By TOM WILLIAMS

Work has begun on the curveballs, the baton exchanges, the serves and the overhand shots. Spring sports in the Cape-Atlantic League are less than a week away. A few golfers have started early, including Sam Ritti of Ocean City, who got a hole-in-one on No. 7 at Pinelands last week.

This is traditionally the time for the annual basketball buffet, a bunch of stats and links plus lists of the best of the just completed season.

Here we go.

The Mainland girls were state champions and the Middle Township girls and Mainland boys were South Jersey champions. Two South Jersey champs by CAL girls teams in one year is the record. It has now been done 15 times and two years straight. At least one CAL girls team has won a South Jersey title each of the last 13 seasons.

The Middle Township boys and Mainland girls won the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament championships. It was Middle’s second CAL Tournament title – the other in 1998. The Panthers have finished second seven times. The Mainland girls won for the third straight time and fourth overall. Video of this year’s championship games is HERE.

Scoring champions: Kori Segich of Ocean City (23.9) and Adelina Wilks of Bridgeton (19.9) were the scoring champions of the Cape-Atlantic League this season. It marked the third time in five years that an Ocean City player led the league. Gannon Brady did it in both 2021 and 2020. Others from OCHS include Matt Bosch (2012), LaQue Lee (1995), Derrick Yeoman (1991) and Gary Satrappe (1961). Wilks is the first player from Bridgeton – girl or boy – to lead the league.

Other boys stat leaders: Segich led the CAL in shooting, 3-point shooting and free throw shooting accuracy; Middle Township’s Anthony Trombetta in three-pointers made; Jameel Purnell of Bridgeton led in rebounds; Will Spross of St. Joseph led in both steals and assists; and Atlantic Tech’s Yandy Hernandez in blocked shots. Middle Township (66.0) scored the most points per game and Mainland (45.8) gave up the fewest. The boys stats leaders – 109 of them – are available HERE.

Other girls stat leaders: Mainland’s Sydney Stokes had the best shooting percentage; Absegami’s Reese Downey made the most three-pointers; Wildwood Catholic’s Kaci Mikulski had the best 3-point percentage; Wilks was the top free throw shooter; Our Lady of Mercy’s Khalia Lewis had the most rebounds per game; Downey led the league in steals; Wildwood Catholic’s Lola McGonigle in assists; and Mainland’s Sydney Stokes in blocked shots. Our Lady of Mercy (58.3) scored the most points per game and Atlantic Tech (31.7) gave up the fewest. The girls stats leaders – 104 of them – are available HERE.

Offensive Players of the Year: Kori Segich and Reese Downey.

Non-CAL Star: We are dealing with Cape-Atlantic League student-athletes here but we can’t ignore a great season by an area player just because her school administrators somehow determine that the Tri-County Conference is better for them. Wildwood junior Macie McCracken scored 704 points, most in the traditional South Jersey area, and averaged 22.7 points per game, third best. She had 140 steals, best in South Jersey. And she made 107 three-pointers, the most in the state. Pretty impressive.

In 2020, something new was added to our end-of-season summary. In all the stats categories, only two directly pertain to defense, which is pretty much half of the game. So, we created all-defense teams. And who better to ask than the coaches who study opposing teams on video looking for weaknesses and strengths.

Boys All-Defense (selected by the CAL coaches & media): Cohen Cook, Mainland; Jamir McNeal, Middle Township; Tahmir Rex, Atlantic City; Dylan Schlatter, Ocean City; Kenny Smith, Hammonton.

Girls All-Defense (selected by the CAL coaches & media): Kasey Bretones, Mainland; Sabrina Little, Holy Spirit; McKenzie Palek, Middle Township; Sydney Stokes, Mainland; Destiny Wallace, Wildwood Catholic.

Defensive Players of the Year: Jamir McNeal and Kasey Bretones.

In the past, we had always selected a five-player all star team from the CAL. But last year we expanded it to a seven-player rotation.

All Cape-Atlantic Boys: Macky Bonner, Lower Cape May; Cohen Cook, Mainland; Jamir McNeal, Middle Township; Dylan Schlatter, Ocean City; Kori Segich, Ocean City; Will Spross, St. Joseph; Anthony Trombetta, Middle Township.

All Cape-Atlantic Girls: Kasey Bretones, Mainland; Reese Downey, Absegami; Averie Harding, Egg Harbor Township; Ava Mazur, Mainland; Bella Mazur, Mainland; Kaci Mikulski, Wildwood Catholic; Sydney Stokes, Mainland.

Players of the Year: Cohen Cook and Kasey Bretones.

The Predicted 2025-26 CAL Boys All Star Team: Jalen Bell, Egg Harbor Township; Ty Bonner, Lower Cape May; Mykai Campbell, Holy Spirit; Alex Daniel, Wildwood Catholic; Paris Kinsey, St. Joseph; Josh Lenko, Ocean City; Will Spross, St. Joseph.

The Predicted 2025-26 CAL Girls All Star Team: Lauren Cella, Holy Spirit; Khalia Lewis, Our Lady of Mercy; Lola McGonigle, Wildwood Catholic; Marley Ostrander, Ocean City; Taison Parker, Atlantic City; Reagan Powell, Middle Township; Janderlys Reyes, Pleasantville.

Now for some some nostalgia.

The Flashback All-CAL Boys Team from 20 years ago (2003-04): Matt Byrnes, Oakcrest; Anthony Farmer, St. Augustine; Ben Nwachukwu, St. Augustine; Mark Porter, St. Augustine; Kamron Warner, Pleasantville.

