Trio of local teams on the bubble this week BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer For those of you who simply can't wait for the high school baseball and softball postseason tournaments to begin, this should be a good week for you. While the NJSIAA state and Shore Conference tournaments are still a couple of weeks away, the cutoffs for those tournaments are rapidly approaching, with teams scrambling to qualify through a series of must-win games. Locally, there are a number of baseball and softball teams that have already earned their tickets to the postseason, while three local teams are what we consider "bubble teams." For them, this week's games will determine their fate in the state tournament, as the cutoff is this Friday, with teams needing to have a .500 record or better at the end of the day to qualify. St. John Vianney and Raritan entered the season amid relatively high expectations, yet find themselves needing somewins this week to qualify for the state tournament. SJV enters the week at 7-7, having won a big game against Kearney, 7-6, Sunday as part of the Shore Challenge at Christian Brothers Academy. Marc Teel hit a three-run triple to cap a four-run sixth inning and help the Lancers come back from a 6-2 deficit to defeat the Cardinals. Senior lefty Andrew Holler and Kevin MacLachlan were strong in relief for SJV, who put itself right back in position to qualify with the win. With two scheduled games on slate this week before Friday's cutoff, SJV needs to win one of them in order to wrap up its spot in the Non-Public South A tournament. Yesterday, the Lancers took on a Red Bank Regional team that entered the week at 5-9, and may have been looking to make a last-ditch run at a state tourney spot. Today, the Lancers will take on another 5-9 team in Mater Dei in Middletown. As for Raritan, the Rockets entered the week at 7-8 following an 8-5 win over RBR on Saturday. Raritan has three games scheduled for this week and needs to win two of them to get back to the Central Jersey Group II tournament. OnMonday, Raritan took on a Holmdel team that has struggled to a 3-12 mark this year. Today, Raritan finds itself in a game that should have a tournament-like atmosphere, as the host Marlboro Mustangs are also fighting for their postseason lives this week. Marlboro entered the week at 8-9, needing to win two of its three games to qualify for the CJ Group IV tourney. Tomorrow the Rockets take on one of the biggest surprises in the Shore Conference this year when they travel to Barnegat to face a 12-4 Bengals team that is battling with Central Regional for the Class B South title. Raritan certainly was hoping to win its first two games this week, as the prospect of beating Barnegat on their home field with a state playoff spot on the line is not a comfortable one. Among the local baseball teams that have assured themselves of state playoff spots are Matawan (9-5), Keyport (8-5), and CBA (14-5). Matawan locked up its spot in the CJ Group II tournament with an impressive 6-4 win over Ocean Township atMercer CountyWaterfront Park in Trenton on Sunday, led by big offensive days from Dan Geran (4-for-4 with two RBIs) and winning pitcher J.D. Melendez (3-for-4 with two RBIs). This marks the first time the Huskies will be in the state tournament since 2005, and with a deep and balanced squad, Matawan will be looking to surprise some people once the sectional tourney gets under way. CBA also got a win on Sunday, beating St. Peter's Prep, 16-9, as part of the Shore Challenge in Lincroft. Harry Rinkewich paced the offensive attack with a two-run home run in the first, followed by a threerun shot in the second, while Zach Tannenbaum (3-for-3, four RBIs) and Dan Avella (3-for-5) also had big offensive days for the Colts, who built a 13-2 lead after three innings and never looked back. CBA appears to be hitting its stride as the postseason approaches, which is exactly what head coach Marty Kenney had hoped would happen with a team that went through much of the regular season with putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together. As usual, CBAappears poised to be a very difficult out this postseason. With the cutoff for the Shore Conference Tournament looming ahead on May 12, all of the aforementioned teams should be in the hunt for bids, while Middletown North (5-11),Middletown South (6-10) and Mater Dei could all play their way into the SCT with some wins over the next two weeks. However, all three of those teams have very little room for error. On the softball diamond, Middletown North (11-5), Middletown South (12-4), Matawan (10-4), Mater Dei (14-1) and St. John Vianney (9-5) are all state tournament bound, leaving only the Raritan Rockets on the bubble. Raritan lost a tough 1-0 affair to Red Bank Regional on Saturday to fall to 7-7 on the year. That means with three games on the schedule this week, the Rockets needed a pair of wins to secure their spot in the CJ Group II tournament. Fortunately for them, their schedule doesn't include any of the Shore's big guns, making a two-out-of-three week a bit less daunting. On Monday, Raritan faced a 2-11 Holmdel team, while today the Rockets will take on another struggling team in Marlboro (2-12). That leaves tomorrow's game against Barnegat (7-10) before the cutoff. As for the teams already assured of spots in the state tournament, several of them still have plenty to play for this week, beyond high seeds in the upcoming tournaments. Mater Dei, which has wrapped up the non-public title in the B Central Division, will play in its first Monmouth County Tournament championship game on Saturday. The Seraphs beat Wall Township, 1-0, behind a solo home run from senior Tess Gagliano and the stellar pitching of senior Sara Cline on Saturday. This has been a magical season for head coach Jeanne Dickinson's Seraphs, whose lone loss came against division rival Shore Regional in a close game. Their showing in the MCT has proved that Mater Dei is a force to be reckoned with this spring. The twoMiddletown teams (North and South) find themselves in a two-team race for the A North division title, with identical 8-3 divisional records entering the week. They have also split their two games, meaning how each team handles the rest of their schedules will decide the A North champion.