BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer
The J.P. Stevens girls softball team has proven to be the class of the Greater Middlesex Conference, getting off to an 8-2 start, including a perfect 6-0 mark in conference play.
But on Tuesday, the South Brunswick Vikings sent the top-ranked Hawks a message — we’re not intimidated.
Head coach Danielle Matlack’s Vikings gave the Hawks all they could handle in a stellar pitchers’ dual between Stevens’ Becky Garibotto and South Brunswick’s Sara Steepy before the Hawks emerged with the hard-fought 1-0 win.
The lone run came in the fifth, when Stevens’ catcher Caitlyn Seamster led off with a double, moved to third on a botched fielder’s choice, and scored two batters later when Steepy fielded a ground ball but made an error on the throw to the plate.
Though the loss dropped the Vikings to 4-3 on the season, and further distanced them from Stevens in the Red Division race, Matlack feels the team’s solid overall play was a shot in the arm for a team that is gaining confidence as the season progresses.
“We’re playing well,” the coach said. “It was that error that lost it, but Sara pitched a nice game. We just should have gotten out of that inning.
“I like our attitude,” the coach added. “The girls are working hard to fix some things, and the team is coming together.”
Offensively, the Vikings have been led by junior catcher Alicia Langone, junior outfielder Jackie Abdella and junior Jess Mastronardi, who bats lead-off.
“She’s doing a nice job of starting things off for us,” Matlack said.
As for the pitching, Matlack said that Steepy is the workhorse, and has delivered thus far.
“She’s getting better at setting up batters and is really hitting her spots,” the coach said.
While a shot at the division title may be a bit of a stretch for the Vikings at this point, Matlack said she remains very enthusiastic about the remainder of the season.
“Catching [Stevens] is going to be tough,” she said. “They haven’t lost to anyone and everyone else is kind of beating up on each other.
“We just need to play to our potential, and we’ll beat the teams we need to beat if we do that.”
As far as what her team needs to do to improve, Matlack said the Vikings have struggled a bit with its short game.
“When we’re getting base-runners on, we’re not doing a good job of moving them over,” she said. “We need to improve on just knowing the game a little better, and playing with more strategy.”
The Vikings will be busy the rest of the week, hosting Piscataway today, and traveling to West Windsor-North tomorrow and Middlesex on Saturday.
If her squad can improve on the little things, Matlack feels the sky’s the limit.
“We need to keep up our motivation and attitude and fix some of the small things we’re not doing well,” she said. “We could contend for the county. The girls have a nice chemistry and the right attitude. If we fix those small things, we can contend.”