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SOUTH ORANGE – There are few things in a 12th-grade student’s life more important than senior prom. Unless you’re a member of the Hunterdon Central High School softball team.
With the NJSIAA unwilling to change the scheduled 4 p.m. start time for Friday’s Group 4 championship game to an earlier first pitch, the Red Devils’ eight seniors showed exactly where their priorities were, as they put prom night on the backburner.
Instead, they crafted a plan; leave directly from the game at Seton Hall University and head for Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to get to a prom, albeit quite late, that began at 6 p.m.
There’s no time get their hair done, or to change clothes, or even shower, as they plan to arrive and spend whatever’s left of the evening in full softball uniform.
Thanks to a near-perfect performance on the diamond against a bitter Skyland Conference Delaware Division rival, they’ll also be arriving at prom with a state championship.
More: ‘Going hard’: Hunterdon Central softball seizes opportunity, advances to Group 4 final
More: Watchung Hills softball is onto the Group 4 state finals again. Here's how they advanced
Senior right-hander Emily Van Cleef carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, allowing just an unearned run on one hit, walking two and striking out 11, and sophomore Cambria Tucker delivered what proved to be the game-winning hit, snapping a scoreless tie with a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning, and Hunterdon Central won its first state title since 2011 and third all-time, besting defending champ Watchung Hills 4-1 at Ivy Hill Park.
“That was one of the best games we’ve ever played and we left it all on the field,” said Van Cleef, a four-year starter who emerged as one of the state’s most dominant pitchers this season after an injury-plagued junior campaign. “The whole team played together, it wasn’t just me and my pitching. We hit, our defense was amazing, and the whole game was just incredible.”
“They were all-in from the very beginning,” said Hunterdon Central coach Kelly Rieder after a game that started almost an hour late when the day’s earlier tilts went long, further infringing on her seniors’ evening plans. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of seniors and I’m really sad to see them go.”
As Van Cleef held Watchung Hills without a base runner for the first five innings, Central put pressure on the Warriors and junior ace Riley Bobrowski from the start, getting runners on in each of the first four innings, with the leadoff hitter getting on in three of the frames.
Still, Bobrowski and her defense held the Red Devils off the board for the first three stanzas, as catcher Lia Long threw out a would-be base-stealer in the first inning and first baseman Maddie DiSarno made a brilliant play in the second, charging in to scoop what looked like a perfect bunt and then lunging to tag a runner trying to score from third.
Hunterdon Central finally broke through in the fourth inning. Senior Zoe Totaro led off with a single and was followed by a Cassie Stallwood hit, one of three, including a double, the senior catcher notched in as many at-bats Friday. After Warriors shortstop Juliana Battista gobbled a grounder and threw to third for a force play and Bobrowski got the next batter to pop out, it looked as if Watchung Hills was about to pull off another escape act.
But Tucker had other plans, as she followed up a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third by lining a single to right field to chase both home and give the Red Devils a 2-0 advantage, and it proved to be all they’d need.
“I just got in that box and knew I needed to hit that ball and provide for my team in some way,” Tucker said. “We’ve been working hard all season and we really deserved this, and that really gave us the adrenaline to keep going. I’m just really glad it came out that way.”
“With Cam up at-bat, it was having full confidence that she was going to do her job, and she did,” Van Cleef said.
Watchung Hills finally got something going in the top of the sixth inning. Kelly Shikar led off and reached on an error on an infield grounder, and, after a strikeout, Payton Kalfus sacrificed pinch-runner Olivia Videla to second. Bobrowski then walked, bringing up freshman Leila Romero, who drove an RBI single to center field to cut the Warriors’ deficit to 2-1.
Hunterdon Central then opted to pitch to superstar slugger Mia Simon with runners on the corners and two down – much to the surprise of many in attendance – but the move paid off, as Van Cleef ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Red Devils then tallied two crucial insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, getting sacrifice flies from Van Cleef and Maitland Halsted, and the ace then side-stepped a leadoff walk by DiSarno in the seventh inning by retiring the next three hitters to end it.
