By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP — Ryan Gollon started it, Kyle Shields finished it.
Together, the pair combined for three hits and seven RBIs to power fourth-seeded Kingsway to a dominant 14-2 victory in five innings Friday over No. 12 Cherry Hill East in the quarterfinal round of the South Jersey Group 4 playoffs.
Kingsway advances to next week’s semifinals, where the Dragons will travel to No. 1 Cherokee. The other semifinal pits No. 6 Vineland against No. 2 Eastern Regional.
With Shields advancing runners to second and third on a sacrifice bunt, Gollon smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning that gave the Dragons all the early momentum they needed.
“Honestly, my approach was trying to get up there and score those two runs that we got on after the sacrifice bunt,” said Gollon, who’s committed to play baseball at Mercyhurst University. “After the first pitch, I saw that it was a change-up out and I was getting ready to load up and unleash on the ball. I was just waiting for that pitch, and of course I got that pitch. I did what I had to do.
“That first inning set the tone for the rest of the game,” he continued. “That built us to say ‘we’re here, we’re going to win this game, we want this more than they do.’ Throughout the course of the game we kept on providing more and more runs to keep that momentum going.”
Shields hit a two-run single to extend the Kingsway lead to 5-0 in the second inning, and recorded another two-run single with two outs in the third to put the Dragons up 8-0.
“The guy throws me two curveballs, throws it again,” Shields, a junior, said. “I just mash it up the middle, and then it’s really just reading the pitches, knowing what they’re going to do.”
Said Kingsway coach Bill Alvaro, “(Kyle) has been doing this all year, but just recently he’s been hitting tons of RBIs, big hits, too, with two outs.”
Cherry Hill East (12-13) scored its runs in the top of the fourth inning, but Kingsway responded hastily with five runs in the bottom frame. A two-run single from A.J. Ward, a sacrifice fly from Logan Taylor, a Nick Weber steal and an error by the East defense quickly put the game away.
“The kids have been playing great, they’re having a lot of fun, they’re executing,” Alvaro said. “They just believe in each other, they’re doing a really good job. That’s what we’ve talked about all year. There’s always ups and downs, you know, but you always want to be going up at the right time.”
Alvaro said it best — if there’s any time to be hot, it’s now.
And the Dragons (20-6) could not be hotter. They have won nine in a row, their last loss coming May 3 to Audubon in the second round of the Diamond Classic. During that span, they’ve given up more than three runs just once.
“I’m feeling very confident in this team. Once me made a new motto of being a family, we’ve just improved, putting on many runs against teams, putting them in a hole, tough spot for them to be in,” Shields said. “Knowing that we got another day with the seniors is great. We never want to see them go home bad. We want them to finish with a bang, go off to college knowing that they won a state championship.”
Killian McCaffrey scattered four hits and recorded six strikeouts in four innings prior to Jake Mangifesta relieving him in the final frame.
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 4 Kingsway Regional at No. 1 Cherokee in the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals, Tuesday, time TBD. Cherry Hill East’s season is complete.
