Lower pulls off seed upset, other local teams fall in baseball and softball playoffs

Posted: May 28th 2025

By BRIAN CUNNIFF

CapeAtlanticLive.com 

For the second straight season, the Lower Cape May Regional High School baseball team has gotten hot at the right time.

The Caper Tigers, seeded ninth in the South Jersey Group II Tournament, erupted for eight runs over the first two innings and rolled to a rather surprising 11-4 victory at No. 8 Barnegat in an opening-round game Tuesday.

Sean Kelleher went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBI to lead the explosive Caper Tiger offense. He’s had hits in seven of his last 14 at bats over a four-game span.

Cade Heacock added a hit, two runs scored and two RBI, Aydan Hecoack had a hit and two RBI, Caden Elwell posted two hits and Mason Cronin and Ashton Ray both had RBI hits.

SEAN KELLEHER: 3 for 4 for LCM in playoff win

Aydan Heacock was the winning pitcher, allowing just two unearned runs over 3 1/3 innings in relief. Kelleher tossed two scoreless innings to close the game. Matt DiCave opened on the mound for Lower and recorded all five of his outs via strikeout.

Due to low pitch counts, all three pitchers will be eligible to throw Thursday when the Tigers (12-14) go to No. 1 Haddonfield for a second-round game.

The win was Lower’s seventh straight and ninth in 11 games. Last season, Lower won 10 of 11 contests, including two in the state playoffs, before falling in the sectional semifinal round.

In other state playoff games from Tuesday:

BASEBALL

Schalick 9, Wildwood 0: Three Schalick pitchers combined for a one-hitter and Penn commit Luke Pokrovsky went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBI as the second-seeded Cougars (19-2) eliminated No. 15 Wildwood (10-13) in a Group I game. Nolan Mawhinney had Wildwood’s lone hit.

Collingswood 13, Middle Township 0: In a South Jersey Group II game, No. 6 Collingswood (15-9) used an eight-run fourth inning to turn a close game in its favor in eliminating the No. 11 Panthers (13-9) in five innings. Jairo Mendoza had two doubles and two RBI to lead Collingswood. He also tossed three innings and allowed just one hit for the pitching win. Adam Radzieta and Max Adelizzi each had hits for Middle.

SOFTBALL

Sterling 5, Middle Township 2: Sterling, the No. 9 seed in the South Jersey Group II Tournament, built a 5-1 lead before holding off eighth-seeded Middle’s late rallies to get the win. Allison Brown and Riley Huber each had two hits and two RBI and Julianna Cruz had two hits and two runs scored for Sterling (11-11). Tori Atwood and Peyton DeVicchis each had a hit and an RBI and Grace Hall had a hit and a run scored for Middle (10-10) in the loss. The Lady Panthers rallied in the bottom of the seventh but failed to score after loading the bases with no outs.

Pennsville 11, Wildwood 0: In Group I, second-seeded Pennsville’s seven-run third inning proved to be too much for No. 15 Wildwood to overcome.Avery Watson went 3 for 3 with a triple and two RBI and Savannah Brewer-Palverento struck out 11 batters on the mound to lead Pennsville (20-4). Addison Troiano’s double accounted for the lone hit for Wildwood (5-13).