By: Lance Manion
Danielle Matlack admits she has not figured out her South Brunswick High softball team yet.
One game, the Vikings smack nine hits in an 8-4 thumping of East Brunswick. The next game, the Vikes go hitless in a 2-1 defeat to Sayreville.
The season is five games old, but Matlack doesn’t know quite what she has on her hands.
"It’s definitely a feeling-out process," she said. "We’ve shown glimpses of the team we’re capable of, but we just haven’t been that consistent."
The good news for Matlack, however, is the Vikings are still one of the teams to beat in the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division.
The bad news?
Well, the Vikings lost back-to-back games this past week to John F. Kennedy and Sayreville.
But back to the good news. The Vikings, thanks to a thrilling 8-4 win over defending Red Division champ East Brunswick on April 6, captured early supremacy in their league.
Are you dizzy yet?
Stephanie Zucker had a big afternoon against EB, going 4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored as South Brunswick raised its record to 3-0 in the Red. Alicia Langone contributed two hits and a pair of RBI as the Vikings went on top for good with a three-spot in the third inning.
While Sara Steepy’s streak of 15 consecutive shutout innings to open the season was snapped in the second, the Vikings hurler settled down to earn the victory in the circle and also helped her own cause by going 2-for-3 with an RBI single.
"That was a big early-season win for us," Vikings coach Danielle Matlack said. "Our offense really got it going and gave Sara some support when she was struggling early. You like to see that because Sara usually doesn’t need that many runs when she’s on."
The Vikings perfect start was snapped on Monday, when Sayreville upended them, 2-1. South Brunswick was held hitless against Bombers hurler Amanda Olender and got its lone run in the first inning courtesy of Jess Mastronardi, who walked and scored on consecutive errors.
Steepy was effective for the Vikings, but gave up the go-ahead run in the sixth inning when Stephanie Zrebiec clubbed a solo home run for the Bombers.
While the Vikings got five hits the following day against J.F. Kennedy, they failed to push across a run in a 2-0 defeat in a GMC crossover game. Once again, the Vikes were victimized by the long ball, as Mustang freshman Jessica Tymitz hit a solo homer in the fifth inning.
South Brunswick’s best scoring opportunity came in the second inning, but JFK hurler Kaitlyn Corica got out of a second-and-third jam by striking out consecutive batters to end the threat.
After combining for 16 runs through their first three games, the Vikings’ bats fell silent this past week. Still, Matlack knows her senior-laden squad has the potential to be a good offensive team.
She just hasn’t figured out exactly when the Vikings will prove her right.
"As a team," she said, ""we haven’t shown what we’re capable of yet."

