MIDDLETOWN - It was a decision Red Bank Catholic head baseball coach Buddy Hausmann hoped he did not have to make both before and most of the way through the Monmouth County Tournament championship game against Christian Brothers Academy at Brookdale Community College. But, after CBA on Tuesday, May 20 loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring the tying run to the plate. Hausmann was left with no choice but to bring in senior right-hander Luke Meyers. "You just have to take care of today and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow,'' Hausmann said. Meyers got out of that jam with a fly out to right with the runners holding, a strikeout looking and a ground out back to him. He then pitched around a one-out single in the seventh as Red Bank Catholic recorded an 8-3 win for its fourth MCT title and first since 2018. The reason Hausmann was not planning on using Meyers, who is now 6-0 with one save and a 1.22 ERA, is because Meyers is slated to start the Shore Conference Tournament championship game Wednesday night, weather permitting, against Brick Memorial at ShoreTown Ballpark, Lakewood. "There was no intention of me coming into the game today,'' Meyers said. Both Hausmann and Meyers said originally Meyers was going to start Tuesday's game and senior right-hander Ryan Prior the SCT final, but the decision to switch when the two would start was made Monday after the Caseys' 10-1 win over Jackson Memorial and CBA's 2-1 defeat to Brick Memorial in the SCT semifinals. Prior would up starting Tuesday's game. "I kind of wanted to give him (Meyers) the extra day of rest (Meyers pitched last Thursday against Ranney in a SCT quarterfinal. Prior had last pitched on May 12 against Brick in a SCT round of 16 game),'' Hausmann said. "Plus, when I saw the possibility of weather (there is a very high chance the SCT final gets postponed to most likely Sunday night at ShoreTown Ballpark because of the forecast of an all-day rain Wednesday), I said, 'Let's just worry about today and worry about tomorrow when tomorrow comes'.'' If the SCT final is played Wednesday night, Meyers is eligible to throw 110 pitches under the NJSIAA pitch-count rules because he only threw 23 Tuesday. Meyers was always prepared in case of an emergency With Prior struggling through four innings, in which he threw 108 pitches, there was always a strong possibility Meyers was going to be called upon. "I was locked in,'' Meyers said. "If I think and I believe I'm not ready to go and I'm moving slow and I'm looking like I'm not ready to go in and beat them, then I'm not going to. My mindset has to be I'm just going to go and beat them.'' Then, when CBA - which left 16 men on base a day after it left 10 against Brick Memorial - loaded the bases on two errors and a walk against freshman right-hander Sam French and Red Bank Catholic clinging to a 7-3 lead, the game hung in the balance. Thirteen pitches later, Meyers was out of the inning and RBC (17-5) was set up to avenge last year's 13-12 loss in this game to CBA. "I just had to attack them and just make sure I throw strikes and see what they're going to do it with because if I let up a walk and they score, they would go crazy,'' Meyers, who pitched in all four of the Caseys' games in the tournament and went 3-0 with the save. Prior battled through control problems. Prior, a University of Virginia recruit, walked six, struck out three and allowed two runs on five hits, but he got the key outs when he had to. CBA, which left the bases loaded four times, left nine men on against Prior, including the bases loaded in the first two innings. Prior got a ground out to short with the bases loaded to get out of the first. He got a 5-2 force out at the plate and a fly out to right to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the second. A strikeout and a ground out to short got Prior out of the third with two runners on and he picked a runner off first with runners on first and third to get out of the fourth. "He made some big pitches in big spots, when we needed it,'' Hausmann said. "We also did a very good defensively most of the game.'' The Colts (18-4) also left the bases-loaded in the fifth when French, who threw 37 pitches in 1 inning-plus, got a fly out to center. Red Bank Catholic, which only had four hits, took advantage of CBA starter's Sean Loggie control problems to score four runs in the first. Jake Frankel had a two-run single, another run scored on a wild pitch and A.J. Sciametta had a run-scoring ground out. A wild pitch plated a run in the second, three errors led to two Casey runs in the fourth and Charlie Stumberger had an RBI ground out in the seventh. Colin Hoverter had an RBI single in the second and Dan Tsimbinos a run-scoring double in the fourth for CBA. ...

RED BANK -- Four years ago when Red Bank Catholic softball met Colts Neck in the Shore Conference Tournament, it was like like plywood running into a buzz saw. The Caseys were more than a decade removed from their last Shore title, and they lost 8-0 to the Cougars. It was a respectable result against a team that would eventually lose to a Non-Public power, Donovan Catholic, in the Shore final....