BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
It’s impossible to top a perfect game, but Freehold Borough’s Ashley Forsyth came close enough.
The ace began Freehold Borough’s Central Jersey Group III playoff run on May 24 by tossing a perfect game as the Colonials eked out a 1-0 win over Willingboro in Freehold to advance to the sectional quarterfinals.
Friday, against Shore Conference rival Monmouth Regional, the junior had a perfect game through 10 innings. She ended the game with a 17-inning, 24-strikeout one-hitter as Freehold scored another 1-0 victory.
Christie Lynch delivered the game-winning RBI in the last of the 17th, scoring Heather Woolford.
The Colonials, now 17-9 on the season, played at Northern Burlington yesterday in the semifinals, with the winner advancing to tomorrow’s championship game at a neutral site yet to be determined.
With Forsyth more overpowering than ever, and the Colonials playing sound defense behind her, the Colonials have to like their chances of picking up a second state sectional title in three years. One thing is for sure, Freehold Borough knows a lot about playing 1-0, extra inning games. This was the third 1-0 game with Monmouth Regional alone this year alone. All three have been one by the Colonials.
Coach Jerry Acevedo believes that all of Freehold Borough’s close games this spring gives the Colonials an edge.
“We are so used to them,” she said. “I felt very good about the team going into the states.”
With an offense that struggles to hit, let alone score runs, coach Jerry Acevedo said her team’s goal offensively is to put the ball in play and look to take advantage of a mistake. She knows she doesn’t have a team that can score runs in bunches. Instead, they look to play small ball.
It has been a successful formula, however, taking the young Colonials into the state sectional semifinal.
Another ingredient has been defense.
“Our infield is very solid, and we work primarily on bunt defense,” Acevedo said. “Teams have been looking to bunt on Ashley because they can’t hit her, and we’ve been working on that.”
The Colonials’ infield defense has Alyssa Mayrose at first with Julia Brown (second), Lynch (shortstop), Amy Remit (third) and Woolford (catcher). All are underclassmen.
Forsyth and the Colonials can’t help but believe that the tables are turning for them in the postseason. They suffered many heartbreaking losses during the year — including a 24-inning, 1-0 loss at Wall in which Forsyth tied the state record for strikeouts in a game with 31. But losses like that are now behind them, and it started with the win over Willingboro when Forysth dished up her perfect game, striking out 16. It was her fourth no-no of the season: her first perfect game and her first no-hitter in the state playoffs.
“It’s exciting,” Forsyth said of her perfect game. “It’s thanks to the team for playing good defense.
“I’m more confident now that I can throw different pitches and let the batters hit the ball because I know the defense will make the play,” she added.
But for all of Forsyth’s dominance, the game was still scoreless into the bottom of the fifth. In fact, the Colonials were hitless themselves against the Chimeras’ Jaleesa Davis. It looked like another long, extra-inning game was unfolding in Freehold.
Courtney Breese broke up Davis’ no-hitter with a leadoff single in the fifth. She was sacrificed to second base. Forsyth followed with an infield single sending Breese to third. But when the throw from shortstop to first base was errant, Breese raced home with the only run of the game, and the only one that Forsyth needed.
Forsyth may have been even better on Friday, as she and the Falcons’ Alyssa Brook were on the top of their games combining for 47 strikeouts (24 for Forsyth and 23 for Brook) in the 17-inning affair. For the second straight game, however, it was Freehold Borough that came up with the big hit — something that had been missing during the regular season.
“We are used to pressure,” said Forsyth, who has 376 strikeouts on the season. “It’s time to put everything together.”
Freehold Borough, following her lead, has been doing just that.