Sacred Heart

Sacred Heart has named Mario Monfardini as its boys' soccer coach. He replaces Chris Meyrick, who resigned to become the men's coach at Cumberland County College. Monfardini was a soccer standout at St. Augustine and Lehigh University. He takes over a Sacred Heart team that advanced to the South Jersey Non-Public B final before losing to St. Rose, 3-1. In 2008, Sacred Heart was the state Non-Public B champion. Schramm to retire. Joe Schramm, longtime athletic director at Cherokee, said he will retire effective July 1. "I'm looking to pursue other opportunities," Schramm said.

Sacred Heart field hockey coach Randy Rogers operates on the theory that it takes "one goal and a thousand saves to win a game. " That is what she said Sacred Heart received yesterday as the Lions beat visiting Mount St. Joseph Academy, 1-0, in an Athletic Association of Catholic Academies matchup. Sacred Heart didn't receive a thousand saves from junior goalie Sam Dunn. But the Lions did get six big ones. Those clutch stops, coupled with sophomore Maura Bogue's goal with 8 minutes, 31 seconds to play, stood up for the margin of victory.

Ashley Durham and her Sacred Heart teammates showed visiting Wildwood Catholic something it had not seen this season: pressure defense and blistering offense. Feeding off a tenacious man-to-man, pressing, trapping defense, Sacred Heart walloped Wildwood Catholic, 57-32, last night in a Cape-Atlantic National Division II game. Durham led all scorers with 31 points to bring her within 21 points of 1,000 in her career - and she's only a junior. The star guard scored 14 points during a 24-point run in the third period that put the game out of reach for Wildwood Catholic (5-4 overall, 2-2 division)

The NJSIAA has accused the Sacred Heart baseball program of committing violations, including paying part of a student's tuition and holding out-of-season workouts. Sacred Heart assistant athletic director Steve Tucker said Thursday that his school is looking forward to answering the allegations. He said that no date has been set, but he estimates that the school will meet with the NJSIAA around June 7. "We welcome the opportunity to disprove these allegations when we meet with the NJSIAA executive directors," Tucker said.

History wasn't weighing on the Sacred Heart softball team. Neither was that 2-0 deficit against St. Joseph and ace pitcher Nicole Pagano. The Lions stayed loud in the dugout, determined at the plate, and aggressive on the bases en route to 3-2 victory yesterday in a Cape Atlantic National II game at the South Vineland Little League field. "We just kept telling ourselves we could do it," Sacred Heart pitcher Kylie Kristovich said. "We never gave up. " Arielle Bruno and Clarissa Hayes scored on the same wild pitch to cap a three-run rally in the fourth inning for Sacred Heart (12-4, 3-1)

Sacred Heart coach Anita Miller, a world-class player in her own right, likes to do things in a big way, especially when it comes to her school's squad, the defending regular-season Catholic Academies League champion. That is why Miller, one day after officially opening the fall practice season, took her team to Radnor on Tuesday afternoon to face the Red Raiders, the 1985 Central League titlists. What Miller saw, ranging from Sacred Heart's offensive dominance for a good portion of the first half to a defensive collapse in the second half and the resultant 2-0 loss to Radnor, left the former U.S. Olympian bristling.

Brittany Harden and Kennedy Johnson worked hard under the basket and the effort paid off for Sacred Heart in a 59-48 victory over Moorestown in the Hoop Mountain Shootout girls' basketball showcase on Sunday at Holy Spirit. The Lions (23-1) outscored Moorestown by 28-10 in the paint as Harden scored 6 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dealt 3 assists, and Johnson posted 12 points, 11 boards and a pair of steals. Lexi Bruno paced the balanced Sacred Heart offense with 14 points and Mandy Buirch added 12, while Moorestown (10-10)

For most schools, a three-year drought without an NJSIAA sectional baseball title is no big deal. For Gloucester Catholic, it seems like an eternity. "It's been a while since we won one," said Dennis Barth, Gloucester Catholic's coach since 1993. "It's the longest we've gone since I've been here. " The Rams have a difficult task. They will try to end a three-year drought - their longest span without a sectional title since a six-year period from 1987 to 1992 - when they meet talented Sacred Heart in tomorrow's 4 p.m. South Jersey Non-Public B final at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.

It's not unusual for the Sacred Heart girls' basketball team to turn some heads. Two years ago, under first-year coach Steve DiPatri, the Lions compiled their first winning record - 17-8 - in 14 years and won the Cape National Division II title. Last season, they advanced to the South Jersey Parochial B semifinals before losing to eventual champion St. Joseph. This summer, the Lions are continuing that success. Wednesday night, they won the Varsity MBM summer championship at Washington Township by defeating Deptford, 51-30.

