Lakeland baseball coach Rick Capozzi was pleasantly surprised at the seeding meeting for the Passaic County tournament tonight.
Capozzi knew the Lancers (13-3) deserved one of the top three seeds, but a close vote among the 14 participating coaches left Lakeland seeded No. 1 seed. Wayne Valley (13-4) was seeded second and Pompton Lakes (12-3) was seeded third.
“I thought we were one, two or three,†said Capozzi, whose team has won eight of its past nine games. “Our team matches up with Wayne Valley and Pompton Lakes. They’re both great teams.
“Since the loss to [Wayne] Valley [on April 10], we’ve been playing pretty good baseball. We’re 8-1 since then. Any of those three teams could’ve been No. 1. I’m honored that they chose us. But when you’re the one, you’ve got that big target on your back.â€
Lakeland, ranked No. 8 in The Record Top 25, will play sixth-ranked Wayne Valley in a home game Friday in Wanaque.
Pompton Lakes lost another close vote among coaches Thursday night, despite that the fifth-ranked Cardinals brought back virtually every contributor from a team that reached the state Group 1 final 11 months ago. Pompton Lakes plays in the NJIC, generally regarded as a weaker conference from top to bottom than the Big North, in which Lakeland and Wayne Valley play.
“I thought I gave a good argument,†Pompton Lakes coach Paul Tanis said, “but I understand their argument when it comes to strength of schedule.â€
Hawthorne Christian and Manchester didn’t enter the tournament, thus Lakeland and Wayne Valley have received byes in the first-round of the 14-team event. Here’s the schedule:
FIRST ROUND
Saturday, May 11; times TBA
(1) Lakeland (13-3), bye
(2) Wayne Valley (13-4), bye
(14) Kennedy (2-12) at (3) Pompton Lakes (12-3)
(13) DePaul (3-13) at (4) Hawthorne (9-5)
(12) Passaic (7-10) at (5) Wayne Hills (8-9)
(11) Eastside (7-8) at (6) Clifton (8-11)
(10) Passaic Valley (6-10) at (7) West Milford (7-11)
(9) Eastern Christian (7-7) at (8) Passaic Tech (7-8)
QUARTERFINALS
Saturday, May 18
At higher-seeded team; teams & times TBD
SEMIFINALS
Saturday, May 25
At Passaic Tech
Teams TBD, 10:30 a.m.
Teams TBD, 1 p.m.
FINAL
Monday, May 27
At Passaic Tech
Teams TBD, 10:30 a.m.