Greyhounds take care of Gateway, Woodstown
By:Sean Moylan
The one thing that the Northern Burlington County Regional High School softball team was missing last season was power. As a result, NBC coach Brian Wolverton implemented a strength and conditioning program into every practice.
And, as the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect.”
NBC had a lot of extra base hits this season, but none was of quite the magnitude of Dusty Archer’s two-run homer in the Greyhounds’ 8-0 win over Gateway in South Jersey Group II action.
“When I was going up to the plate coach looked at me and he said, ‘ Dusty, I want you to make sure that you take your best swing. I want a homer.’ And it was the weirdest thing. It just clicked and it went right over. I was so happy,” Archer said.
The homer came in NBC’s seven-run fifth inning. Heidi Potts started the inning by reaching second on an error. Lia Barnes then put down a bunt single, moving Potts to third. Barnes then stole second base. Just 1-0 at the time, Heupel pretended like she might put down a bunt. She pulled the bat back, however, and line a single to center.
Only one run could score on the play, but Heupel hustled into second base.
“They left second base open so I just took it,” Heupel said.
Cassie Todd came into the game in relief at this point and gave Liz Gripp an intentional walk to load the bases. Kristi Stephanoni singled in a run and then Kari McDonnell brought home three with a double, her 17th two-base hit of the season.
Archer then finished off the rally with her two-run shot.
While the offense came alive like Frankenstein after a bolt of electricity, this was really two games in one. While NBC waited for its offense, Christina Rossi made sure Gateway had no offense at all.
Rossi gave up only three hits and kept the game scoreless when it mattered the most. With the game still scoreless, Gateway put a runner in scoring position with one out in the fourth. Rossi then struckout the next two batters to get out of the jam.
Rossi’s pitching dramatics seemed to fire up the entire team. In the bottom of the fourth, Stephanoni walked, McDonnell singled and Archer sacrificed the runners over. Day then plated a run with a RBI groundout.
Gateway put another runner in scoring position with one out in the fifth. An infield single put runners on first and third. Rossi got the strikeout she needed for the second out. Liz Gripp gobbled up a grounder at first for the third out.
Once again, Rossi came up with clutch pitching. Once again, NBC’s offense came right back and scored after her fine clutch pitching.
“I think I did pretty good,” Rossi said. “I kept the ball pretty low and got a lot of groundballs.”
Rossi was also backed by some excellent defense. Heidi Potts came within an eyelash of gunning down Gateway’s Colanero after a single to right. Potts also fielded a clean hit in the sixth and got the ball quickly in to second baseman Kristi Stephanoni, who relayed the ball to catcher Ashley Day. Gateway thought it was going to score on the play, but the two strong throws and alert play of Day resulted in the runner being tagged out trying to go back to third base.
The third inning featured three great plays. First Day fielded a ball in front of the plate quickly and got the out at first. Archer then made a running catch for out number two. Kristi Stephanoni made a nice play on a grounder at second for out number three.
Jessica Pagodin, who came on to play second base in the seventh, also turned in a fielding gem. Pagodin fielded a grounder, tagged out a runner going to second and threw on to first for a nifty double play.
“They’re playing well,” Wolverton noted. “They really know each other now. We get one run on a team and we expect to win. We use the expression, ‘We play defense all day long.’ We’ll play 25 innings with somebody and we’ll score and they won’t.”
On this particular day, seven innings of great softball was enough.
NBC 4, Woodstown 1Ž
Her teammates and her coach like to call her “K-dog”. Well, after Northern Burlington County Regional High School girls’ varsity softball star Kari McDonnell’s two-run double in the fifth put her team ahead for good in a 4-1 victory over top-seeded Woodstown on Tuesday, the NBC players might consider calling McDonnell double trouble from now on — because McDonnell’s 18 doubles lead all of South Jersey.
Of course, McDonnell’s game-winning shot would not have been possible if Christina Rossi wasn’t on the mound holding down the tough Woodstown lineup. After surrendering a first-inning run, Rossi got stingy and did not allow a baserunner to cross home plate for the rest of the afternoon.
Since NBC was playing on the road it could never have too many runs and Kristi Stephanoni’s two-run single in the top of the sixth gave the fourth-seeded Greyhounds plenty of breathing room.
With great pitching, great fielding and great hitting, NBC has one of the most balanced softball teams in years. But more importantly, the Greyhounds’ focus this season is tremendous. To a player — they want a Group II South Jersey title and they know all about the sacrifices it takes to get one.
NBC will take on Haddon Heights (3) at Washington Township High School at 4 p.m. today for all the South Jersey marbles. By beating Woodstown, NBC reached its goal of 20 wins (20-4). Nevertheless, the Greyhounds are more than willing to up that goal to at least 21 and hopefully more.