After falling behind 1-0 in the second inning of the first of two Somerset County Tournament semifinals Monday at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater, Watchung Hills had no panic in them.
All they did was come back in the bottom of the third to score four runs, and with four-year varsity pitcher Robbie Centamore on the mound, he did the rest. Centamore struck out 13 – a new career high – en route to a 4-2 win heard and seen live on Central Jersey Sports Radio – that puts the Hustlin’ Warriors back int he finals for the first time since 2016.
Ridge (14-9) got on the board first, in the top of the second inning. Casey Kucerka walked to lead it off and was replaced by courtesy runner Colin Newcomb, and Sawyer Paul reached on an error on a grounder to third. After Aiden Kerrigan struck out, Dmitri Romer blooped one to right that brought in Newcomb.
But Centamore got out of the inning, striking out the next two hitters to limit the damage.
Watchung Hills (14-7) would rally to take the lead in the bottom of the third, sending nine men to the plate. Brady Simo led off with a walk, then James Esposito singled to tie the game at one. Back to the top of the lineup, Jacob Jaconski tripled to left – as left fielder Matt Pypcznske lost his footing and the ball got by him toward the foul line – to make it 2-1 Hills.
After a groundout for the first out, Centamore reached on an infield hit. A Max Payne ground out to second brought in Jaconski from third to make it 3-1 – adding insurance they would eventually need – and an errant throw by third baseman Dmitri Romer on a grounder by Landon Pudlal brought in the fourth run. Lucas Liston got out of it though; after hitting Brody Griffith to put runners at first and third, he got Lucas Ricci to fly out to center to end the inning.
Ridge got one more run in the sixth, on a one-out RBI double by Casey Kucerka, but Centamore got a ground out and strikeout to end the inning.
Starter Lucas Liston took the loss for Ridge, allowing all for Warriors’ runs on seven hits in five innings of work.
Watchung Hills will play the winner of Monday’s second SCT semifinal between top-seed and defending champion Immaculata and fifth-seed Bridgwater-Raritan in Wednesday’s 6 pm final back here at TD Bank Park.
Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel with Watchung Hills head coach Joe Tremarco and senior starting pitcher Robbie Centamore, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: