South Lady Eagles facing tough opponents

By: John E. Powers
   As far as the South Hunterdon Regional High School softball team is concerned, it’s crunch time.
   The Eagles (2-7) are in the midst of their toughest stretch of the season and had lost four straight as the week started.
   Monday, the Eagles lost a 7-0 decision to unbeaten Mount St. Mary Academy (7-0) in Watchung after having lost 4-1 to Somerville (6-2) Saturday, 15-0 to Delaware Valley (8-2) Friday and 4-0 to Belvidere (5-5) Thursday.
   Mount St. Mary is the first-place team in the Skyland Conference Raritan Division, having beaten Delaware Valley. Belvidere is in first place in the Skyland Valley Division, and Somerville is third in the Raritan Division.
   "Right now, we’re in a stretch where we are playing the bigger schools in our league," said head coach Colleen Perry, whose team plays in the Valley Division along with North Warren, Belvidere, Bound Brook and Manville. "But I really believe we’re playing much better than we did last year. We are a lot more competitive and today (against Mount St. Mary), we didn’t allow any earned runs."
   Senior Tory Marley and junior Ashley Lieggi had the only hits against Mount St. Mary star pitcher Danielle Acardi, who has thrown three no-hitters this year. The Eagles were hurt by poor defense and a 5-run Mount St. Mary inning, which blew the game wide open. Mount. Mary had just three hits, but took advantage of 11 walks and five South Hunterdon errors.
   "It’s really the same story; it’s really one bad inning that’s hurting us," Perry said. "We make one error, then it seems like we make another and another. We have to get that kind of mentality out of our systems."
   In the loss to Somerville, Marley drove in Patricia McDonough with the Eagles’ one run.
   "Marley has been probably our most consistent hitter," Perry said.
   Devon Shire got the only hit against Delaware Valley senior ace Michelle Jensen last Friday. The Eagles gave up six runs in the fourth and four runs in the five.
   McDonough, who was out for about 10 days with a ankle injury, is the team’s leadoff batter. Senior Nicole Sturick, who missed the early part of the season, also has returned to the lineup.
   The Eagles will play at Bernards today, then return home Friday for another game with Mount St. Mary. Saturday, the Eagles will likely be on the road in the Hunterdon-Warren Tournament first-round game. The seedings for the tournament were scheduled to be announced.
"We figure we’ll probably play North Warren," Perry said.