By: Kyle Moylan
When the Washington 12-year-old All-Star softball team walked on the field for its game on Sunday, July 1, it had a 1-2 record and faced the real possibility of not even making it out of pool play.
When Washington walked off the field this past Sunday, it was 5-2, carrying a District 12 Championship banner and getting directions for the Section 3 Tournament in Marlboro.
"It’s strange how it all worked out," noted Washington Manager Ron Ailey after his girls won the league’s first title in the 12-year-old division. "After that Millstone game (the loss that dropped Washington to 1-2), the girls were really down. I guess that was the turning point. It showed the girls that you can’t win by just showing up. You have to earn it."
Washington did that. It finished pool play 2-2 and then won all three games it played in the Final 4 portion of the tournament, hosted at Florence.
The decisive win came courtesy of the pitching of Erin Wojton, who tossed a complete game in defeating West Windsor, 4-3, Sunday night. Wojton even snagged a liner to end the game with the tying run on third base.
"This was really amazing," Wojton noted. "This is my first All-Star year in which I pitched. I always played second before."
Even so, Wojton looked like an old pro out there. Well, maybe there were one or two anxious moments.
"In the last inning I walked the leadoff batter (Kristie O’Cone, who went to second on a wild pitch) and I got a little nervous," Wojton said. "My teammates calmed me down. We got in a little huddle and my confidence went up."
And the next three West Windsor batters went down, including Elizabeth Sugar on a liner to Wojton. That sparked a joyous celebration, with all the Washington players running toward the pitcher’s mound and jumping up and down and on top of each other.
As well as Washington played since the loss to Millstone, it didn’t need many breaks. Even so, it took advantage of one from West Windsor.
Washington’s win created a bit of a Little League riddle. West Windsor’s Jeanine Asay started and finished the game on the mound, didn’t allow any runs and her team still lost.
After retiring the side in order in the first, Asay was taken out in favor of Hye-Jin Kim. Kerry Curran greeted her with a triple to left.
Claire Speranza gave Washington a lead with a run-scoring hit. Taylor Ponti followed with a hit. Two outs later, Christina Levering reached on an error to load the bases. Nicole Ailey singled to center to score two more runs. Wojton then capped off the rally with a run-scoring hit.
"The teams are pretty familiar with each other (several play on the same travel team)," Manager Ailey noted. " I guess he just wanted to change things up. But remember we swung the bats well."
West Windsor got three of those runs back in the third, but Speranza made the crucial fielding play of a grounder at third to end the inning.
Another crucial defensive play came in the first when catcher Nicki Francisco threw out Dana Kong trying to steal. West Windsor had the tying runners on to start the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and didn’t try and run on Francisco again.
"I’m glad we were able to get it done tonight," Ailey noted of having two tries to get the title clincher because it was the lone team without a loss in the Final 4. "If you give West Windsor a chance, they take advantage of it."
Instead, Washington took advantage of its opportunity.
"This is the biggest win I’ve ever been a part of. This is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had. We finally beat West Windsor in the 12-year-old division."
Actually, to win the District 12 title, Washington needed to beat West Windsor twice.
With Wojton on the mound, Washington started the Final 4 with an 8-7 win over Florence. Ailey had two hits. Curran and Jamie Migliaccio each added a hit and two runs scored.
Washington then defeated West Windsor, 8-6, behind the pitching of Nicole Ailey, who also had two hits and two RBI. Curran, Speranza and Taylor Ponti added a hit and run scored each.
Washington then completed a brilliant eight-day stretch with its win on Sunday.
"We didn’t even think we could get into the Final Four," Wojton noted. "We just played the best game we could and beat Bordentown (to finish pool play 2-2 and advance). After that, we just kept trying the best we could. We thought we could be champions."
Wojton and her teammates thought right. They are champs.

