One team wears green and calls themselves the Red Devils. (There’s a good story behind that, so keep reading.) The other wears Blue and calls themselves the Blue Devils.
So, it’ll be Ridge and Westfield to duke it out Thursday afternoon in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 championship game in Basking Ridge, as the Red Devils seek their first title since they won it in 2021, the COVID comeback year.
Ridge has been one of the more successful teams on a continuous basis over the last several years, always making deep runs in the county and state tournaments. A true program, head coach Tom Blackwell loses key guys every year, just like everyone else, but always seems to pop right back into a championship conversation, having won both a North 2, Group 4 title and a Somerset County title since baseball returned from the pandemic.
NORTH JERSEY, SECTION 2, GROUP 4 CHAMPIONSHIP
Teams:
(1) Ridge Red Devils (20-6, 7-3 Skyland Conference Delaware Division Co-Champions)
(3) Westfield (18-6, 6-4 Union County Conference Watchung Division, 3rd place)
Head Coaches:
Ridge: Tom Blackwell (20th season, 308-199)
Westfield: Jay Cook (4th season, 65-32-1)
Date and Time: Thursday, June 5th, 4:00 pm
Location: Basking Ridge, NJ
Follow for Updates: Nick Hart on Twitter
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Ridge
First Round: def. (16) Plainfield, 3-0
Quarterfinals: def. (9) Bridgewater-Raritan, 3-0
Semifinals: def. (4) Elizabeth, 5-1
Westfield
First Round: def. (14) Barringer, 5-0
Quarterfinals: def. (11) Ferris, 6-1
Semifinals: def. (2) Woodbridge, 8-4
STAT LEADERS:
Ridge:
Batting Average: Jake Dolan (.425), Dan Rafanello (.381), Sawyer Paul (.353)
RBIs: Quinn Dashefsky (23), Jake Dolan (22), Casey Kucerka (15)
Walks: Kieran Callanan (24), Jake Dolan (15), Casey Kucerka (14)
HR: Jake Dolan (3), Bode Ganny, Casey Kucerka, Aidan Stieglitz (1)
Stolen Bases: Jake Dolan (28), Kieran Callanan (14)
Strikeouts (Pitching): Aidan Stieglitz (99), Lucas Liston (35)
ERA: Aidan Stieglitz (0.79), Casey Kucerak (1.12)
Westfield:
Batting Average: Jake Alfano (.438), Leo Mangiamele (.333), Aidan Scheper (.290)
RBIs: Owen Callahan (18), Jake Watson (11), Aidan Scheper (10)
Walks: Tomas Cestero (12), Jake Watson (11)
HR: Leo Mangiamele, Jake Watson (2), Owen Callahan (1)
Stolen Bases: Leo Mangiamele (15), Jake Watson (14)
Strikeouts (Pitching): Jack Chavez (63), Tomas Cestero (38)
ERA: Jake Chavez (1.66), Christopher Iacopini (1.75)
THE LOWDOWN:
Ridge ace Aidan Stieglitz pitched in the semifinals, earning the win in a five-inning, four-hit performance, there are plenty of really, really good arms to go around. And in the final, Blackwell will give the ball to Lucas Liston, who’s 4-2 with a very good 2.29 ERA. Whether it’s a starter going the distance, or three arms teaming up, Ridge pitching has been very solid all year long, with a team ERA under two. So if Liston gets into any trouble, someone is always waiting in the wings.
Better yet for the Red Devils, they can hit. While their team batting average of .283 is just 20 points higher than that of Westfield, they’re more balanced in the lineup. The Blue Devils are led by Jake Alfano hitting .438, but after Leo Mangiamele at .330, no other regular is hitting above .300, while the Red Devils have a half-dozen regulars above that mark. Leading the way is Jake Dolan, a junior who is having a monster year at the plate.
And that’s what we mean about the Ridge program consistency, and how every year, seemingly, new guys come up the ranks and don’t seem to miss a beat.
At the start of the playoffs, we picked Ridge as one of the eleven teams that could win a title this year, and here they are. Then again, that wasn’t really going out on much of a limb, was it?
RECENT MEETINGS:
There haven’t been a lot of meetings between these two teams, as they’ve played each other just five times in the last 12 years, but the most recent one was a controversial one, and while most of this year’s team didn’t experience it, no doubt a win here would be sweet for the Red Devils.
Their 2023 North 2, Group 4 quarterfinal matchup, an 8-1 win for the Red Devils, included a pitch count issue that Westfield protested to the NJSIAA after the fact. Connor Byrne threw 82 pitches before being lifted, but he was limited to 150 by the NJSIAA pitch count rule. The discrepancy was where pitchers are allowed to go over their daily limit of 110 to finish with the current batter, but the 150-pitch limit required a pitcher to be removed, even in the middle of an at bat. Ridge had to forfeit the game, and the rule was changed for 2024. Neither coach had been checking in with the official pitch counter every half inning, and that rule was reinforced the following year as well.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY:
Ridge is looking for its tenth sectional title in school history. It’s first eight came when it was a much smaller school, in Central Jersey Group 2. The first was in 1976, then they won four in the ’80s, in 1981, 1982, 1987 and 1989. The 1987 team won the state Group 2 title, beating Hackettstown in the final. It would be a decade before their next run of big success, winning Central 2 in 1999, then doing it again in 2000 and 2002, winning the state title each of those years as well, topping West Morris-Mendham in 2000, and Dumont for the crown in 2002. Fast forward to 2021, Ridge was much bigger, and won North 2, Group 4, beating Franklin 5-2 in the sectional final. But they would fall to Montclair in the semis, 3-2.
Westfield is seeking its sixth title of the playoff era, fourth overall. They were declared North 2 Group 3 champions by the NJSIAA in 1949, and won their first sectional title of the playoff era in 1988. But it would be a long time before they’d bring home another trophy. They won North 2, Group 4 in 1988, and get their next 23 years later. In their next three sectional championship seasons, they’d get all the way to the state finals. In 2011, it was a loss to Manalapan, a loss to Eastern in 2013, and a defeat at the hands of Hunterdon Central in 2018. The Blue Devils won their last sectional title in 2019, and this is their first time back in a sectional final since.
ADDITIONAL PLAYOFF COVERAGE:
- Tuesday state playoff roundup: Six CJSR-area teams reach sectional title games, with two all-area matchups in CJ4, N2 G3
- Friday NJSIAA baseball tourney roundup: Hillsborough, St. Joseph, St. Thomas Aquinas advance to sectional semifinals next week
- Stieglitz sparkles – again – and throws complete game shutout over Bridgewater-Raritan to send top-seed Ridge into North 2, Group 4 semis
- Montgomery, Franklin pull upset wins in opening round of Central 4 NJSIAA playoffs; Old Bridge, Edison, Hillsborough also advance on Day One
- Eleven teams we think could bring home a sectional title as NJSIAA state tourney begins
- NJSIAA unveils state tournament baseball brackets; Ridge, Colonia, Middlesex get No. 1 seeds, as expected
AND NOW, THAT STORY….
The Westfield story is simple. They’re the Blue Devils and wear an appropriate color.
But what about Ridge? The Red Devils who wear green?
Well, George Lee – whom the high school’s football field is named after – owned the Red Devil tool company, and when the company was sold in the 1950s, he donated the land where the high school now stands. And the school honored him by naming its athletic teams after him.
Just one problem: their rivals, Bernards, also wore red. So, they simply picked another color, and wore green.
And still called themselves the Red Devils.
Hey, if it works for the Big Ten, why not?
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