Sports Shorts

The Old Bridge Lightning 13U travel baseball team won the USABL championship 13/14 division last weekend by beating the West Long Branch Hawks, 8-3, in Long Branch. The Lightning played every week, beating five teams to get to the championship game, where other teams received two and three byes to advance to the finals. The Lightning waited each week to play their next opponent no matter who that may have been and took out their frustration by pounding the ball to show an onslaught of hitting by every team member each week.

Once again, Geoff Nemeth, their ace pitcher, shut down the Hawks after allowing one unearned run in the first inning and then settling down to hold the Hawks to only three more hits all game. Vincent D'Acunto provided the first run for the Lightning by connecting with a two-out single to bring home the Lightning's first run and finishing the day 2-for-3. Brad Terpanick, Matt Wagner, Eric Matthews, James Valentine, Stephen Weir and Mike Yacabonis all connected on hard hits that proved to be too much for the Hawks to handle as the Lightning scored four more times in the third inning and two more times in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead and break the game open. Dan Decker and Don Kenderish handled most of the ground balls, and Kenderish also made a running catch in the fifth inning that shut down any attempt by the Hawks to make this game close. Anthony Jischetti and Jesse Magliulo rounded out the outfield and each had good at-bats to reach the bases.

Geoff Nemeth's pitching has been superb throughout the playoffs, as he has given up only one earned run in 20 innings and a total of only eight hits.

The Monroe Township Hoops Association will present the Quincy Douby Basketball Camp . Quincy Douby is a former Rutgers star and first-round draft pick for the NBA Sacramento Kings. This camp offers a comprehensive basketball learning experience, which emphasizes sportsmanship, teamwork and fundamentals, according to the camp directors. Each participant will be given the opportunity to develop a strong foundation built on basketball fundamentals. Participants will be interacting and learning from an experienced staff of present professional basketball players, college and high school coaches. Scheduled to appear are Ron Artest and Francisco Garcia of the Sacramento Kings; college coaches Jay Wright of Villanova University, Fred Hill of Rutgers University, Bob Gonzales of Seton Hall University, and Tom Prapora of Hofstra University.

The camp is being held at the Monroe Community Recreation Center from Aug. 20-24 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. This camp is open to boys and girls ages 9-17, grades four through 12. There is a nonrefundable fee of $125 per camper, which includes a reversible shirt, many prizes and giveaways. Please sign up at the Recreation Center and make checks payable to MTHA. For more information, contact Joe Costa at (908) 413-4776.

The Old Bridge Jaguars U14 boys travel soccer team is looking for players for the fall/spring 2007/08 season. The Jaguars play is in the Monmouth Ocean Soccer Association (MOSA) travel league and played in the National 2 flight. To be eligible players must be born between Aug. 1, 1993, and July 31, 1994. Anyone interested can contact Jim Foley at (732) 679-0779.

The Raritan Bay Cougars will hold registration for football and cheerleading for ages 5-15 on Friday, July 13, 7-9 p.m., and Saturday, July 14, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Madison Park Field House on Cheesequake Road. Bring a recent photo of the child to be registered, his or her last report card, and a birth certificate for new participants. For more registration information, go to the Web site at www.raritanbaycougars.org or call (732) 721-4375. Serving all of Old Bridge.