West Deptford Baseball Team Falls in Diamond Classic

Despite collecting 11 hits on Saturday, the Cherry Hill High School West baseball team just couldn’t break through for that necessary run for most of the day.

Thanks to the Lions’ defense, all it took was one.

John Stankiewicz drove home Jake Campbell in the bottom of the 10th and the Lions went home with a 1-0 win over West Deptford in the first round of the 43rd annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic at Washington Township on Saturday, according to nj.com.

Stankiewicz and Nick Kleftogiannis each took the mound for Cherry Hill West, allowing just five hits.

Cherry Hill West returns to Washington Township to face Eastern Regional, a 10-0 winner over Wildwood, in the quarterfinals next Saturday, 1 p.m. The semifinals and final are set for Sunday.

A total of 16 teams from what is traditionally considered the South Jersey area compete in the annual tournament, which is considered the unofficial championship tournament of South Jersey.

Ten teams qualify because they were in first place in their division at the cutoff date, and six other teams qualify as wild-card teams.

Cherry Hill West earned an at-large bid, while West Deptford qualified as the first place team in the Colonial Conference Liberty Division.

Cherry Hill West improved to 13-4, and West Deptford fell to 16-5.