By John Beisser, Special Writer
The Hillsborough High softball team received another terrific outing from junior righthander Brittany Ksiezopolski, a clutch pinch-hit sacrifice fly and some stellar defensive plays in winning the school’s first Somerset County Championship since 2005 with a 1-0 victory over rival Montgomery on Saturday night.
In many ways, this was a typical Hillsborough-Montgomery tug of war as the team’s have a history of meeting in the county final, including last season when the Raiders fell short 1-0 in eight innings.
”I just feel so good for our seniors,” said head coach Cheryl Iaione. “The whole team stepped up, the coaching staff did a great job in preparation and we went out and somehow got the job done.”
Ksiezopolski had her changeup working which helped her to a four-hit shutout and Vanessa Burshnic laced a pinch-hit bases loaded sacrifice fly which came within just a few feet of being a grand slam, which provided the Raiders with the only run of the game.
”She hit it a long way and for a second it looked like it was going out,” said Iaione. “It was a great team victory. I tell you what, I’m still on cloud nine.”
Two years ago, Hillsborough lost in the county finals to Immaculata on a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the seventh so the Raiders know the emotions that Montgomery felt following the game. The win marked the second over Montgomery in a week as the Raiders earned a 2-1 victory four days earlier.
”Brittany was her usual self,” said Iaione. “She worked herself out of an early second and third, one out jam in the second inning and we were able to scratch out that one run in the sixth and the defense did the rest. I thought Brittany and our catcher, Alex Wells, worked really well together. Alex called a really good game and Brittany executed her pitches and got some big outs when she needed them.”
The win improved the Raiders’ overall record to 19-4 while Ksiezopolski improved her season mark to 16-3.
”I’m excited for everyone on the team, especially the seniors,” said Ksiezopolski. “Especially given what happened last year, losing to them 1-0 in extra innings. They’re a really good team and we have a lot of respect for them. I would say this was one of my best performances of the season.
”I had all of my pitches working that night. A key was that I had a really good changeup working which was able to keep them off balance.”
The Raiders then shifted their attention to Wednesday’s opening round of the North Jersey Section II state tournament, where as the third seed they hosted 14th-seeded Ridge.
”The county title is the goal,” said Iaione. “After that, the state playoffs is like playing with house money. All of the pressure is off and we can now just go out and play.”