By: Sean Moylan
Last year the East Windsor 10-year-old Little League all-star softball squad didn’t win any games in the District 12 Tournament. Yet anyone who saw the "Iron Nine" play knew there was something special about the team. They never gave up and the girls improved with each and every game.
This year Don Oberg took five starters from that squad and picked seven more to make up his East Windsor "Dazzling Dozen." The team not only improved, it went 3-1 in pool play to advance to the Final Four.
Once in the Final Four, East Windsor refused to go quietly. It lost a hard-fought 7-2 battle to District 12 runner-up Florence on Friday evening before bowing out of the tourney in a tough 9-6 loss to Millstone-Roosevelt on Saturday. Early on, it looked as though East Windsor might even blow out Millstone-Roosevelt, like it had against its first three opponents in pool play. But the tide shifted in a hurry.
"We jumped off to a 4-0 lead in the first," said Oberg, whose team took advantage of several walks and a key hit by his daughter Amanda to score those early runs. But Millstone-Roosevelt scored six runs over the next two frames to take a 6-4 lead.
Hailey Brennan, who had East Windsor’s only other hit in the game, came through with a clutch RBI walk in the bottom of the fourth to help her club tie the score at 6-6.
Alyssa Giampolo knocked in two of East Windsor’s runs. Deanna Gardner, Caitlin Hoagland and Joanne Zapata also had RBI.
"We hit the ball, but they fielded a bunch of them," added Oberg.
In the top of the fifth Millstone-Roosevelt scored a run to go ahead for good.
Oberg pitched well in defeat and struck out three and walked three in six innings. She actually was one of the better control pitchers of the tournament, walking just 11 batters while striking out 14 in 16 innings of work in the circle.
In East Windsor’s first Final Four contest, Giampolo, a flame-thrower, hooked up with Florence’s Tori Fantozzi in a great pitcher’s duel.
"Alyssa Giampolo pitched the entire game. She struck out 11 and gave up just one hit," said Oberg. "Fantozzi (16 strikeouts) picked up speed as she went along."
East Windsor’s Carly DeCristofaro smacked a two-run triple to account for the club’s only runs. Giampolo struck out 26 batters in just three tournament games.
Last Thursday, Washington beat East Windsor, 13-0, in the final contest of pool play. While Oberg took the loss, she didn’t walk a single batter while fanning three.
"They had a very talented lineup from top to bottom," said Oberg of Washington Township, which hosted that game and the entire Final Four.
Mia Caglieris, Leah Chiorello, Marielle Donlon, Lise Malherbe and Kristen Monochio all had good tournaments for East Windsor as well as the aforementioned players. And Bill Giampolo did a good job of assisting Oberg.
"We made great strides this year. We had a lot of enthusiastic kids," said Oberg.
East Windsor Little League softball is heading in the right direction.
