E. DOHERTY KNOCKS IN GAME WINNER, N. KAMINS 2B

Several key defensive plays on the part of the 11th-seeded Woodbridge Barrons forced the sixth-seeded Westfield High School softball Blue Devils to come up with a few of their own in the first round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 playoffs at Westfield on May 22. The Blue Devils’ defense held its own in the late innings then with the score tied, 3-3, in the bottom of the ninth inning, got the opportunity and finally cashed in when Erin Doherty drilled a basesloaded RBI single for a 4-3 victory.

The Barrons’ solid outfield recorded eight of the putouts but third baseman Kylie Rackett pulled off several cerebral plays, especially on a sacrifice bunt attempt in the ninth inning where she anticipated the situation very well and fired in time to shortstop Vanessa Morales, who was covering third base.

“Overall it was a great game,” expressed Blue Devil Head Coach Caitlin Cheddar. “Woodbridge made a few really nice defensive plays especially the play by their third baseman at the end of the game when we tried to bunt a runner to third. Their outfield was solid and their first baseman blocked a number of throws from going into dead ball area.”

Blue Devil pitcher Bella Scipioni went the distance and yielded seven hits and five walks, while striking out six batters. Barron pitcher Maddy Brenner allowed eight hits, while walking two, hitting three and striking out one. Scipioni gave up a pair of hits to Gia Allan (run) and Quinn Boyd (RBI). The others were to Holly Casaliggi (run), Gabbie Peddie (walk) and Riley Vazquez (walk). No Blue Devil had more than one hit The first offensive action began in the Woodbridge second inning. Casaliggi curled a little spinning single near first and advanced to second on Gabby Montalvo’s sacrifice bunt. Gianna Sheridan walked then Scipioni struck out Vazquez for the second out. Allan lofted a fly ball to leftfield that was dropped, allowing Casiliggi and Sheridan to score. Boyd stepped to the plate and slammed an RBI double to right-centerfield. Third baseman Erin Doherty made a diving snag of a liner to end the inning.

Trailing 3-0, the Blue Devils went to work in the bottom of the inning and scored twice. Cat Heflin lined a one-out single down the third base line and skipped to second when the ball was mishandled. After Quinn Doherty grounded out to short, Grace D’Angelo plopped an RBI single into shallow right field. Natalie Ardente slashed a single past first and Annie Reilly hopped an RBI single into leftfield.

On the first play of the Woodbridge third inning, Peddie tapped a slow grounder that pulled in first baseman Heflin, who tossed to second baseman Ardente covering the bag. The result was a putout but Ardente was injured on the play. Heflin shifted to play second and D’Angelo would cover first. Scipioni retired two of the next three batters.

Alex Laguna ricocheted a sharp one-out infield single off the third baseman’s glove in the Westfield third. She sprinted to second on a wild pitch then scored on a throwing error by the shortstop to knot the score.

The Barrons threatened in the fourth with singles from Vazquez and Boyd but a ground out to second brought the Blue Devils back to the plate. Kayla Reyes tapped a deep two-out infield single and Gia Puglise was hit by a pitch but Brenner struck out the next batter. The Barrons got another two-out opportunity in the sixth inning when Vazquez’s fly ball to right was dropped andAllan followed with an infield single near second base but Heflin hauled in a popup in shallow right field.

Two fine plays by third baseman Rackett kept Westfield silent in the sixth then the Barrons really tested the Blue Devils in the seventh. Morales drew a leadoff walk and Peddie yanked a single to left. Both runners advanced into scoring position after a sacrifice bunt. Casiliggi lined out to leftfield Reyes, who held the runners, then Montalvo grounded out to second.

The contest drifted into the top of the ninth and Morales’ grounder to third resulted in a throwing error, allowing her to dash to second. After Scipioni recorded a strikeout, Morales advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. D’Angelo grabbed Casiliggi’s grounder and stepped on the bag for the third out.

Julie Kamins led off the Westfield ninth inning with a sizzling double past third base. Reilly attempted a sacrifice bunt but Rackett was there and fired to third to get Kamins. Reilly advanced on a passed ball then Reyes and Puglise were both hit by a pitch to load the bases. Erin Doherty dug in and drilled her game-winning single to leftfield.

“Our team made a few defensive mistakes but didn’t let it carry over into the next play. They had each other’s backs the whole game, which really stopped Woodbridge from capitalizing on those mistakes. Bella pitched a great game and ultimately, our bats came through in the ninth,” Coach Cheddar said.

Next would be a showdown on May 28 with the third-seeded Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders, who shut out Union, 10-0.

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