“It definitely was a battle,” said Van Cleef, whose team had split a pair of 1-0 games with Watchung Hills during the regular season, managing just two hits in each meeting. “They had that one inning where I was getting a little nervous, but I knew I got it. I knew that I had my team behind me and even if I got hit, my team was going to get me.
The win Friday was the culmination of four years of hard work for the senior class, one that had watched the program lose in four consecutive sectional finals, with two of those coming to Watchung Hills, including in last year’s North 2 Group 4 title game.
“We’ve been building and building and building up to this, and I knew from the very beginning this was the team that would be able to do it,” said Rieder, in her 11th season at the helm. “And that’s exactly what they did.”
As for the prom dresses the Hunterdon Central seniors had already purchased? They won’t go to waste, as the squad plans to get together Tuesday and take pictures in those dresses.
And there are no regrets.
“This is definitely more worth it than prom!” Van Cleef said.
For Watchung Hills, which was playing in the Group 4 final for the second straight season and looking for their third state title in four years, there are few regrets.
“We didn’t lose the game today. They beat us,” Watchung Hills coach Brian Figuieredo said. “They hit the ball, she threw a great game, and, as a coach – and it doesn’t make (the loss) any easier – you just tip your hat to them. We did everything possible and we got beat. It’s that simple. It’s not one of those things where we made five errors and kicked the ball around and you’re sick about what could have been. They flat-out beat us today. They deserve it.”
WATCHUNG HILLS (23-7) 000-001-0 – 1-1-0
HUNTERDON CENTRAL (25-3) 000-202-x – 4-8-1
WP: Van Cleef (25-3). LP: Bobrowski (12-3).
2B: HC—Stallwood, Seemon, Totaro.
Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997, and has been on the softball beat since 1999. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Hunterdon Central tops Watchung Hills in Group 4 final
Continue reading...
With the NJSIAA unwilling to change the scheduled 4 p.m. start time for Friday’s Group 4 championship game to an earlier first pitch, the Red Devils’ eight seniors showed exactly where their priorities were, as they put prom night on the backburner.
Instead, they crafted a plan; leave directly from the game at Seton Hall University and head for Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to get to a prom, albeit quite late, that began at 6 p.m.
There’s no time get their hair done, or to change clothes, or even shower, as they plan to arrive and spend whatever’s left of the evening in full softball uniform.
Thanks to a near-perfect performance on the diamond against a bitter Skyland Conference Delaware Division rival, they’ll also be arriving at prom with a state championship.
More: ‘Going hard’: Hunterdon Central softball seizes opportunity, advances to Group 4 final
More: Watchung Hills softball is onto the Group 4 state finals again. Here's how they advanced
Senior right-hander Emily Van Cleef carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, allowing just an unearned run on one hit, walking two and striking out 11, and sophomore Cambria Tucker delivered what proved to be the game-winning hit, snapping a scoreless tie with a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning, and Hunterdon Central won its first state title since 2011 and third all-time, besting defending champ Watchung Hills 4-1 at Ivy Hill Park.
“That was one of the best games we’ve ever played and we left it all on the field,” said Van Cleef, a four-year starter who emerged as one of the state’s most dominant pitchers this season after an injury-plagued junior campaign. “The whole team played together, it wasn’t just me and my pitching. We hit, our defense was amazing, and the whole game was just incredible.”
“They were all-in from the very beginning,” said Hunterdon Central coach Kelly Rieder after a game that started almost an hour late when the day’s earlier tilts went long, further infringing on her seniors’ evening plans. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of seniors and I’m really sad to see them go.”
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As Van Cleef held Watchung Hills without a base runner for the first five innings, Central put pressure on the Warriors and junior ace Riley Bobrowski from the start, getting runners on in each of the first four innings, with the leadoff hitter getting on in three of the frames.
