Baseball: CH West's Wright gets 100th hit in 'Grand' style

By Phil Anastasia

Inquirer Staff Writer

A.J. Wright wasn't looking for his 100th hit.

He was looking for his first hit.

The Cherry Hill West senior was 0-for-the-season after the Lions' first four games, thanks to some hard luck.

"I couldn't buy a hit," Wright said. "I was hitting the ball right at people. I couldn't catch a break."

Wright broke out in a big way in Cherry Hill West's final game at the Mingo Bay Classic in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Friday.

Wright not only collected three hits with six RBIs as the Lions won the title game of their bracket of the tournament with a 12-4 victory over Kenmore East High School of Tonawanda, N.Y.

He not only notched his 100th career hit.

He also registered the milestone with a flourish, cracking a grand slam in the third inning to reach the century mark.

"It was pretty special," Cherry Hill West coach Dan McMaster said of the moment. "He's been such a great player for us, right from Day One, it was fitting to see him get his 100th hit that way."

McMaster said Wright had been mired in one of those unfortunate baseball slumps through the Lions' first four games.

"He's been hitting the ball on the screws all year," McMaster said of Wright. "But everything was right at people."

Wright, a four-year starter and University of Maryland-Baltimore County recruit, said he was trying not to get frustrated by his slow start.

"I've had it happen a couple times in my career," Wright said. "It's baseball. It's part of the game."

Wright knew he entered the season with 98 career hits. He hoped to reach the milestone in the season opener against Lenape but that didn't happen.

Then he figured he would get to 100 on the trip to Myrtle Beach.

But through the Lions' first three games in the prestigious tournament, he still was without a hit for the season.

On Thursday, McMaster won his 100th game as West's coach.

On Friday, the coach won his 101st -- and his most accomplished player reached the same number in career hits.

"We're both at 101," McMaster said on the 10-hour bus ride home from South Carolina.

Wright singled in the first for hit No. 99. He said he knew he had No. 100 when the ball left his bat in the third inning.

"It was a fastball right down the middle," said Wright, who added another single later in the game. "I knew when I hit it, it had a pretty good chance (of flying over the left-centerfield fence)."

Wright's younger brother, Joey, raced around to the area behind the outfield fence to collect the baseball, according to McMaster.

Wright and his brother posed for a picture with the ball with their mother, Carol, and grandmother, Janet.

"I'm glad I was able to do that while they were here watching," Wright said. "They've always been there for me so it was special to do it with them there and to do it in a West uniform."

-- Contact Phil Anastasia at panastasia@phillynews.com

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