By: Carolyn M. Hartko
Once again, hopes were high as the Monroe Township High School softball team hit the field for the season opener this week. The Lady Falcons return five starters from the 2001 squad that went 18-6 overall. They were undefeated in the Blue Division (14-0), capturing their second division title in a row.
Naturally, that makes clinching a third Blue championship tops on the "to do" list for 2002.
"We think we have a legitimate shot at that," Lady Falcon head coach Jean Elias said. "And, we would like to go a little further in the county tournament. We got knocked out in the first round last year. And we’d like to go a little bit further in the state tournament."
The Falcons must replace four-year starting pitcher Jackie Scarpari, and the task falls to senior Kim Mackiewicz, with freshman Brittany Salvatore as backup. Junior newcomer Jenn Rubin will catch.
The infield has the most experienced players with Vicki Blevins returning to first base, and sophomore Jackie Varacallo back at third. Junior Danielle Payne will move from second to shortstop. The one newcomer is sophomore Danielle Cocuzza who will start at second. Junior Ashley DiCaro is this year’s utility infielder.
Sophomore Laura Gibbons, who played left field last year, moves to center. Returning outfielder Kim Gobac will start in right field, and sophomore Katie Lederman is moving up from JV to man left field. Junior Lauren Scarpa is a backup outfielder, and Salvatore may see some time there as well. Sophomore Alexa Cosentino will spend time with both varsity and JV. She can play outfield, and may also do some pitching.
"We still have a pretty good team," Elias said. "We know we lost a lot of good talent from last year, but we have a lot of good kids back. So, once we get a few games under our belt, I think we’ll be all right."
Elias didn’t have a good read on most of the Blue Division squads, but she was expecting Middlesex to be the toughest competition for the title again. The Lady Blue Jays, who have their pitcher back, were due to host the Falcons on Thursday (after press time).
The Falcons already have two games under their belts. They lost the season opener on Monday to Manalapan 7-3, but crushed Blue rival New Brunswick 10-0 in six innings on Tuesday. Monroe has several tough non-division games on this year’s schedule (like Manalapan) in order to get the girls ready for the type of competition they will face in post-season. The Falcons will be at East Brunswick for one of those games this coming Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
Under normal circumstances, softball teams have several scrimmages before the season starts, giving coaches time to fine-tune their lineups. But Monroe’s schedule seemed to match the rainy days in March, so the Falcons only got to play three of their nine scrimmages.
"It was tough, because the first two scrimmages (against West Windsor-Plainsboro South and South Brunswick) were very early on. And we had a couple of kids who still had little nagging injuries from the winter season. So, we didn’t get too good a read.
But defensively, we’re pretty set on what we have. I think our infield is going to be pretty good again. We had a few errors (against Manalapan), and I think some of that comes from just lack of playing time, lack of being outside. It was tough opening up right after Easter because we couldn’t practice Thursday or Friday because of the holidays."
If there is an area of concern going into the 2002 season, it’s hitting. Elias would have liked more action from the Falcons bats on Monday. Monroe graduated the two top hitters, but returns number three, Payne (.398). Gibbons was in the top five with a batting average of .351. Payne also tied for the lead in runs scored (34) and number of hits (37).
