BY RICHARD JEROME
Staff Writer
FARRAH MAFFAI staff South River’s Steph Francis slaps the tag on JFK’s Ashley Jaye during their state tournament game in South River on May 20, won by the Mustangs, 1-0
A 13-8 record represents a fine turnaround for the Spotswood High School softball team, which went 8-11 last year in Coach Stephanie Bromberg’s debut.
"Overall, it was a great season," said Bromberg. "We met all our major goals, such as making the states, and had some great wins. Unfortunately, some of our losses came at the end of the year against some strong teams."
Defense was the team’s strong point, adds the coach.
"Our gloves kept us in games when our bats weren’t always working," she said.
The Chargers had talent on the mound in senior Katie Falkowski, who pitched every game and logged a 1.18 ERA with 98 strikeouts against 38 walks.
Catching her, senior Christine Bartlett had an excellent .992 fielding average with a .268 batting mark.
"She threw out five runners, although a lot of teams didn’t try to steal against her because they knew she had an arm," Bromberg said.
At first base, senior Kelly Fecskovics was one of the area’s finer defensive players, with a .976 mark on just five errors.
Second sacker Dana Abbott impressed in her sophomore year, fielding her position well and batting .308. She’ll move to short next year with the graduation of Jamie Kuhn, perhaps the team’s best all-around performer, who hit .387 out of the leadoff slot, with a .520 on-base percentage, leading the team in runs scored with 24 and in triples with six.
At third base, Kelly Bosworth, a senior, hit .313 and led the team in RBIs with 21, while also playing outstanding defense.
"She was great on the bunt," said Bromberg, who had coaching help from Wendy Perelka and freshman boss Dan Silvia.
The team’s best offensive player was Amy Huston, the senior left fielder, who hit .441, dived for balls in the field, and showed a great arm.
In center, senior Amanda Sofield played errorless ball and came up with some clutch hits, while junior Kristin Bonczek (.250) will be an important part of the puzzle next year. Finally, junior Caitlin Decker also played well in right.
The Chargers were eliminated from the Central Jersey Group II tournament by a very good JFK-Iselin team that advanced all the way to the semifinals, before bowing out to Colonial Valley Conference champion Allentown, 3-2.
Prior to that game, the Mustangs knocked off another GMC Blue Division team, the South River Rams, in the quarterfinals, 1-0.
Diamond notes…It was not an overly prosperous state tournament for the local softball and baseball teams, as all of the local teams that were in contention for sectional titles were eliminated within the last two weeks.
Along with Spotswood and South River, the Old Bridge Knights saw their CJ Group IV title chase come to an end when top-seed Rancocas Valley beat them, 2-1, last Thursday.
The Knights had advanced to the quarterfinals by knocking off the rival East Brunswick Bears by the same 2-1 score in the first round.
Old Bridge and East Brunswick also entered yesterday’s action (weather permitting) as the only local teams still alive in the GMC Tournament, and were scheduled to play quarterfinal-round games at South Plainfield High Schools.
The Knights faced top seed J.P. Stevens, while the Bears were to take on second-seed Carteret.
On the baseball diamond, only two local teams qualified for the state tournament, but were eliminated on Friday in the second round. East Brunswick fell to fourth-seeded Hamilton East, 8-0, in CJ Group IV action, while Spotswood lost to Delaware Valley, 5-4 in CJ Group II action.