Led by Olympic-Colonial, South Jersey Shines in the Carpenter Cup

Last week we wrote about how well the South Jersey teams started out in the Carpenter Cup baseball tournament. They finished even better.

As we wrote last week, two South Jersey teams were in the semifinals.

It turns out, those same two ended up in the final.

This might be the most competitive tournament of any sport in the Delaware Valley. That’s because they are 16 high powered all-star teams from the tri-state area competing for the chance to win the championship at Citizens Bank Park.

The Olympic-Colonial ended up beating Burlington County, 7-2, in the all-South Jersey final. What’s more, Olympic-Colonial had to beat the third South Jersey entry, Tri-Cape, 14-13, just to advance to the semifinals.

Olympic Colonial had a 10-6 comeback win over Delaware North in the first semifinal. That was a Delaware north team that earned its semifinal berth with a 26-9 win over Lehigh Valley.

It was a team full of offense, and one that led the Olympic-Colonial 6-5 entering the ninth inning. The Olympic-Colonial then erupted for five runs to earn the win.

Burlington County had an even more impressive semifinal win, considering the opponent, Jersey Shore. That franchise was the defending champion and Burlington County used stellar pitching and six-run fourth inning for a 6-1 championship win.

In the final, Olympic-Colonial trailed 2-0 before scoring five third inning runs and never looking back. Five different players had RBI in the inning.

Olympic-Colonial then got three scoreless innings from Collingswood’s Alex Margot, 1 1/3 scoreless innings from West Deptford’s Dylan Wakeley and 1 2/3 shutout innings from Cherry Hill West’s Eli Atiya.

Obviously, the key for Olympic-Colonial was the semifinal win over Tri-Cape. The Olympic-Colonial trailed 13-5 entering the bottom of the seventh inning.

Things fell apart for Tri-Cape after that, but nobody played Olympic-Colonial tougher.

Some of the standouts for Olympic-Colonial were Atiya, who went 2-0 with a save in 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He only allowed one hit, an infield single.

Offensively, Washington Township outfielder Lorenzo Morello was 5 for 10 (.500) with four runs scored and four extra base hits. Bishop Eustace’s Sky Duff went 4 for 10 (.400) with a home run, two triples and three RBI. West Deptford’ Wakely pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in two appearances and Haddonfield’s Jacob Small posted a 1.50 ERA in three appearances totaling six innings. Collingswood’s Margot struck out 11 in nine innings.

For Burlington County, junior Bryce Mangene of Rancocas Valley, had a 0.00 ERA in four appearances totaling 8 2/3 innings. Lenape catcher Cade Hunter was 5 for 9 (.555) with four RBI while Chris Baker of Moorestown was 4 for 9 (.444).

The Olympic-Colonial has won the most titles in the 33-year history of the tournament, six. However, that was the first time in the championship since its last title in 1997.

Last year Olympic-Colonial made it to the semifinals, so the franchise is having a resurgence.

And with so many talented underclassmen on all three South Jersey teams, look for each to be competitive when the 34th annual Carpenter Cup rolls around.

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Author: Marc Narducci; Photo by Marc Narducci