MHS girls prove worthy of No. 7 county seed

Bocchino bat lifts team past Prep

By: Rudy Brandl
   
   While the Manville High softball team is certainly on a mission to continue its dominance in Sky Division play, last Friday’s non-conference home game against Rutgers Prep was anything but meaningless.
   Area softball fans have been wondering about Manville’s streak of lopsided victories, which had produced a 150-3 margin through eight games. People were also doubting Rutgers Prep’s early success against the state’s independent schools. Friday’s game provided a chance for both teams to prove themselves.
   Manville emerged victorious, winning its ninth straight game to start the season. After blasting out of the gates in typical fashion in the first three innings, the Lady Mustangs held off a Prep rally and won by an 8-4 score. It was a good test for the Manville girls, who didn’t play their sharpest game but did enough to run their record to 9-0.
   "It’s a little bit of a vindicator," MHS head coach Ed Knapp said afterward. "There was some discussion at the county meeting that some teams were playing a jayvee schedule. Both of us had the same disadvantage of not playing anybody in the county. This was a good game for us to win."
   Manville senior pitcher Amy Ortman didn’t breeze through this game like most others. Ortman (7-0) allowed at least one base runner in every inning but didn’t walk a batter while striking out three.
   The defense committed three errors in the first two innings and the Prep batters put the ball in play. Prep actually enjoyed an 11-10 edge in hits but the Manville girls made some key plays to keep the visitors off the board in the first four innings.
   Two errors and a single loaded the bases in the first inning with one out. Ashley Sikora hit a ground ball back to Ortman, who threw home for the force play. MHS catcher Kristin Jones tried for the double play at first, but Sikora beat the throw. Samantha Kuhles tried to score on the play but Manville first baseman Becky Borawski fired a strike to Jones to complete an unorthodox double play.
   Manville capitalized on the momentum to score two runs in the bottom of the first and three more in the second to take command. Dana Delesky singled off the pitcher’s glove and moved to second when Kuhles uncorked a wild pitch. Lisa Lavenia reached on an error by the shortstop with one out. Ortman grounded into a force play that erased Delesky for the second out.
   Junior third baseman Stefanie Bocchino came up with the clutch hit, a two-out, two-run double down the left field line that scored Lavenia and courtesy runner Sarah Ortman. Bocchino emerged as the hitting star of this game, going 2-for-4 with four RBI.
   "I just pick out my pitches and swing as hard as I can," Bocchino said. "I’m very selective when I hit."
   Bocchino, who lined out hard to right field to end the second inning, didn’t waste any time in her third at-bat in the bottom of the fourth. Singles by Alicia Weaver and Kim Kaminski had already produced one run. Lavenia walked but Ortman popped out, setting the stage for another key hit. Bocchino stroked the first pitch for a triple to the right-center field gap and two more runs.
   "That was just my pitch," Bocchino said. "She just put it right where I wanted it. She didn’t have any spin or drop on it."
   Manville’s three runs in the second inning came on singles, sacrifices and aggressive base running. Jenna Breslow walked, Jones hit a bloop single and Weaver reached on an infield hit. Breslow scored on a wild pitch, Jones came home on a Delesky groundout and Weaver crossed the plate on Kaminski’s sacrifice fly.
   "We ran the bases smart and we got some timely hits," Knapp said.
   Rutgers Prep kept battling against Ortman and the Lady Mustangs, who had visions of ending this one in five innings. Manville couldn’t add to its 8-0 lead in the fifth and sixth frames, while Prep scored twice in each inning to make things interesting.
   Sara Dougherty ripped a long two-run homer to cut Manville’s lead to 8-4 in the top of the sixth. Ortman didn’t get rattled and retired the next two batters.
   "When it got dicey, they stuck together," Knapp said. "They’re not lacking for courage. They can dig down and Amy dug down."
   Sikora opened the seventh inning with a double but another big double play erased that threat. Breslow made a diving catch of a line drive and flipped to Lavenia to catch Sikora for the second out. Breslow fielded a grounder and fired to first base to end the game.
   The Manville girls completed another perfect week after rolling over Dayton (8-2) and Newark Technology (17-1) in other games. People at the Somerset County Tournament seeding meeting weren’t sure how to rate the Lady Mustangs based on those results, but MHS wound up with the No. 7 seed and a first-round bye, while Rutgers Prep was ranked ninth and in a much less enviable position.
   "This is good because everyone can see that we can beat higher-level teams," Bocchino said. "We had to prove that we really were the higher seed, that we deserve it more than they did."
   EXTRA BASES — Sophomore Sarah Ortman dominated the Technology game on the mound and at the plate, striking out 11 in a one-hitter to improve to 2-0 while ripping two doubles and a triple with the bat … Lavenia lashed out two doubles, while Delesky and Bocchino added one apiece … Kaminski, Lavenia and Breslow belted triples in the team’s 19-hit barrage … Lavenia went 4-for-4 and Weaver was 3-for-4 in the home victory over Dayton, while Amy Ortman recorded 10 strikeouts and two walks.