth Amboy lech away), and hehas given up only three runs, with only two of thembeing earned.
"He's a heck of a pitcher," New Providence coachAndy Silvagni said of CJuerrero.
Silvagni, New Providence's junior varsit) coach,was coaching the varsitv Friday because head coachChris Brodeur had a personal matter to attend to.
"After he (Guerrero) settled down we tried to makehim work," Silvagni said.
"We had him on the ropes once or tw ice. bin he go)out of it."
New Providence had runners on second and thirdwith nobody out in the sixth, but failed to increase its2-1 lead at the time.
"We didn't take advantage of that opportunitythere," Silvagni said.
Pastore was 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.Solano, who bats left handed, brought home Ali
Youngblood with an RBI-single to right in the seventhto tie the score at 2-2.
In the fifth, Solano drove in Youngblood with anRBI-double to center field to pull St. Man ' s towithin 2-1.
Solano was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Youngblood. theNo. 9 batter in St. Mary's lineup, scored twice afterworking walks against New Providence starter MikeMarchesano and reliever Marc (iiacalone.
NOTES: The semifinals are Saturday at 2 p.m. and4:15 p.m. at Elizabeth's Williams field.
For the first time the championship game will beplayed at Kean University in Union.
The contest is scheduled for May 15, with a time tobe determined.
The first Union-Essex All-Star Game was held atKean last year and before that Cranford defeatedLakeland there in a Group 3 semifinal.
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