Cougars Season Comes to an End
The Camden County College Cougars season has come to an end as they were defeated by the Brookdale Jersey Blues for the second straight year in the first round of the Region XIX playoffs.
Harford, M.D. - The Camden County College Cougars baseball team season has come to an end as they were defeated by the Brookdale Jersey Blues for the second straight year in the Region XIX playoffs. The Cougars headed down to Harford Community College for the playoff series and battled until the end. The Cougars finish overall 30-18. That's tied for the 3rd highest win total in program history.
In game one, the Cougars jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after freshman shortstop, Ryan Swift, hit his first home run of the season. The Jersery Blues punched right back however scoring runs in the first inning as well. Sophomore starting pitcher, Bobby Girgenti, left the game after 5 innings of work with a 7-6 Cougars lead. The Cougars would not be able to hold on however as the Jersey Blues managed to scrap acrossed 4 runs on a walk and a wild pitch in the bottom of the 7th inning. The Cougars ultimately came up short game 1 as the Jersey Blues pulled away with a 12-7 victory.
After 2 hours of rain and lightning delays the Cougars and Jersey Blues took the field again. With the Cougars season on the line the Cougars jumped out to an 8-3 lead. The Jersey Blues came roaring back however managing to bat around in the bottom of the 4th taking the lead 14-8. The Cougars could not climb back into the game as their season ended with a 16-8 loss.
Cougars skipper, John Merkh, had this to say about the season. "It was really a great year. We were very young, suffered a ton of injuries, had to overcome more obstacles than you could imagine and these guys just kept showing up and battling through it all. I do not think anyone expected us to win 30 games in this region. We knocked off the pitcher of the year, beat nationally ranked programs and really set the tone moving forward for years to come. It's a shame it had to end like this at 2am watching the Jersey Blues celebrate but their a great program. We have a ton of respect for what they do over there and they just found a way to do more than us today. A couple of balls bounce the other way and a call or two goes our way i'm probably not talking about our season ending today, but hey that's baseball. These guys worked their tails off all year and no one can take away from them what they have managed to accomplish."
The Cougars would like to thank the following sophomores for their two years of hard work and dedication:
4 Hunter Brelsford
1 Matthew Jefferson
13 Dom Lopez, Jr
6 Bobby Girgenti
41 Peter Berenato
25 Matt Pallotta
The Cougars are now heading home for the summer as many of the sophomore Cougars will be going on to play at 4 year NCAA programs. The freshman will get to work this summer and come back again next year looking in search of a Region XIX championship! One last time until August, GO COUGARS!