Hitting contagious in romp over South River
By: Rudy Brandl
It took a while, but once the Manville High softball team got rolling, last Thursday’s state playoff game against visiting South River was no contest.
The Lady Mustangs (16-3) advanced to their second straight sectional semifinal with an easy 11-2 romp in the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs. Fourth-ranked Manville was scheduled to challenge No. 1 Middlesex in Tuesday’s CJ 1 semis for the right to advance to today’s championship game.
After three innings of scoreless softball, the Manville girls got their potent offense in gear and began to dominate. MHS took the lead with two runs in the fourth inning, erupted for five in the fifth and tacked on four in the sixth to win going away.
"We were all hyped up and we wanted to win," said Manville senior catcher Kristin Jones, who contributed two hits to the winning assault. "Once our bats started working, we really got into it."
"I felt we were the better team," MHS head coach Ed Knapp added. "Our bats just had to come around. The girls played good defense and they really wanted it. They just had to start hitting."
Becky Borawski led off the home half of the fourth inning with a walk and immediately stole second. After an out, Jones smacked a single up the middle and alertly trotted to second base on the throw home.
Alicia Weaver drove in the game’s first run with an infield single, which left runners at the corners with one out. Dana Delesky reached on a fielder’s choice when South River pitcher Cheryl Bodak scooped up a grounder and tried to catch Jones off third base. Everyone was safe so the bases were loaded.
Kim Kaminski struck out but South River catcher Mary Ellen Rovilos dropped the ball. There was some confusion after the strikeout when Rovilos didn’t realize runners can’t advance on a dropped third strike when the bases are occupied. She fired errantly to first base and Jones sprinted home for a 2-0 lead.
"When Kim struck out, she (Rovilos) didn’t realize the bases were loaded," Jones said. "The girls were all scattered and they saw Kim running. The catcher threw it so I just went."
Manville put the game away by batting around in the fifth and sixth innings, compiling seven hits and three walks to score nine runs. Both innings were started by consecutive base hits by Stefanie Bocchino and Borawski, who set the table and eventually scored.
Jenna Breslow reached on an error to load the bases in the fifth and Jones walked to force in the game’s third run. Weaver, who drove in a game-high four runs, plated a pair with a single up the middle in the fifth. Lisa Lavenia’s sacrifice fly drove in a run later in the inning.
Breslow walked to load the bases after Bocchino and Borawski’s hits in the sixth. After Jones popped out, Weaver reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Bocchino. Borawski scored when Delesky’s grounder was misplayed by the infield. Lavenia and winning pitcher Amy Ortman capped the rally and the scoring with back-to-back RBI singles.
"That’s momentum," Knapp said. "Once you get the sense you can hit the ball, you get more aggressive and more confident. We were feeling them out in the first couple of innings. They knew they were capable of hitting the pitcher. They were patient and they waited for their pitch."
"We’ve had a lot of big innings," Jones said. "When we get going, we play as a team."
The support was more than enough for Ortman, who allowed only five hits and four walks while striking out 10 batters. Ortman used a combination of pitches, including a devastating rising fastball, to keep the South River batters off balance.
"I just played my game," Ortman said. "After we got the first run, we had momentum and we knew we’d win."
Ortman, Jones, Weaver, Bocchino and Borawski each collected two hits in the team’s very balanced 12-hit attack. Every hit was a single but most of them played a key role in the scoring.
The MHS girls played solid defense, highlighted by a huge double play that ended a South River threat in the top of the third. Crystal Korygoski singled to open the inning and Christie Bocran bounced back to Ortman, who fired high into center field trying to cut down the lead runner.
Manville center fielder Kaminski backed up the play and fired a strike to Bocchino to nail Korygoski at third base. Bocran tried to cruise into second but Bocchino gunned her down to complete a wild double play.
"That took the wind out of their sails," Knapp said. "It’s nice to see the girls execute in a game what they do in practice."
South River didn’t threaten again until after the MHS girls had the game well under control.

