By: Sean Moylan
Score early and often and then use great pitching and defense to hold the lead. That’s the recipe the Bordentown Regional High School softball team has used to start its season 8-0. Of course, it helps when your incredibly talented like the Scotties are.
"In seven of our eight games we’ve scored at least one run in the first," noted Bordentown Coach Michele Brennan, whose team knows that pitchers Hillary Allen and Reannon Trogdon will keep them in every game.
One of the Scotties’ first big tests of the early season came last Thursday at Delran. But once Reannon Trogdon cracked a bases-clearing double in the first inning to score Kara and Taryn Lynch and Meghan McDonald, any jitters the Scotties may have felt coming in to the contest were all but gone. And when Nicole Walls (two RBI) followed with a double to plate Trogdon, Bordentown was well on its way to a 7-1 blowout win over Delran.
Brennan described Trogdon’s first-inning double as being "huge" because it was a 4-1 game until the seventh when Bordentown erupted for three more runs to break it open. Hillary Allen, Walls and Jessica Villalba all delivered key RBI in the seventh. Of course, you don’t win many games without pitching and Allen was particularly sharp on the mound against the Bears, striking out eight while hurling a four-hit, one-walk complete game mini-masterpiece. She also helped her own cause with a RBI and teammate Jessica Villalba also knocked in a run in the top of the seventh.
On Monday, Trogdon tossed her third shutout of the season in a 17-0, five-inning home win over Trenton Catholic Academy.
"She had a two-hitter, but nothing left the infield," said Brennan of Trogdon, who struck out five and walked none.
Once again the Bordentown hitters got off to a strong start with Meghan McDonald (2-for-3) blasting a three-run homer in the first inning. Then Bordentown put together an 11-run second inning to break the game open. Jessica Swanson (3-for-4 with a double and three RBI), Allen (2-for-3 with a triple and RBI), Trogdon (a big two-run single in the second), Megan Temple (two doubles, two RBI), Kara Lynch (three RBI), Taryn Lynch (RBI), Sam Hardy (two walks), Walls (RBI double) and Jessica Bernard (RBI) did some amazing things at the plate as the Scotties pounded out 17 hits in all.
Bordentown was able to follow up that win with a 6-0 home victory over Palmyra on Tuesday. Once again Allen, Trogdon (4-for-4 with 2 RBI) and McDonald (3-for-4 with a homer, double and three RBI) led a long list of Scotties heroes in the contest. T. Lynch had a triple and a double, Temple was 2-for-3 and Joan Jaczko drove in a run in the game. But the big story was Allen, who kept Palmyra batters baffled and bewildered all day long.
"She (Allen) threw a one-hitter and she had 11 strikeouts and one walk," noted Brennan.
Because the Scotties have basically the same team as last year, they’ve developed a special chemistry as a unit this season.
"They have a cohesiveness that’s working for them," said Brennan, who makes excellent, subtle changes in all of her team’s games. "Obviously, they’ve been consistent with the bats and they’re playing head’s up ball."
Bordentown is scheduled at Maple Shade today (Thursday) and it is scheduled to host Maple Shade on Monday. On Tuesday Bordentown is scheduled at Medford Tech.
FLORENCE
There’s no way to sugarcoat it. The Florence High School softball team’s 6-0 home loss to league rival New Egypt on Tuesday was a tough one.
Nonetheless, it was basically impossible for the Flashes to prepare for a sensational team like New Egypt when they had their previous four games all but wrapped up by the second inning.
"Our problem was that we played only four games and it wasn’t against the same competition that they (the Warriors) were facing in 10 games," said Florence Coach George Chwastyk.
Melissa Mehrer took the loss for the Flashes. "She (Mehrer) didn’t pitch too badly. She gave up seven hits and had nine strikeouts," Chwastyk said.
Meanwhile New Egypt’s Abbey Houston struck out nine while tossing a one-hitter.
Houston (four walks), a smart freshman, pitched very carefully to Florence slugger Kristin Garganio and gave her nothing to hit the entire game. Florence didn’t get its hit until the seventh when Erin Sweeney singled with two outs. In fact, it was a scoreless game until the fourth when the Warriors broke through.
It was a far different story on Saturday when the Flashes pulverized the Riverside Rams 9-1 at Riverside. Mehrer fanned an incredible 16 batters in the contest while walking just two. She surrendered just three singles while helping her own cause with a homer, a single and three RBI. Meanwhile Carlie Maple blasted a two-run double for Florence in the first and Nuran Onal also had an extra-base hit. Garganio and Stefanie Bulleck each drove in a run for the wining side.
At 4-1 the Flashes are still in very good shape. But they should quickly forget about the New Egypt game because their schedule starts to get a bit tougher this week. Florence is scheduled at Palmyra on Friday. It is scheduled to host Northern Burlington in a night game on Monday. And on Tuesday Florence is scheduled to host Westampton Tech.
NBC
Although the Northern Burlington County Regional High School softball team graduated nearly a full team of all-star players last Spring, Coach Brian Wolverton did not make this year’s schedule any easier because of it. So after losing a 10-0 road decision to Rancocas Valley last Thursday, NBC came right back to Rancocas Valley on Saturday morning to compete in the tough RV Elite Softball Tournament.
NBC’s Heather Danley, finally near full strength after a long illness, tossed a complete game one-hitter to beat Clearview, 4-1, in the Greyhounds’ opening game of the tourney. Danley compiled eight strikeouts and walked just a single batter to prove she’s back and better than ever. The most remarkable thing about the contest was that NBC scored only four runs considering it had 11 hits. Michelle Reed was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Sam Garafalo knocked in a pair of runs while Jaimie Walton and Kristin Tilbury each had an RBI for the winning side.
In its second game (the quarterfinals) of the tournament, Northern Burlington was matched up against a softball juggernaut in Washington Township, which went on to defeat NBC, 9-0. NBC is 6-2, but its losses came against two of the better teams in the state.
The Greyhounds left for their Florida trip on Saturday evening. They were scheduled to play both Notre Dame High School and Aquinas Institute of Rochester, New York yesterday (Wednesday). Today (Thursday) NBC has a doubleheader scheduled versus Presque Isle. And NBC is scheduled to close out its Florida trip tomorrow (Friday) with a game versus West Geauga from Ohio. NBC has a night game scheduled at Florence on Monday and on Tuesday it is scheduled at Hightstown.

