Bernards Somerset County Champs After Beating Immaculata

The Bernards High School baseball team was considered an underdog going into Monday night'ss Somerset County Tournament final versus perennial powerhouse Immaculata High School from Somerville. But the tenacity and solid team play of the Mountaineers earned team members their first SCT title since 1986.

Bernards' Zach DeLeon, who pitched and also batted in three runs, was named the tournament's MVP. The game was played at TD Bank Park in Bridgewater.

Immaculata broke the ice on the field, scoring a run in the first inning, but Bernards would counter with two runs of their own in the 3rd inning off of two walks, two hits and an error. 

But the real excitement came in the fourth inning, when pitcher DeLeon hit a bases-loaded triple off the center field wall. The Mountaineers then added one more run to finish out the inning. 

Immaculata tried to chip away at that lead, scoring a run in the 6th and another in the 7th inning. Immaculata was poised and ready with runners at 1st and 3rd shortstop Joe Cale made a routine catch and throw to 1st baseman Brendan Ball for the final out.

Cold May temperatures didn't effect the arm or the bat of Zach DeLeon, the tournament's MVP. "Zach is just a bulldog," said Bernards coach Jeff Falzarano. "He is a competitor. If there is anything you want to do that you want to compete in, he is the kid you want on your team if its anything from  dodgeball or tiddlywinks."

"It was a very long and rigorous," said DeLeon. "It took all I had out of me.  I am glad it is over and we won. I scared myself a little at the end, but I tried to just keep my head down and keep working hard."

"It was an awesome game," said Bernards assistant coach Jon Simoneau, who also is Bernards' head football coach and had played with some of the baseball team members on the gridiron last fall. "I couldn't have been more happy.  I said to Zach before the game that I've been here a decade and I have had kids that throw faster, that have a better curve ball, but if I had to pick one guy of all those guys, he would be the one I would have picked to pitch this game. Sometimes it's a little bit more, sometimes it comes from a little bit deeper, and he had it."

"This is awesome, this is a great feeling," said John Maddaluna. "It wasn't one of our main goals at the beginning of the season, but now that we accomplished this, it is a really great feeling."