Softball: Colitti’s arm, Szeirer’s bat lifts Immaculata to first county title in 17 years

BRIDGEWATER – It didn’t take long for the Immaculata High School softball team to grab the momentum in Saturday night’s Somerset County Tournament final, and once the Spartans had it, they weren’t letting go.

Senior first baseman Marli Szeirer set the tone with a first-inning homer – her first of two longballs – and senior right-hander Caroline Colitti struck out the side in the bottom of the first – all looking – finishing with a three-hitter, and second-seeded Immaculata made the most of its first trip to the county final since 2008, claiming its first title since 2007 with a 3-1 victory over No.1 seed and defending champ Watchung Hills at the Nap Torpey Athletic Complex.

For a program that hadn’t had a winning season in seven years before snapping that streak two years ago, and then reached the 20-win mark for the first time in 23 years last season, Saturday’s win was a culmination for a senior class that’s brought the program back to a level that netted it its eighth overall county title, tied with Hillsborough for most all-time.

“We just keep setting the expectations higher and higher, including our own expectations,” said Colitti, who allowed just a run on three hits, walked one, hit a batter and struck out eight. “I’m just so proud of us that we’ve been able to hold our own against this good team all year.

“Coach (Gary Bury) always says, our senior class was the one that turned the program around, and I definitely agree with that. We’re starting a whole new era of winning and dominance.”

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It was the third meeting of the year between these Skyland Conference Delaware Division rivals. The Warriors won the first game, 7-1 on April 9, sparking Watchung Hills to the division title, but Immaculata evened things up April 25, winning 4-0, powered by a Colitti two-hitter.

Ironically, the Immaculata ace has seen her strikeout numbers dip so far this year, fanning 126 in 123 2/3 innings entering Saturday’s contest, after she punched out 251 in 167 frames last year, but that didn't stop her from striking out the first four hitters she faced, and five of the first six. For the Watchung Hills offense, it was a continuation of the game two weeks ago.

“It was pretty similar to what she did to us at Diamond Nation the second time (we played Immaculata),” said Watchung Hills coach Brian Figueredo, whose team took five of their eight strikeouts looking, including one to end the game. “She just kept the ball off our barrel, she spins it well, and it was very close to a repeat performance.”

For Szeirer, who is on a manic home run pace, having now crunched seven longballs in her past six games, Saturday’s bombs allowed the right-handed hitter to do something she hadn’t done all year – hit one out to left field.

After Watchung Hills sophomore ace Riley Bobrowski struck out the first two hitters of the game, Szeirer came to bat in the first inning having homered five times in five games, including a grand slam in Wednesday’s semifinals win here over Bernards. But after going to right and right-center with her first five homers of the campaign, the shot she hit in the first inning Saturday not only went over the left-field fence, but the line-drive blast was hit so hard it might have landed in her home town of Branchburg.

“I definitely feel in zone. I just feel so powerful when I go up there. I’m leaving it all out there and I feel every at-bat,” said the 6-foor-2 Szeirer, who sat out the season’s first 22 days after transferring from Timothy Christian this year, and has now homered seven times in as many games. “I said to my team, I haven’t pulled a home-run ball all year, and that was my goal before the end of the season, so two of them in one game was really something I enjoyed.”

Immaculata increased its lead to 2-0 in the second, getting a leadoff walk from Julia Gallo and, later, getting a run across when pinch-runner Kaitlyn MacGillivray scored on a wild pitch. After Colitti sidestepped a one-out single by Tia Shikar and a two-out walk to Maddie DiSarno in the bottom of the second, Szeirer extended the Immaculata advantage in the third inning, hitting a towering home run to left field to make it 3-0.

“You tip your cap,” Figueredo said. “In the final, for a kid to hit two homers, she’s doing something right. So, give her credit.”

Watchung Hills broke through in unlikely fashion in the bottom of the third inning, getting a leadoff home run from No. 9 hitter Maddie Cerami – her first career varsity blast. But Colitti locked in after that, retiring the next 11 hitters in a row, before Ella Stevinson reached on a two-out bloop single in the bottom of the sixth. Mia Simon was then hit by a pitch, but Colitti induced a flyball to end that threat, before getting the side in order in the bottom of the seventh.

Bobrowski suffered her first loss of the season, falling to 13-1, allowing three runs on eight hits and three walks, and striking out 11.

BOX SCORE

IMMACULATA (16-3) 111-000-0—3-7-0

WATCHUNG HILLS (19-3) 001-000-0—1-3-0

WP:  Colitti (16-3) LP: R. Bobrowski (13-1).

2B: I—Ryden. HR: I—Szeirer 2; WH—Cerami. SB: I--Brea.

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 CourierSoftball@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Colitti’s arm, Szeirer’s bat lifts Immaculata to SCT title