Allentown High’s young softball team is geared up for tournament play while its baseball team is not certain if it will participate in the NJSIAA tournament with a sub .500 record, even if it is one of the 16 qualifiers in its bracket on the cutoff on Friday May 7.
Above: Allentown second baseman Corryn Sargent (r) tries to turn a double-play against West Windsor-Plainsboro South despite the attempt to break it up by WWPS’s Johanna Schutzer (l). Right: Allentown pitcher Elise Andrew goes through her wind-up as she gets ready to deliver a pitcher to a West Windsor-Plainsboro South batter. WWPS scored a 7-0 victory. “Everyone says the state has changed the rule requiring teams to be .500 to qualify as a way to make money. We don’t know if we’re in the bracket,” said baseball coach Brian Nice coming into the week. “Even if we make it, we’ll have to have the coaching staff and athletic department get together and talk about whether to go. If we’re not close to .500, I can’t see us accepting an invitation to get in.”
PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff While the softball team is 9-6 and riding a three-game win streak coming into the week, including a 2-1 victory over Princeton in the opening round of the Mercer County Tournament on Saturday, May 1, the baseball team is 6-10.Next for the softball team is a Saturday game at No. 1 seed West Winsdor-Plainsboro North in its bid to reach the finals for the third time in six years, the other times being last season and 2005. Allentown has never won the county tournament.
The baseball team, as the No. 12 seed, plays its Mercer County Tournament opener on Saturday, May 8, at No. 5 seed Hopewell Valley starting at 10:30 a.m.
But the Redbirds have two games this week before the state cutoff against Robbinsville on Monday and Lawrence on Wednesday. Allentown squandered a 5-0 lead in a 6-5 loss to Robbinsville earlier in the season. It beat Lawrence, 10-0, in a no-hitter thrown by sophomore right-hander Frank O’Brien that was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule. Nice said he was glad to see his team rally for two runs in the fifth inning of that game to cut it short, because O’Brien was getting deep in his pitch count and the coaches felt he might not have enough to pitch seven innings.
O’Brien finished with 85 pitches in the five innings. Using a fastball, changeup and slider, O’Brien struck out a dozen and walked only two with a defense that played one of its best games.
It was Allentown’s first no-hitter since Ethan Perro and Anthony Gambino combined for a 2-1 gem in 2007 in the 2-1 victory over Wall in the NJSIAA Group II South semifinals before going on to lose to Ocean, 1-0, in the section finals.
Although it was the only win in three decisions for O’Brien, Nice said he has been “the best pitcher all year, the most consistent.”
Senior right-hander Paul Palladino is 4-2, and Nice said the team “expected him to be big for us and he has done a really nice job.”
They have helped the team come on from a 2-6 start to win three straight and improve to 5-6 before staggering again with four straight losses before beating Trenton over the weekend.
“It’s been an up-and-down season; we can’t seem to get over the hump to .500,” said Nice.
“We did not do enough in the close games,” he added. “Some days we did not get the big hit or we’d make mistakes defensively. We couldn’t get it going in all three phases of the game.”
Alec Schwartz, whose family moved back to Allentown after relocating for two years to Florida, is the No. 3 pitcher and is “probably the best offensive player” with a .500 average in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. Schwartz plays at second base and shortstop behind junior Steven Todd.
Junior Kyle Donoher bats cleanup, and Nice said senior catcher Mike Ras, a third-year starter, “has stepped up on offense” while hitting around .350 to .375 in the No. 5 spot in the batting order. Senior Mark Maiorano, a starter in the outfield for the past three years (the last two in center field), is the only consistent contributor in the outfield. Batting leadoff, he has 25 walks and 14 stolen bases.
As for the softball team, Alex Domenici is back from an injured finger and pitched a three-hit victory over Princeton in the Mercer County Tournament to raise her record to 3-1. But the Redbirds are missing right fielder Kristin Kinsey, one of five freshmen who have been in the starting lineup for many games, because of a concussion she suffered while stealing second base. Kinsey has a team best .445 batting average.
In fact, it has been an all-freshman outfield with Maddie Brunck in center field and Bryanna Smith in left field. Another freshman — Erin Drennan — is the catcher. Her sister — Courtney, a junior — is the third baseman.
But coach Bob Dubina said about his team that “I think they are” ready for the state tournament.
“Two weeks ago, I didn’t think we’d make the states but something has changed; the mindset has changed,” said Dubina. “The young players are starting to believe in themselves.”
Along with senior Carly Witkowski, who is 5-4 on the mound, sophomore Elisa Andrews filled in capably for Domenici on the mound and is 1-1.
First baseman Kristen Taft, the only other senior in the lineup, is hitting .430. Dubina said junior Corryn Sargent “has done a great job on defense and has been a pleasant surprise” at second base, and sophomore Donna Sensi has been steady at shortstop.
“The key is playing solid defense because our pitchers are not going to overpower people,” said Dubina.
He now wants his team to get a better seed for more possible home games in the state tournament as they look to sweep games before Friday’s cutoff this week against Robbinsville on Monday, Lawrence on Wednesday and Princeton Day on Friday.