Baseball Team Advances to State Semifinals,12-6

The Cranford Cougars varsity baseball team continues to find ways to win, no matter the score.

Such was the case in Friday's North Jersey, Group 3, Section 2 state sectional quarterfinal game at Memorial Field, when John F. Kennedy High School of Iselin posted three first inning runs.

Undeterred, the Cougars put up six in the third before finally taking the lead for good in the fifth inning on Mark Osofsky's two-out single which scored Nick Pace, giving them a 7-6 lead.

Freshman lefthander Ryan Williamson, who came in to shut the door on Westfield in last week's Union County Tournament championship game, came off the bench again and put the squeeze on JFK, tossing 4 1-3 innings for the win. Starter Pat Gilstrap was on the mark, but the visitors were able to get a few clutch hits early on.

"I thought Pat was throwing the ball very well, but JFK just put some very good swings on it early," said Cranford coach Dennis McCaffery. "They can hit the ball very well. We knew that going in. Pat was throwing two pitches for strikes, and credit to them, they were hitting the ball. We just went with a different look with Ryan and fortunately he was able to keep them off balance."

Williamson entered the game with bases loaded and one out, with his team already down 3-0 in the third, but the unflappable southpaw got his first batter to ground into an unconventional 1-2-3 double play to end the inning, a play that was arguably a game-changer.

"It was outstanding," said McCaffery. "We didn't want the game to get away from us. Ryan had a ground ball to him, he kept his composure, threw it to Mark (Linger), who had a tough throw. He actually threw the ball over the batter/runner's head and threw the ball to Nick (Cook). It was a big play. It was a big momentum switch."

"I knew we were going to get a ground ball there, put it over the plate, expect them to hit it and for my teammates to make the play," said Williamson. "All the kids keep coming in every morning, 6:45 every morning to hit and keep getting better and it pays off. Greg Matlosz, Nick Cook, Mark Osofsky coming up with some big hits and timely hitting."

A fired up Cranford team immediately took the game back in their own hands, posting six runs to take a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the third.

"I just think that we got good pitches to hit, we were able to get some walks, and we able to do some nice situational hitting," said McCaffery. "We were able to get runs across. Fortunately, we were able to get six that inning and that was able to put us in a position where we were playing ahead."

"A lot of games that we played this season have started out like that, where teams started out hot against us and it definitely proves that we can win no matter what happens," said leftfielder Mark Osofsky.

Things quieted down until Osofsky's big hit.

"Mark had another outstanding offensive performance and he was able to get that base hit which widened the gap and we were fortunate to be able to put the run up there."

The Cougars broke the game open with five runs in the fifth inning, sparked by Nick Cook's two-run double.

"I was trying to get a fly ball or a ground ball, do something simple to try and get some runs in," Cook said.

Union County baseball fans got the matchup they were hoping for after Scotch Plains-Fanwood defeated Millburn 2-0 in their quarterfinal game. That sets up a rematch with the Raiders, who lost to Cranford 10-7 in the UCT semifinal round two weeks ago.

"They're definitely going to be out to get us again, we know they're a good time. Hopefully it'll be another good game and we'll come out on top. If we play a clean game all the way around, we should be able to beat them again."

Cranford will travel to Scotch Plains on Tuesday for the much anticipated state sectional semifinal matchup.