Hillsborough improves to 3-2
By: Rudy Brandl
Marissa Van Cleef was pretty much untouchable last week.
The Hillsborough Elite softball pitcher fired 11 innings of shutout ball for her summer township team and tossed a two-hitter in eight innings over the weekend for her traveling squad. In 19 innings, Van Cleef allowed only five hits and one walk.
She was particularly dominant in last week’s Hillsborough victory over Bridgewater-Raritan at Ann Van Middlesworth Park. With the Raiders still not hitting, Van Cleef needed to be on top of her game to keep the opponents off the board.
Hillsborough scratched out an ugly, unearned run in the third inning and Van Cleef made it stand up. The powerful right-hander, who will be a senior at Hillsborough High in the fall, allowed two singles and no walks in seven innings. Van Cleef fanned 11 batters in a masterful performance.
"It was basically all Marissa," Hillsborough head coach Cheryl Iaione said. "We squeaked out the win."
The Raiders scored on two errors in the bottom of the third. Lisa Pancoast reached second base on an error by the third baseman. Pancoast moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Van Cleef and scored on another error. Lauren Scrocca and Christine Rash singled for the team’s only hits in the game.
Hillsborough broke out with the bats for the first time this summer and posted a 10-0 mercy rule rout at Franklin later in the week. Van Cleef fired four solid innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts. Christine Murphy, the younger sister of recently-graduated standout Erin Murphy, finished up with two impressive frames. The incoming HHS sophomore fanned two batters and didn’t allow a hit or a walk.
"I’ve been wanting to get somebody other than Chrissy (Yard) and Marissa out there," Iaione said. "Christine’s the same type of pitcher as her sister. She’s smart and she has good control. She came in with a big lead and she threw strikes."
Murphy passed last week’s test with two spotless frames. Fellow young pitchers Nicole Johnson and Courtney Barkey will get their opportunities in upcoming games.
"It’s going to be exciting to see these kids perform," Iaione said. "It’s a good learning experience. We’ll be missing a lot of people with basketball camps and (softball) nationals the next two weeks. It’s a good chance for some of the younger kids to show what they can do."
Scrocca started the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the first. The Raiders blew the game wide-open by batting around in the fourth inning, scoring six times to take an 8-0 lead.
Scrocca, who went 2-for-4 on the night, opened with a base hit. Kenzie Farneski was hit by a pitch and Rash singled to load the bases. Pancoast smacked a two-run single to make it 4-0.
After two outs, Alicia Swickle walked to reload the bases. Van Cleef walked to force in a run, Kristen Derewicki reached on an error to score another and Vanessa Tumminia stroked a two-run single to cap the surge. Tumminia, who also went 2-for-4, drove in her third run with a single in the sixth inning that provided the 10-run cushion. Derewicki also collected two hits for the winners.
"We’re swinging the bats better," Iaione said. "We had our hitting camp this week. They all came and worked hard. They’re putting in the effort and it’s starting to show."
The Raiders (3-2) were scheduled to host Immaculata and Flemington this week at AVM.