The Flashback All-CAL Girls Team from 20 years ago (2003-04): Kara Ayers, Absegami; Shantae Barnes, Absegami; Erica Bell, Oakcrest; Vika Sholokhova, Sacred Heart; Basima Thompson, Absegami.

The 2003-04 Players of the Year: Anthony Farmer and Kara Ayers.

2023-24 All-Transfer Team: Semaj Bethea, Camden (from St. Augustine); Elijah Brown, Life Center (from St. Augustine); Alex Daniel, Wildwood Catholic (from Wildwood); Josh Gretta, Lower Cape May (from Connecticut); Alex Reyes, Vineland (from Oklahoma).

Game officials were assigned again by the longtime IAABO boards in the area. To recognize the best, we again asked the coaches. We like to have six but there was a tie. Starting this year, we will name this all star team in memory of a former great official.

Steve Shincarick Memorial All-Officials Team (selected by CAL coaches): Frank Basile, Mike Cook, Scott Cooper, Amanda Feldman, Myron Hendrick, Doug Hiltner, Rob Murtha.

The 2023 winners of the Boo Pergament Memorial Awards as the CAL’s Most Improved Players are Charlie LaBarre of Ocean City and Reagan Powell of Middle Township. The Ken Leary Memorial Award to the highest ranked CAL boys basketball team goes to Middle Township. And The Joe Fussner Award to the highest ranked CAL girls basketball team will be displayed for another year by Mainland.

Injury of the Year: Once again, the Middle Township girls lost Madison Palek to injury. This time, it was season-ending on January 30. She re-injured the same foot that kept her out for half of her junior year. The Panthers again went on to win the South Jersey title but with Palek in the lineup they might have gone further.

Double Figures: Four players averaged a double-double this year (double figure points and rebounds) – Jameel Purnell of Bridgeton, Isiah Akpassa of Absegami, Khalia Lewis of Our Lady of Mercy and Kaylynn Blackwell of Absegami. Lewis had 27 double-doubles in games this year, Blackwell had 23, Akpassa 22 and Purnell 19.

Live Streams: Those who couldn’t get to the games this year or who just wanted to watch a game again had an assortment of choices. Live video streaming is alive and well in the CAL. Led by Matt Ulmer, who blazed the trail, games were available because of the work of Bill Shallcross, Brian Cunniff, plus those at BFA Productions, Quinn Broadcasting, Hermit Broadcasting, Gami TV and more. And, when a game was not covered by those outlets, it could frequently be found silently on Hudl.

Shot of the Year: There are always a decent amount of game-winning shots in a nearly three-month season. But some are in pressure situations. Charlie LaBarre had one at the buzzer for Ocean City in a big win over Cherry Hill West in Group 3. Middle Township’s Abbey Cappelletti nailed a three at the buzzer to beat Absegami in an important conference game. But the biggest shot of the year came when Sydney Stokes grabbed an offensive rebound and banked it home off the glass just a second before the buzzer to provide Mainland with a win over Ewing in the State Group 3 semifinal. If you are an NFHS Network subscriber, you can watch Stokes’ heroics in the Mainland-Ewing game HERE.  

Game of the Year: There were a lot of them, too. Wildwood playing Wildwood Catholic again in a girl-boy doubleheader after a five-year absence was a great day. Ocean City’s rally from 21 points down with less than 12 minutes to play to defeat St. Augustine was memorable. Absegami’s girls getting road wins over Clearview and Moorestown that got them to the South Jersey final. But the winner is clearly the 69-67 triple overtime win by Mainland’s boys over Ocean City in the South Jersey Group 3 final. There were times when both teams seemed finished but they rallied. It was the first time the two rival schools had met in a South Jersey final. In fact, they hadn’t played each other in the NJSIAA Tournament since 1981. The year before that, incidentally -1980 – Ocean City and Mainland also played a three-overtime game in the Group 3 Tournament, also won by the Mustangs. Dan Merrifield, Mike Gatley, Randy Julian and Bob Warrington were key players in that triple overtime game 44 years earlier. This year’s game – all 44 minutes – can be seen HERE.

CAL Boys Coach of the Year: LaMarr Greer guided Middle Township to the CAL Tournament championship and went as far as Camden in Group 2. Dan Williams led Mainland to a South Jersey title and Scott Holden, Wayne Nelson and John Arcidiacono turned in impressive seasons. But Ocean City’s John Bruno gets the nod. He crafted a five-man unit – each with unique skills – into a record-breaking season that culminated in one of the most exciting NJSIAA weeks by a CAL school in a long, long time.

CAL Girls Coach of the Year: John Leahy produced a second straight South Jersey champion despite the loss of his best player for more than half the season. Steve DiPatri, Bob Lasko, Tim Whitworth, Adam Swift, Brian Coyle, Scott Douglass and Larry DiGiovanni all guided their teams to successful seasons, in some cases against very challenging schedules. Any of them could be a solid choice. But the Coach of the Year is Mainland’s Scott Betson. He had talent and he kept them together and focused to complete a remarkable three-year run with a state championship. He also joins Paul Baruffi and Greg Goodwin as the only girls coaches to win three straight CAL Tournament titles.

You can check out the Online 25 final South Jersey rankings (a total of 11 CAL teams are included in the rankings), the CAL standings and highlights from other seasons HERE.

It was a good Cape-Atlantic League basketball season this year, including the continuation of the league’s expanded 21-team basketball tournaments. A lot of talent graduates. But there are a great many exciting players returning. Things should be entertaining again next season, which includes slightly new CAL conference alignments.