BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
Chris Hoffman was very glad to see that his Colts Neck girls softball wasn’t satisfied with just winning.
Last spring, the Cougars made great strides going 14-13 and making the state playoffs. It was the most wins the program had had in its history and more than it had registered in the previous four years combined.
Having tasted winning and the postseason, the 2006 Cougars want more.
“Their attitude going into the season was that 14-13 is not good enough anymore,” said Hoffman. “It was nice to hear that.”
Colts Neck has gotten off to a 8-3 start that is enough to make one forget how young this team still is. There are no seniors in a starting lineup, which includes five sophomores and three freshmen.
“We’re still a young team and inexperienced,” said Hoffman.
The Cougars have overcome that inexperience behind the pitching of Nicole Wisniewski, who is quickly becoming one of the top pitchers in the Shore. The sophomore is delivering on the promise she showed as a freshman. She has become more dominant, as evidenced by her school-record 15 strikeouts in a win over Manasquan, and her no-hitter Thursday against Holmdel.
Hoffman pointed out that Wisniewski is still a control pitcher who doesn’t walk batters, but her added strikeout punch has made her someone who can keep a lineup in check.
“The team knows that Nicole is going to keep us in games,” said Hoffman.
Brianna Dunbar, who, like Wisniewski, was an impact starter last year as a freshman, has gotten off to a red-hot start with the bat. She is hitting .503 and has set the tone for the rest of the team by being a hitter who makes contact and puts the ball in play.
That has been the biggest difference in the team this year – strikeouts are way down. With the exception of the 1-0 loss to Freehold Borough and ace Ashley Forsyth, who fanned 18, the Cougars have only been striking out between five and six times a game. They are making contact much more frequently.
“Our hitting has improved, but we’re still having trouble scoring runs,” said Hoffman.
Colts Neck is still not lighting up the scoreboard, but the Cougars have been able to manufacture enough runs with aggressive base running, bunting and putting the ball in play more often and forcing defenses to make the plays to win ball games.
Two freshmen, Megan Morton and Kate Kuzma, have been following Dunbar’s lead at the plate, and Nicole Walsh, a sophomore, has been driving runs in.
The Cougars put up four runs for Wisniewski in her no-hitter at Holmdel won by the Cougars, 4-1.
Sarah Leder and Kristen Doyle delivered RBI singles in the second inning. The Cougars then made things a little easier in the sixth for Wisniewski by pushing two more runs across the played. One was an RBI double by Dunbar and the other a sac fly by Wisniewski.
Wisniewski fanned eight and walked just one in registering her first career no-hitter and improving to 6-3.
Defensively, the Cougars have been solid behind Wisniewski. Shortstop Morton and center fielder Kuzma are outstanding fielders. With Dunbar at second, the Cougars are set up the middle and catcher Leder, another sophomore who started last year, adds to the team’s defensive strength.
The durable Leder has caught every inning of every game.
The Cougars still have a youthful innocence about them, according to Hoffman, that makes them unaware of just how good they are and can be. The team does miss the senior leadership that was provided by Jen Kozar last year, however, he does expect leaders to emerge.
The Cougars are 4-2 in the Shore conference B North Division and will host division-leading Freehold Borough (5-0) this afternoon. They would like to reverse the 1-0 loss in Freehold and give themselves a chance to make a second half run at the Colonials.
Colonials edge Manalapan in extra innings
Undefeated Freehold Borough has been on a roll this year, and last Monday scored an impressive come-from-behind win over Manalapan, 3-2, in a battle of division leaders.
It featured the matchup between two of the state’s best hurlers, Forsyth and Ashley Rampino, who earlier in the season struck out a school record 24 in an extra-inning win. Both pitchers did not disappoint as each struck out 15. Manalapan grabbed a 2-0 lead in the fourth, stringing together three straight hits off Forsyth. Marissa Lynch’s two-RBI double off the left center field fence was the big blow.
But Freehold Borough struck back in the top of the sixth, knotting the game at 2-2. Two infields hits and a walk loaded the bases before Courtney Breese singled down the left field line, scoring two runs.
The game went into extra innings and Forsyth started the Colonial eighth reaching second on an infield error. She advanced to third with one out. It looked like she was going to be stranded there when, with two outs, Kristi Lynch delivered a clutch single to center. Forsyth made the one-run lead stand up ending the game with her
15th strikeout and the Colonials improved to 8-0.
This is a critical week coming up for the Colonials, who are looking to nail down the B North title. They are at Colts Neck today, play Red Bank Regional at home tomorrow (3:45 p.m.), visit Monmouth Regional on Monday (3:45 p.m.), and on May 4 have the big rematch with defending champion Wall in Freehold at 3:45 p.m. Freehold beat Wall 3-1 in their first game.
The Colonials improved to 9-0 on Friday with a 6-0 win at Neptune as Forsyth tossed a two-hitter, rapped out three doubles and fanned 18 more batters. Freehold Borough is now 7-0 in B North.
Manalapan (7-2), last year’s A North and Monmouth County champions, bounced back the next day and beat Freehold Township, 10-7, as pitcher April Daluise and Erin Ross went deep. The Braves, are 6-1 in A North play and one game up on 5-2 Middletown North and Ocean.
Ocean is the only A North team to beat Manalapan this spring and the rematch is tomorrow in Ocean (3:45 p.m.) Saturday at 10 a.m., the Braves will host Middletown North. A sweep of these two games would all but clinch the division crown for Manalapan.