A s Brookdale Community College head coach Bo Scannapieco sees it, seeding isn’t going to matter. Whether his team is seeded No. 1 or No. 2 at the National Junior College Athletic Association’s (NJCAA) Division III Softball National Championship that begins on May 15 in Rochester, Minn., there is no easy route to the national championship. More than in past years, Scannapieco noted, the field is wide open.
“There are five or six very good teams, which makes it very interesting,” Scannapieco said.
Herkimer County Community College, ranked second to Brookdale in the national rankings and who could get the No. 1 seed over the Jersey Blues, Rock Valley College (fourth in the country), host Rochester Community and Technical College (No. 6) and Monroe Community College (No. 9) are all teams that Scannapieco said are capable of winning the national championship.
So too, of course, are Scannapieco’s Jersey Blues, who head to Rochester after an impressive showing at the Region 19 championships. The Jersey Blues defended their title by defeating rival Gloucester County College, 12-1, in the finals played on May 4 at Middlesex County College in Edison. They went 3-0 at the tournament to lift their record to 39-7.
Most Valuable Player Sam Hosey (Keansburg) dominated the tournament, winning two games and saving another.
The Jersey Blues got off to a sluggish start, defeating Ocean County College in their first game on May 3, 4-1, behind Krystal Pearson (Sayreville), who hurled six innings and allowed just one earned run. Hosey pitched the seventh to get the save. Erin Lockwood’s (St. John Vianney) RBI double fueled a three-run fourth inning that broke a 1-1 tie.
In the winner’s bracket finals held the same day, Hosey outdueled Gloucester ace Melissa Mackey, as she made a first-inning run stand up in a 1-0 triumph. She had great defensive support behind her, as she held Gloucester to three hits.
Courtney Semkewyc (Henry Hudson) delivered the game’s lone run with an RBI single in that first inning.
Brookdale waited to see which team it would play in the finals, as Gloucester and Ocean met earlier in the day in the loser’s bracket finals to determine the other finalist. With Mackey on the mound, Gloucester defeated Ocean.
Hosey was overpowering again, and Brookdale’s offense woke up, garnering the team a 12-1 triumph.
A sixth-run fourth inning broke the game open. Bobbie Boehler (Raritan) had a two-RBI double to gets things started. Sara Vocisano (Piscataway), Semkeycz (two) and Pearson also delivered RBI hits in the inning.
Vocisano was 4-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Lockwood was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Cassidy Brzozowski (Howell) went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, and Boehler was 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs.
Hosey fanned seven and allowed no earned runs. She improved to 18-0 for the season, which could be a good omen for the Jersey Blues in Rochester.
Scannapieco was not surprised at his team’s slow start in the regions. It hadn’t played a game in more than a week.
“It’s dangerous when you haven’t played in eight or nine days,” he said. “We started a little slow. We didn’t swing the bats well. The bats woke up [in the finals]. Sam pitched another strong game, and we hit everything hard. “[The finals] defined our season,” he continued. “We played air-tight defense, Sam dominated and we hit the ball.”
Region titles are nothing new to Scannapieco. This was his 16th, yet it was still one to remember.
“This one was a nice one,” he said. “We had to overcome a lot this year.”
In addition to the weather, which kept the team from getting into a rhythm, Brookdale battled early season injuries, which led to a 2-4 start. It then ripped off 30 straight wins to climb back to the No. 1 national ranking. While Scannapieco will be seeking his fourth NJCAA championship, his sophomores are chasing their first. Hosey, Brzozowski, Boehler, Lockwood and Stephanie Grainger (Howell) remember finishing second last year and don’t want that to happen again.
“We had some bad breaks last year, and that will make them hungry,” he said.
The sophomores’ experience, Scannapieco noted, will be helpful to the freshmen making their first trip to the nationals. They can let the freshmen know what to expect and how to handle all the non-baseball activities.
The NJCAA Championship will run on May 15-17.