Watchung Hills won the county baseball title 1-0 in eight innings, its first in 17 years

A sophomore pitched eight shutout innings in a county final and gave up three hits. That is the game.

What happened

Watchung Hills entered as the second seed. Immaculata was the top seed and the defending champion, and was trying to become the first repeat winner since the 2018 and 2019 back to back champion. Immaculata had reached the final by beating Bridgewater-Raritan 7-6 in the semifinals, which tells you something about the kind of game it had been playing.

The final went the other way entirely. Seven innings produced nothing. The run came in the top of the eighth.

Sheehan went the distance. Eight innings, three hits, no runs, in a county championship, as a sophomore.

It was the first county championship of Joe Tremarco's tenure, in his 11th season with the program.

Why this is a Warren story

Watchung Hills Regional High School sits at 108 Stirling Road, in Warren Township. It is the local high school for Warren students. Its three constituent member municipalities are Warren Township, Watchung Borough and Long Hill Township. Green Brook Township sends its high school students on tuition and is not a member district.

That regional structure is worth keeping in mind when you read coverage. The school is in Warren. The student body is not only from Warren. A county title belongs to all four towns, and the field it is celebrated on is on Stirling Road.

Update, June 5: how the season ended

The run continued two more weeks and stopped one game short of a state group semifinal.

On June 5, 2026 third seeded Watchung Hills, at 18-9, lost the NJSIAA North 2 Group 4 sectional championship 3-2 to top seeded Ridge, at 18-10, in Basking Ridge.

Watchung Hills led it 2-0. Rob Centamore drove in a run with a third inning single. Brady Simo scored on a bases loaded walk in the fifth. Ridge tied it on a Casey Kucerka single, then took the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a Jake Dolan sacrifice fly, set up by a Colin Newcomb single and an error by Watchung Hills shortstop Stef DiGeronimo.

Sheehan took the loss. Dolan won it in relief. For Ridge it was a 10th sectional crown.

Two runs on the board in a sectional final, and a one run loss. Losing a game that way is harder than losing by six.

The record, stated plainly

Final mark of 18-9. A Somerset County Tournament championship. A sectional final appearance. That is a strong season by any reading of it, and the county title is the piece that had not happened in 17 years. The sources give the gap in years rather than naming the last title season, so I am leaving it at that.

The sophomore who threw the county final has two more years.