By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
@tortreports on Instagram
WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP — When A.J. Ward is up to bat the rest of the Kingsway Regional High baseball players shout the line “Ward against the World!”
While not exactly up against the world, Ward and Kingsway were up against Delsea Regional on Saturday in a Tri-County Conference matchup — and Ward and the Dragons did not disappoint.
Ward, the team’s starting catcher, recorded three RBIs and scored in a variety of ways as Kingsway earned a 9-7 victory on a windy morning.
“They’re a tough team, they’re very scrappy,” said Ward, who started the scoring action with an RBI off a ground ball in the first inning. “They want to talk a lot and get in your head, but ultimately we got the job done.”
Kingsway jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after Ward scored Brayden Thorp on a sacrifice fly in the second inning. Thorp finished his day 2-for-3 at the plate with key singles while also drawing two walks. Ward has been crushing the ball this year; he’s 11-for-22 with 12 RBIs in seven games, and already has surpassed his career hits total of 10 coming into this season. He’s raised his career batting average nearly 100 points in the first two weeks of this season.
Said Kingsway coach Bill Alvaro, “A.J. has really settled in to being a leader offensively this year. He’s seeing the ball really well. He’s not missing pitches, he’s getting hits. He’s taking on that leadership ability offensively. Brayden is solid, man. He’s been good every day for us. We know what we’re going to get every day. He’s good at the bat and makes plays in the field for us.”
“Jumping out to a big lead early is good, and Delsea is a good team,” said Thorp, whose third-inning single put a runner in scoring position for an eventual two-run inning. “It takes stress off of our pitchers, and Brody (Racan) pitched really well.”
After a disappointing 9-4 loss to rival Clearview in TCC divisional play on Thursday in which Thorp didn’t record a hit, he said it was nice to rebound against another tough conference opponent.
“It’s big. We had a tough loss to Clearview a couple days ago, so it’s great to bounce back,” the senior said. “The bats were hot. We still need to clean some things up on defense and pitching, but we’re doing well. A couple of us struggled against Clearview, so to bounce back here feels good.”
Ward scored Thorp on a ground out in the fifth inning to give the Dragons an 8-4 lead. Delsea inched closer, loading the bases in the seventh inning and driving two runs in to get the game within 9-7, but the deficit was too much for the Crusaders to overcome.
“Jumping on the best pitch we see and getting guys on base, getting them over, we’ve done a really good job with everyone just doing their job,” Ward said. “I just want to do my best for everyone and help us win the most games we can.”
Brody Racan recorded eight strikeouts and scattered five hits in five innings of work for Kingsway (5-2, 1-2 Tri-County Royal). Kyle Shields went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, while Christian Fanelli and Nate Bott recorded two hits each for the Dragons. Andrew Weir led the way at the plate for Delsea (1-1, 0-0 Tri-County Liberty) with three hits and an RBI, and Ethan DuBois went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
“We’re moving toward where we need to be once we get to May. We’re improving in certain areas,” Alvaro said. “We still have to put all three facets (pitching, hitting and defense) in the game at once — we’re usually missing one of them each day right now. The goal is to have all three going once we get to May.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Kingsway travels to Washington Township on Monday at 4 p.m. Delsea hosts Deptford on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
