By Wayne Witkowski
Middletown High School North’s softball team, fresh off completing an unbeaten run through the Shore Conference A North Division, will look to power through the NJSIAA Group III tournament.
Coming off an opening-round victory over Irvington High School, 20-0, May 23, the Lions continue their quest for their first state sectional championship since 1993 after falling short in the Monmouth County Tournament to St. John Vianney High School, 4-1, May 14. Riley Kernan pitched a four-hitter and Alyssa Vetrano drove in a run with one of her two hits.
If the Lions are to win a section title, it’ll come in their peculiar new placement in North Jersey, Section II, Group III, where they are by far the southernmost team in that bracket. In the past, Middletown North played in Central Jersey.
“It’s weird; I don’t get that at all,” coach Marc Rosner said of the placement.
But the Lions — who ended their regular season at 21-3 with a 3-1 victory May 16 over Marlboro High School after reliable sluggers Kayla Gallo and Christine Gebhardt drove in runs and Kernan hurled a masterful one-hitter — will look to revive their explosive hitting attack. In 24 regular-season games, Middletown North has cranked out 63 doubles, five triples and 12 home runs, putting it among the elite in the state in terms of long ball numbers.
“Different parts of our lineup have carried us during the season. That’s what great teams do,” Rosner said. “At the beginning of the season for the first five or six games, the middle of our lineup was not hitting as good but has been hitting well since then.”
“I think we’re ready,” Gebhardt said of the state tournament, where Middletopwn North played the next round May 25 against Carteret High School (16-10), a 5-4 winner over Warren Hills Regional High School May 23. “We had some rough spots hitting at the beginning of the season, but our defense has been really good and we’re hitting a little bit better now.”
Rosner said his team must play sound defense against a typical smallball hitting team from North Jersey.
“We can’t make mistakes defensively,” Rosner said.
And the hitting has been at its best lately with Liz Dorsa and Gebhardt hitting home runs against Irvington.
As a result, Rosner said power numbers are effective only if there is team unity.
“We’ve talked about playing the best when it’s tournament time and talent wins games, but the team that plays the most together wins championships. And these players are together on and off the field,” Rosner said.
Rosner said teamwork was apparently lacking against St. John Vianney.
“They played great defense and their coach does a great job on that year in and year out,” Rosner said, as St. John Vianney won its seventh straight county title. “They played better defense than us. They did the little things well. They played a better team game.”
That is the key from here, according to Rosner: playing as a unit, one game at a time.
That shows with Kernan, who helps her cause with a .397 batting average, 28 RBIs and three home runs coming into this week.
Her catcher, Ryan Rasmussen, has gone from hitting .211 last year to .354 with seven doubles and 17 RBIs.
Gallo has driven in 38 runs with a .465 batting average and five home runs, and Gebhardt has knocked in 34 runs with a .434 batting average and 10 doubles. Also with 10 doubles on the season is Adriann Cerbo, who is batting .424 with 15 RBIs, and Liz Dorsa, who is another .400 hitter. Payleigh Behan bats .370 with eight RBIs, and Vetrano hits .349 with 10 RBIs.
Kernan, meanwhile, has a .344 ERA with a 109-64 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 122 innings pitched.
But the Lions are looking to add to their division title and surpass the 23 wins of last year’s team. Only maintaining tightly executed teamwork will get them there.