Team falls a run short in title defense
By: Rudy Brandl
BRIDGEWATER The run is over, but the defending champs sure went down with quite a fight.
Hillsborough High’s softball players left North Branch Park disappointed but with their heads held high after suffering a tough 2-1 loss to Montgomery in Saturday night’s Somerset County championship game. The Raiders were saluted afterward by their many fans and several former players who started a magical three-year reign of dominance in county play.
It wasn’t easy to watch Montgomery celebrate a dramatic seventh inning triumph, but the HHS girls made their head coach proud. Despite returning only a handful of starters, the Raiders came very close to winning their fourth straight county crown.
"Nobody thought we’d make it to the county finals except us," Hillsborough head coach Cheryl Iaione said afterward. "I’m proud of the fact that the girls battled. We defended our title to the end."
Montgomery (18-4) won the game in dramatic fashion, although not nearly as miraculously as Hillsborough did in last year’s county final. The Raiders rallied from the dead to score three runs after the first two batters were out in the bottom of the seventh.
This time, it was Montgomery’s turn to win on a walk-off hit. Kelly Dubin singled to deep shortstop and pinch runner Melissa Mauer came home when Katherine Stoltenberg’s single to the right-center field gap led to a misplay on the relay back to the infield. The ball was bobbled long enough to allow Mauer to sprint home with the winning run.
The Raiders (14-7) scored first and maintained a 1-0 lead throughout most of the ballgame. Christine Murphy led off with a single to right, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Vanessa Tumminia and scored when Katie Yard popped a two-out single to shallow right field.
Hillsborough collected at least one hit in each of the first five innings but stranded eight base runners with a 1-0 lead. Another key hit or two and the lead would have been much larger heading into the later innings.
One of the game’s biggest moments came in the top of the fifth. Marissa Conard drilled a one-out single to center and courtesy runner Lauren Singer replaced her on the bases. Yard blasted a long drive to deep left-center that Montgomery left fielder Morgan O’Neill caught against the fence. A stiff wind was blowing in from the outfield and certainly played a part in keeping Yard’s shot in the yard.
"It’s a game of inches," Iaione said. "If Katie’s ball goes out, things are different. She didn’t get it on the sweet part of the bat. If she does, no wind is going to hold it."
"That definitely was a game-changer," Yard said. "I got it in on the hands. If I opened up or got my hands out quicker, it might have gone over."
HHS sophomore Megan McInaw was sailing along in the circle, allowing no hits and just one walk through the first five innings. McInaw retired the side in order three times and extended her scoreless innings streak to 19 in pressure situations against good teams. She had blanked Watchung Hills in the SCT semifinals and shut out Bridgewater-Raritan in a key Delaware East Division game prior to Saturday night’s county final.
"The last time I pitched against them the ball wasn’t hitting the spots," McInaw said. "I just made sure I kept them on the outside corner."
McInaw got into her first real jam of the night in the bottom of the sixth. She got a 2-2 pitch up in the zone and pinch hitter Ali Knapp drilled a long ground rule double to left-center field. O’Neill re-entered as the runner and scored when Elora Daniele smacked a 2-0 pitch to the same spot for an RBI double. McInaw recovered nicely striking out 3-4 batters Anu Rimal and Melissa D’Ercole to escape further trouble.
"They just got used to my speed," McInaw said. "They hit the ball well."
"She pitched tremendously," Iaione said. "She stuck to the game plan. She fell behind a couple of hitters and got a few pitches up, but I can’t fault her. She pitched a great game."
The Raiders held a 7-4 edge in base hits but didn’t string them together. Montgomery collected all four hits in the last two innings and made them count.
"Nobody thought we’d be here," Yard said. "We jumped ahead early and played as hard as we could. They just capitalized on their hits."
Hillsborough advanced to its fifth consecutive SCT championship game with an impressive 5-0 victory over Watchung Hills in the semifinals. McInaw allowed four hits, all in the first five innings, and retired the game’s final nine batters to complete the shutout.
"My control was a lot better and everything was working," said McInaw, who was hit for five runs the last time she faced the Warriors. "I just pitched the best I could and I had the team behind me."
The Raiders gave their pitcher plenty of support, scoring runs in four of the six innings they came to bat. It started in the bottom of the first when Murphy doubled to left, moved to third on a Tumminia sac bunt and scored on Marissa Conard’s ground ball. Conard had a huge night at the plate with three hits and three RBI.
"Everyone was so pumped for today," Conard said. "We feel like we could hit anything she threw at us."
Conard opened the third inning with a single to left. Courtesy runner Courtney Fedor moved to second on Yard’s sacrifice bunt and advanced to third on Katelyn Derewecki’s base hit. Fedor trotted home when Derewecki stole second and the shortstop misplayed the throw from home plate.
Kristen Derewecki blasted an opposite field home run to deep left-center field to make it 3-0 with one out in the fourth. Tumminia singled, stole second and scored on Conard’s hit up the middle later in the frame. Conard also singled home Hillsborough’s final run with a base hit in the sixth.
"We got a great performance from our pitcher and got some runs early," Iaione said. "She got ahead in the count and challenged the hitters. She didn’t walk anybody and the defense played well behind her."
For the first time since 2002, the Raiders didn’t finish it with a county title. Although their county reign and 11-game tournament win streak ended Saturday night, Iaione remained upbeat and positive.
"I’m proud of these kids," she said. "I’ll go to battle with any of them any time."