By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
X @GDsullysays
PITMAN — They call baseball “The thinking man’s game” but when you get to down the postseason, it’s tough to win without emotion.
There was plenty of that to go around on Thursday night for Cherry Hill West in the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic at Alcyon Park. From starting pitcher Ryder Garino’s guttural yells after working out of a first-inning jam to the tears that welled up in coach Dan McMaster’s eyes following the Lions’ 3-1 win over Delsea Regional, the night was defined by emotion.
Cherry Hill West lost to Delsea in the prestigious tournament’s semifinals a year ago. It was more of a grind this year as the field was expanded to 32 teams. The fourth-seeded Lions had beaten top-seeded Gloucester Catholic — the No. 1 team in the state at the time — in the semifinals, and they were coming off a 3-2 win over Shawnee the day before in a game that took 10 innings.
Those were all a backdrop to the real emotional story — coach McMaster trying to win a South Jersey title in honor of his father, who passed away. They came to the Diamond Classic final for years together, strengthening that father-son bond through the game they both grew up loving. The championship was the first for Cherry Hill West since way back in 1989.
“It means the world. My father has a ceremonial bench up there in right field because my son and I, and my parents, came and watched the diamond final last year here. And we watched it from the right-field hill,” McMaster explained. “After my father passed our family and friends took up a collection and donated a bench up there. It has his name on it, some of his sayings and kind of what he was all about. So I feel like he was watching down on us, either from up there or from the right-field stands — so it means a lot. I will remember this for the rest of my life.”
Delsea, ranked No. 6 in the state in the latest nj.com Top 20 poll, jumped on star pitcher Ryder Garino, a University of South Carolina commit, early, as Frankie Master ripped a double the opposite way to start the game. Garino then mishandled a sacrifice bunt attempt by Zach Maxwell, and after Maxwell stole second the Crusaders had two runners in scoring position with no outs.
All Garino did was fan two batters and get a pop-up to wiggle out of the jam.
“We feel good. We’ve been working at this. Once we won (Wednesday) we were ready for today. Our guys came ready to play. It was tough in the beginning innings, but once we got on them we didn’t let our foot off the gas pedal,” he said. “I was spotting up my breaking ball really well. When I get that going, I don’t think anybody can hit me. And to be able to spot my fastball on the inside and outside, everything was working. I’ve been getting through jams all season and I know I could get through that. I just had to stay composed and work my pitches, and I got out of it.”
The Lions, ranked No. 3 in the state, got on the board first when Jon Young Jr. — a University of Alabama recruit — squirted an RBI single through the infield in the bottom of the third. Center fielder Leo Orefice followed with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0, and Cherry Hill West made it 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Grant Fournier.
Delsea scratched a run across in the top of the seventh on a single by Master, but Isayiah Pierce-Gonzalez closed the door after Garino had reached the single-game pitch count limit. Garino scattered five hits and walked two while striking out 10, giving him 231 strikeouts for his career.
Delsea’s Frank Cairone allowed just four hits while striking out six in six innings of work.
“I think when you have two standout pitchers on the mound, no matter how tough and hard-nosed, both offenses are, and talented, pitching usually gets the job done,” McMaster said. “So we expected it to be a low-scoring game. A lot of the big games that we’re in, when Ryder is on the mound, it’s the team that’s going to score first and who can tack on runs. We were able to do that.”
The Lions now turn their attention to the upcoming South Jersey Group 3 tournament, but for a few days they’ll be able to celebrate a long-awaited championship.
“This was everything,” Garino said. “My coach loved this tournament when he was growing up, came to every game, and to get this win for him and his family feels amazing.”
“We knew coming here was going to be a challenge for us. Last year was last year, and we got knocked out by these guys last year. After playing Shawnee 10 innings yesterday, and we have a couple of guys with some nagging, lingering, injuries but they just toughed it out and they made it through,” McMaster said. “I knew they were tough and knew they were gritty, but this is a pretty special team, a special group of guys to get this win in this tournament. I couldn’t be more proud of them and I’m happy to see them celebrate this.”
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