Still, Bobrowski and her defense held the Red Devils off the board for the first three stanzas, as catcher Lia Long threw out a would-be base-stealer in the first inning and first baseman Maddie DiSarno made a brilliant play in the second, charging in to scoop what looked like a perfect bunt and then lunging to tag a runner trying to score from third.
Hunterdon Central finally broke through in the fourth inning. Senior Zoe Totaro led off with a single and was followed by a Cassie Stallwood hit, one of three, including a double, the senior catcher notched in as many at-bats Friday. After Warriors shortstop Juliana Battista gobbled a grounder and threw to third for a force play and Bobrowski got the next batter to pop out, it looked as if Watchung Hills was about to pull off another escape act.
But Tucker had other plans, as she followed up a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third by lining a single to right field to chase both home and give the Red Devils a 2-0 advantage, and it proved to be all they’d need.
“I just got in that box and knew I needed to hit that ball and provide for my team in some way,” Tucker said. “We’ve been working hard all season and we really deserved this, and that really gave us the adrenaline to keep going. I’m just really glad it came out that way.”
“With Cam up at-bat, it was having full confidence that she was going to do her job, and she did,” Van Cleef said.
Watchung Hills finally got something going in the top of the sixth inning. Kelly Shikar led off and reached on an error on an infield grounder, and, after a strikeout, Payton Kalfus sacrificed pinch-runner Olivia Videla to second. Bobrowski then walked, bringing up freshman Leila Romero, who drove an RBI single to center field to cut the Warriors’ deficit to 2-1.
Hunterdon Central then opted to pitch to superstar slugger Mia Simon with runners on the corners and two down – much to the surprise of many in attendance – but the move paid off, as Van Cleef ended the inning with a strikeout.
The Red Devils then tallied two crucial insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, getting sacrifice flies from Van Cleef and Maitland Halsted, and the ace then side-stepped a leadoff walk by DiSarno in the seventh inning by retiring the next three hitters to end it.
“It definitely was a battle,” said Van Cleef, whose team had split a pair of 1-0 games with Watchung Hills during the regular season, managing just two hits in each meeting. “They had that one inning where I was getting a little nervous, but I knew I got it. I knew that I had my team behind me and even if I got hit, my team was going to get me.
The win Friday was the culmination of four years of hard work for the senior class, one that had watched the program lose in four consecutive sectional finals, with two of those coming to Watchung Hills, including in last year’s North 2 Group 4 title game.
“We’ve been building and building and building up to this, and I knew from the very beginning this was the team that would be able to do it,” said Rieder, in her 11th season at the helm. “And that’s exactly what they did.”
As for the prom dresses the Hunterdon Central seniors had already purchased? They won’t go to waste, as the squad plans to get together Tuesday and take pictures in those dresses.
And there are no regrets.
“This is definitely more worth it than prom!” Van Cleef said.
For Watchung Hills, which was playing in the Group 4 final for the second straight season and looking for their third state title in four years, there are few regrets.
“We didn’t lose the game today. They beat us,” Watchung Hills coach Brian Figuieredo said. “They hit the ball, she threw a great game, and, as a coach – and it doesn’t make (the loss) any easier – you just tip your hat to them. We did everything possible and we got beat. It’s that simple. It’s not one of those things where we made five errors and kicked the ball around and you’re sick about what could have been. They flat-out beat us today. They deserve it.”
BOX SCORE
WATCHUNG HILLS (23-7) 000-001-0 – 1-1-0
HUNTERDON CENTRAL (25-3) 000-202-x – 4-8-1
WP: Van Cleef (25-3). LP: Bobrowski (12-3).
2B: HC—Stallwood, Seemon, Totaro.
Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997, and has been on the softball beat since 1999. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Hunterdon Central tops Watchung Hills in Group 4 final
Continue reading...