With one out in the fifth inning, Sacred Heart's Theo Mercurio reached third base. He was 90 feet from going where no base runner has gone with St. Augustine's Kevin Baxter on the mound in more than three weeks: home. Mercurio never made it. Baxter struck out the next two batters and pitched a scoreless sixth inning to register his fourth consecutive shutout as St. Augustine beat Sacred Heart, 13-0, Saturday in the first round of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic. Baxter, a senior righthander, allowed four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Some baseball guys don't like to think too much at the plate. They see the ball. They hit the ball. Washington Township's Vinnie Nocella takes a different approach. He likes being the team's designated hitter because it gives him time in the dugout to analyze his at-bats. "I love thinking about what just happened, thinking about what he threw me and thinking about what I'm going to do the next time I get up," Nocella said Saturday after leading Washington Township to a 7-3 victory over Eastern in the first round of the Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic.

Here is the schedule for the first round of the 39th annual Joe Hartmann Diamond Classic ( records through Saturday ). Saturday At Maple Shade: Millville (11-4) vs. Gloucester Catholic (15-2), 10:30 a.m. Cherokee (12-2) vs. Haddon Township (11-4), 1 p.m. At Deptford: Eastern (12-6) vs. Washington Township (13-1), 10:30 a.m. St. Augustine (10-6) vs. Sacred Heart (12-3), 1 p.m. At Overbrook: Burlington Township (10-5)

BASEBALL Team Record Records through Sunday. Last week's rankings are in parentheses. 1. Cherokee (4) 12-2 The Chiefs have won 10 in a row and have allowed just seven runs in their last five games. 2. Washington Township (1) 13-1 Sophomore Mark Scarpa's last three pitching victories were by scores of 12-0 over Millville, 7-1 over Timber Creek, and 5-0 over Triton. 3. Gloucester Catholic (2) 15-3 The Rams lost a 10-inning heartbreaker to North Jersey power Don Bosco Prep by a 5-3 score on a three-run, walk-off homer on Sunday night.

The Inquirer TOP 10     BASEBALL Team   Record Records through Sunday. Last week's rankings are in parentheses. 1. Cherokee (4)   12-2 The Chiefs have won 10 in a row and have allowed just seven runs in their last five games. 2. Washington Township (1)   13-1 Sophomore Mark Scarpa's last three pitching victories were by scores of 12-0 over Millville, 7-1 over Timber Creek, and 5-0 over Triton.

Through Saturday. PITCHING WINS 5 - Andrew Fisher, Cherry Hill West; Beau Hall, Ocean City; Andrew Schorr, Audubon; Joe Palmer, Gateway; Kevin Baxter, St. Augustine; Ridge Herman, Pennsville. 4 - Pat Burns, Haddon Township; Andrew Biggs, Millville; Aaron Cox, Millville; Billy Grubb, Washington Township; Mark Scarpa, Washington Township; Justin Smith, Hammonton; Connor Walsh, Sterling; Brandon Triantos, Sacred Heart; Jason Cavanaugh, Haddonfield; Max Bell, Mainland; Ryan Bell, Burlington Township; Pete Perez, Burlington City; Steve Priolo, Eastern; Jon Mackie, Holy Cross; John Adryan, Holy Cross; Justin Smith, Hammonton.

The Inquirer TOP 10     BASEBALL Team   Record Records through Saturday. Last week's rankings are in parentheses.   1. Washington Township (1)   13-0 Freshman twins Chris and Nick Hartz are like another leadoff man and No. 2 hitter at the bottom of the lineup. 2. Gloucester Catholic (2)   13-2 The Rams will play North Jersey power Don Bosco Prep in a possible preview of the Non-Public A state title game Sunday in year-old Provident Bank Park, home of the Rockland Boulders of the CanAm League in Pomona, N.Y. 3. Audubon (3)

Kelly Lupton set the Absegami school record for strikeouts and then survived a shaky seventh inning to hand visiting Sacred Heart its first loss, 5-4, on Tuesday in Cape-Atlantic League softball. Lupton fanned 10 batters, increasing the senior righthander's career strikeout total to 532. The Braves' previous mark of 528 was set by Amber Beauchemin in 2008. Becca Maguire doubled, homered, and drove in two runs for Absegami (8-4). The Lions (11-1) managed just three hits off Lupton, but mounted a four-run rally in their final at-bat.

Andrew Biggs has 51 strikeouts in just 21 innings. But he's more than a pitcher. Biggs has four doubles, a triple, and a home run. But he's more than a hitter. "I like to think of myself as a two-way player," said Biggs, who has led Millville to an 8-2 record and No. 4 spot in The Inquirer's Top 10. "I've been blessed with talent as both a pitcher and a hitter. I like to do both. " Biggs said one reason he has made a commitment to attend Delaware State on a baseball scholarship is that the Hornets view him as an athlete who can play the field and stay in the lineup when he isn't pitching.