Sports
Two HHS Baseball Players Reach Carpenter's Cup
Hightstown baseball finishes the year 7-11, but Lopez and Monahan will play on.
While the baseball season is officially over, several of the team's best players are still active.
In addition to several players being on the Hightstown American Legion Post 148 team, Jose Lopez and Kevin Monahan have both been selected to represent Mercer County in the Carpenter's Cup. It's the second year in a row Lopez has been given this honor.
The first game for Mercer in the Carpenter's Cup will be on June 15 at Ashburn Park in Philadelphia. That figures to be the beginning of a very busy day for Lopez, who will also play in the NJ All-Star Game later on June 15.
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According to Hightstown Coach Jim Peto, Lopez has always been an all-star. He may have only been 3-3 this season, but Hightstown was limited to a 7-11 record. Lopez had an ERA of 1.57. His 75 strikeouts in 57 innings were the second most in the state.
Lopez's skills had the this season.
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"Two scouts that came to see him pitch wanted him to go to college and put some muscle on his frame," Peto said.
Lopez will be going to Louisburg College in North Carolina.
Monahan offers the Mercer squad a very clutch bat. He hit a grand slam with two outs in the seventh in Hightstown's state playoff game against Hopewell. Unfortunately, Hightstown was unable to hold a three-run lead in the seventh and a two-run lead in the eighth in what ended up being a 10-9 loss.
"That was the craziest game I have ever seen," Peto said. "Combined between the two teams, there were three homers and 12 runs scored in the seventh and eighth innings."
Kevin Lenart, a sophomore, batted .429 with 14 steals this season.
"He was top five in the county in batting average and the steals put him 20th in the state," Peto said.
Lenart is on the Legion team. Lopez picked up the win as Hightstown Post 148 won its opener.
"We averaged starting five sophomores a game," Peto said. "There were times when we started six sophomores. That's a lot of young players to go through a season with."
Of course, the positive is all those kids now have varsity experience and will be back for two more years.
"We have a lot of young kids that love playing baseball," Peto said.
They also had a chance to watch and learn from such standouts as Lopez and Monahan.
