We are the champions!

Carefree Falcons bring first-ever GMCT softball title to town

By: Ken Weingartner
   EDISON — It might seem obvious that playing a sport is about fun and games, but that’s not always the case. The pressure to win sometimes exceeds the enjoyment.
   For the Monroe Township High School softball team, this season was about fun and games – and winning. The three existed in harmony, much like the players on the squad.
   So, even as the Falcons struggled through the early innings of their Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship game Monday against South Plainfield, no one panicked. By the time Monroe closed out its 5-1 victory at Middlesex County College, claiming its first ever GMCT crown, there was nothing but smiles.
   "They’ve been a good bunch all year," Falcons coach Keith Hudak said. "They deserve it; they’ve done everything we’ve asked them, and more. I couldn’t be happier for them.
   "They’re very resilient. We have won so many different ways this year – being ahead, being behind, losing a lead, getting a lead, messing up – so many different ways. Yet they just stay with it. They just keep playing. It’s been a total team effort throughout the year. We like to think we take it with a little fun. We try to enjoy ourselves. I guess today it worked."
   When uncharacteristic errors put South Plainfield runners on the corners with two outs in the first inning, Monroe pitcher Carly Keane got the first of her three strikeouts to end the threat.
   "It was a little nerve-racking, but I knew we could get out of it," Keane calmly said after Monroe received the GMCT championship plaque. "That strikeout was really big."
   After the Falcons left five runners on base in the first two innings, freshman Courtney Baron delivered a two-out, two-run double in the third to give Monroe a lift.
   "I was nervous, but I just wanted to go up there and do what I could do," Baron said. "Being part of this is amazing. I love it; I love every second of it."
   Baron’s hit gave the Falcons breathing room, literally and figuratively.
   "I was trying to get people not to be nervous," senior catcher Mai’Lee Paselio said. "I was telling them to take deep breaths; breathe in and breathe out. The first inning is always tough.
   "We started breathing in, like, the third inning, but then we were fine," she added with a laugh. "We were OK."
   In the sixth inning, Keane thwarted a South Plainfield rally by throwing out a runner at the plate on a squeeze bunt, preserving a 3-1 lead.
   Paselio then gave the Falcon faithful a reason to exhale when she drilled a two-RBI double in the bottom half of the inning, increasing Monroe’s advantage to 5-1.
   "I just felt I had to contribute," Paselio said. "The past couple games in the GMCs I wasn’t hitting the way I usually do. I felt like this was my time to contribute. I just waited for my pitch and hit the ball hard."
   Said Hudak about the insurance runs, "Mai’s hit was the difference between breathing and not breathing on the bench. We got to breathe. It’s all good."
   Monroe improved to 21-3 with its third win of the season over South Plainfield, a team it never defeated prior to this year. In addition, the Falcons beat Bishop Ahr – another team against which they never posted a victory – in the GMCT semifinals.
   The Falcons added a win in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III semifinals Tuesday, putting them on the verge of another title .
   "It’s a pretty big year for us, to say the least," Hudak said. "You can’t put it into words; that’s how gratifying it is. I couldn’t be happier for them.
   "Maybe now I can get them on the bus and we can get home," he added as he surveyed the end of the Falcons’ celebration.
   There was no rush; it was all fun and games.