HAIL MUSTANGS

Congratulations to Manville. The Mustangs finished their season with a stunning 10-9 win over Somerville Saturday morning in Branchburg in eight innings.

I talked to Somerville head coach Rick Sabol a couple of hours after the game and he praised Manville for the comeback. Somerville, which clinched the Skyland Conference Raritan Division title earlier in the week, squandered a 9-5 lead.

Too many times, we spend a lot of energy on why the heavily favored team -- in this case Somerville -- didn't win. What went wrong, etc. But Sabol didn't make any excuses.

"Hey, good for them," Sabol said.

Manville's Robert Wood hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 9, then Tom Rock tripled and scored on Kyle Sopko's sacrifice fly in the eighth to win it.

It was a great season-ending win for Manville, which finished at 6-14.

Somerville now prepares for its Central Jersey Group II semifinal Tuesday against New Providence in Branchburg. Hard to believe, but Somerville has won just one sectional title -- that was in 1973 when Sabol was the Pioneers starting shortstop.