Every game will be precious for the next week for the Queen of Peace baseball team.

Golden Griffins head coach Rob Urbanovich was thinking that it was going to be tight by the time the state cutoff comes around on May 9.

But Urbanovich felt that his team would make it, making it three straight years in a row that Queen of Peace will have made the state tournament.

The Golden Griffins were 7-8 as of last week with seven games remaining before the state cutoff. "I think that if we win the games that we are supposed to win that we will make the state tournament," said Urbanovich. "And I think that we will have to win a few more games."

And for the third year in a row, Queen of Peace’s game on the cutoff is against Westwood, this year it is at home. Last year, the Golden Griffins had qualified for the state game before Westwood, one of the better teams in the BCSL American. In 2006 Queen of Peace had defeated the Cardinals on the cutoff date to qualify for the state tournament.

Golden Griffins can thank some wins against quality teams like Dumont and Rutherford as the key if they do make the state tournament.

Making the state tournament would be even sweeter especially since the team is dominated by sophomore and juniors.

For Urbanovich he knows that the key for them to make the state tournament is the offense. It is not only the offense, but getting the clutch hits. "We were getting the runs with two-out hits," said Urbanovich. The Golden Griffins defeated Ridgefield Park, 7-6, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning when there were two outs.

In a key independent game to build up the state resume, Queen of Peace defeated Midland Park, 10-4, at home on Saturday. One of the sophomores on the team, outfielder Pete Amadio had a big game in the win over the Panthers with three hits and three RBI. He was hitting .365 as of last week.

Another pair of sophomores who hit in the third and fourth spot in the lineups are also contributing to the offense. Sophomore centerfield/pitcher Jared Skinner was hitting .310 as of last week while in the third hole and sophomore catcher/pitcher Chris DeCarlo was hitting close to .400 while in the cleanup spot.

One of the up-and-coming hitters this season has been junior second baseman Dominic Maurillo who has raised his batting average to .300. Maurillo has been behind because he was down in Atlantic City for the state wrestling championships when baseball pre-season was ongoing.

"He’s really come on lately after adjusting to baseball and coming off of wrestling," said Urbanovich.

In the BCSL American, the Golden Griffins had upset Dumont earlier in the year and added to their upset collection on April 23 when they defeated Rutherford at home, 4-3. DeCarlo had a big two-RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning that would turn out to be the difference. Anthony Re and DeCarlo had a pair of hits to lead the Golden Griffins offense over the Bulldogs.

The combination of senior Thomas Seickendick and DeCarlo worked out well on the mound to scatter six Rutherford hits. Seickendick started and pitched four quality innings while DeCarlo pitched three innings to pick up the save.