The Pompton Lakes baseball team’s path toward a second straight celebratory pile on the Passaic Tech pitcher’s mound was littered with another obstacle Thursday, when the Cardinals’ North 1, Group 1 quarterfinal at Ridgefield was postponed until today. (PHOTO: CONNER BLAKE/Special to The Record)
The Pompton Lakes baseball team received plenty of notice Thursday afternoon once Ridgefield officials decided to postpone the North 1, Group 1 state tournament quarterfinal between the Cardinals and the Royals.
With thunderstorms and potentially thunder and lightning in the forecast, the move made perfect sense. That doesn’t change the fact that the postponement placed Pompton Lakes in a difficult spot as the Cardinals prepare to play the two most important games of their season within a 16-hour period today and Saturday.
The Pompton Lakes-Ridgefield state game was rescheduled for today at 4 p.m. at Ridgefield. Pompton Lakes (17-3), the defending Passaic County champion, also is scheduled to face Lakeland, in the Passaic County tournament semifinals at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Passaic Tech.
The postponement probably won’t affect Pompton Lakes’ pitching rotation. Senior lefty Kevin Magee still is expected to start Saturday against Lakeland in a rematch of last year’s Passaic County final, which Pompton Lakes came back to win, 8-6, to capture the school’s first county crown since 1996.
And fellow senior lefty Mike Coss still is expected to start Monday, if Pompton Lakes can overcome Lakeland in the semifinals.
Coss pitched seven strong innings, a three-hit shutout and nine strikeouts, on Tuesday in sixth-seeded Pompton Lakes’ 1-0 victory over 11th-seeded Belvidere. Three days earlier, the typically dominant Magee overcame a rocky first inning against 14th-seeded Eastside to throw a complete game in which he struck out 12 and led the third-seeded Cardinals back to the Passaic County semifinals.
That’ll likely leave sophomore Justin Wazaney to pitch against Ridgefield today, as he would’ve done Thursday. Now, however, Pompton Lakes likely won’t arrive home from a road game until 8:30ish tonight, barring any weather delays this afternoon, less than 12 hours before they’ll assemble again to leave for Passaic Tech on Saturday morning.
And the Cardinals thought losing catcher Jon Steele, second baseman Sean Lindberg and others from a squad that won Passaic County and North 1, Group 1 titles would’ve made it difficult to repeat in either tournament.
