State champion baseball team enjoys the limelight after 15-3 win

For much of the season, especially during tournament time, the Cranford varsity baseball team had to fight tooth and nail for every victory. But comeback after comeback, they were cool as a cucumber, as if they knew they would win.

So it's ironic that the Group 3 state championship game was arguably one of their easiest of the year. No drama, little excitement. At the plate? Almost like batting practice. On the mound? More stellar performances. It was just the Cougars' machine taking care of business.

And so their 15-3 thrashing of South Jersey power Ocean City was the icing on the cake in one of the greatest seasons in Cranford's storied baseball history, adding this title to their sectional crown and Union County championship.

"It means a lot to win a state championship my last year," said senior pitcher Pat Gilstrap. "We wanted to get the job done. We worked as a team and it feels great to win the state championship."

"It's the most amazing feeling I've ever had," added starting pitcher Kurt Rutmayer. "It's great to win with a bunch of guys that I love to play baseball with."

The Cougars bus ride to Toms River North High School was worth every mile of the long trip down the Garden State Parkway on an early Saturday morning. After all, this was nothing, considering they spent almost every day the last three months shaking the cobwebs out while taking extra batting practice at 6:30 in the morning.

Determined and focused, the Cougars posted two runs in the first inning, which was a good start. At that point, this talented collection of seniors and underclassmen put together an impressive hitting display, posting six more runs in each of the next two innings to take an eye-opening 14-0 lead after three.

A Greg Matlosz triple was the highlight of the first inning, but with the bases loaded in the second frame and Ocean City threatening, senior second baseman Rob Ghiretti made the play of the game, hauling in a wicked ground ball that looked to be a hit before stepping on second for the final out. That play seemed to lift the confident Cougars to another level.

Then the bats came alive.

Sean Feeney, Sean Trotter, Nick Pace, Eric Walano and Mark Osofsky all had RBI singles in the third to give Cranford an 8-0 advantage.

Senior Nick Pace highlighted the fourth frame with an RBI triple, followed by another Osofsky RBI single. Then it was Nick Cook's turn.

With the bases loaded, the senior stepped into the batters box and took a swing that he'll remember the rest of his life, crushing a grand slam home run which landed 400 feet away from where he was standing. The Widener-bound standout capped-off his final career at-bat in a way he could only dream of.

"It was very surprising," said Rutmayer. "It was only 2-0 in the first. I had to hold them off in the first two innings and then it broke open. Cook's grand slam really broke the game open. It's really great to ten-run a team in the state final."

"In the end, we all came together, we had the bats working and it ultimately won us the game," said Gilstrap. "As the season went on, we started hitting and it just all came together. We really worked as a team."

The pitchers meanwhile, were on top of their game. Sophomore starter Kurt Rutmayer, who began the season at the JV level, tossed two innings of shutout ball, striking out three to start the game. Freshman lefthander Ryan Williamson, who was instrumental in the Cougars' incredible run, was injured after taking a line drive off his pitching hand and had to leave the game. The shot off the bat of Villanova-bound Tyler Reich, broke the metacarpal bone of his left hand which will leave Williamson in a cast for four weeks before he can get involved in summer ball.

Senior Pat Gilstrap, who had another strong season before being hampered by a late-season injury, shut down Ocean City in the fifth and final inning, striking out the final batter to ignite the celebration.

"It was a great feeling," said Gilstrap. "I really wanted a chance to get in, and when I did, I made the most of it. It felt really good to wrap it up with a strikeout."

"Everyone worked really hard and it paid off," said Williamson. "I was really happy for Pat to play in his last high school game. None of the rankings said we were gonna make it this far. We weren't even supposed to be over .500."

Cranford has now won three state crowns, with the first coming in 1971 and the last in 1997.

They finished the year 26-5 and put the exclamation point on their season with a nine-game winning streak at the end.