By Wayne Witkowski
Players from the New Jersey Cheetahs 18U Premier softball team, based in Allentown, have a little strut in their steps as they compete this week in the New York Triple Crown National Tournament at Randalls Island, New York.
After that, they head to the California Nationals in Huntington Beach, California, that begins July 22.
The Cheetahs were one win away from reaching the championship round of eight teams in the Aurora Firecracker Showcase in Aurora, Colorado. They lost, 3-0, July 2 to the Extreme Elite of northern California, which sent the team down to a final ninth-place finish.
“We made it to the power pool out of 284 teams, and the fact that we were able to compete against teams mostly rated among the top 50 in the nation tells me we’re there,” said Dave Dominici, manager of the 18U Premier team and founder of the Cheetahs program that also has age group teams in 16U, 14U, 12U and a college level 23U team. “Every year, we’re competing at a higher level, and now we’re heading into the New York Nationals, which is extremely difficult.”
Extreme Elite scored first on a solo homer and added two insurance runs late in the game when an error was followed by back-to-back, run-scoring doubles. Rose Higgins, who graduated this spring from Ridgewood High School and will pitch for Georgia Tech next spring, and Jackie Spizier, a Michigan resident who is headed back to Detroit Country Day School for her senior year before continuing her softball career at Emory University, handled all of the pitching.
“We played against a very highly rated team [in Extreme Elite] and were neck and neck with them, which showed we’re getting where we need to be,” Dominici said. “That may have been the best team we’ve played the last three or four years. They’re tall at 5 feet 11 [inches], 6 feet and athletic.”
The Cheetahs went 8-2 in Aurora and also lost to Canadian team Vancouver All-Stars, 5-3, but beat the Southern California Pumas, 5-4, and a team from Oklahoma, 7-4, in a comeback win that advanced the Cheetahs to the game against Extreme Elite. Taylor Marinelli, a North Jersey player headed to St. Joseph’s University in the fall, belted a three-run homer to put the Cheetahs ahead against the Oklahoma team.
Kira Ferraiola, who graduated from Montgomery High School and is headed to Sacred Heart University, batted in the .400s in the 10 games and played second base, shortstop and in the outfield. Shae Dominici of Millstone, the manager’s daughter, played well at second base. She played in the spring for Allentown High School.
The younger Dominici excelled defensively and got some timely hits for the Cheetahs 18U Premier that also finished ninth in the Team New Jersey showcase in Edison, where 120 teams competed, and also swept all five games in its own tournament in Allentown. The victories in Allentown included a convincing one over the well-regarded Central Mass Rapids from Massachusetts.
The New Jersey Cheetahs 18U Gold team under manager Bill Reddick includes Allentown High School standout players Carly Bailey, a Millstone resident who plays many positions and is headed this fall to Mercer County Community College, and Brianna McGowan, an Allentown resident who catches and is signed for a college career at Virginia Tech.
It went .500 in the Team New Jersey showcase, 3-2 in the Allentown Tournament and 3-3 in the Aurora Firecracker. The Cheetahs 18U Gold team also is playing in the New York Nationals.