Softball: Highland Park fights off pesky Woodbridge Academy to stay undefeated
HIGHLAND PARK — After cruising to a season-opening 19-run four-inning victory last week, the Highland Park High School softball team was hoping for a more competitive contest when it took the field for its second outing of the year Monday.
Be careful what you wish for.
Woodbridge Academy showed up with a freshman hurler who struck out 11 in her varsity debut, out-hit its hosts, and was still scratching out runs in the seventh inning before Michelle Edralin finally closed the door on a 6-3 Highland Park victory.
“This was a good test of our ability and our confidence,” Highland Park coach Lori Szentygorgyi said. “I don’t think they expected Woodbridge to have such a good pitcher, and they weren’t ready. If she’s a freshman, she’s got a great head start, she’s going to be a fantastic pitcher.”
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Woodbridge Academy’s Zaha Shaikih was anything but shaky in her first varsity outing, limiting the Owls (2-0) to five hits and two earned runs, striking out 11 in six innings while walking two. Edralin, a senior in her fourth varsity campaign and third as a pitcher, struck out nine and walked five, yielding six hits.
“When you’re up by that much it kind of slows down your energy. Our first game was kind of not the best way to start off,” Edralin said. “Today we won, but we could have done a lot better. I think starting off with that win set our standards pretty low.”
Woodbridge Academy got off to a fast start when Kia Parekh drilled the second pitch of the contest up the middle for the first of her two hits, and the Hornets had second and third with one out. Edralin escaped by fanning the next two batters as she recorded her first seven outs by strikeout.
Highland Park answered with three unearned runs without a hit in the bottom of the first, two scoring on wild pitches. Woodbridge Academy could have escaped unharmed, but a muffed foul popup with two out gave the Owls a second chance and all three runs followed. Edralin drove in a run in the second with Highland Park’s first hit to extend the cushion to 4-0.
Woodbridge Academy reinserted itself into the affair by scoring twice in the third as Parekh, again, led off with a single and scored on a single by Shruthi Sarvanan, who was out in a rundown between first and second. Jotleen Nijjar reignited the rally with a walk and scored on a single by Eva Patel to halve the deficit to 4-2.
Edralin only struck out two batters over the final 4 2/3 innings and, while the Owls defense wasn’t flawless, it certainly made enough plays to contain the Hornets.
“That happens a lot,” Edralin said of her drop off in strikeouts. “Especially after I’ve had an at bat and I was running. I also get more comfortable with who’s in the field because we switch positions a lot.”
She led off the fifth with a single, took second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball, before scoring on a grounder by Flor Quesada. Vanessa Kohler singled home Melissa Evans with two outs to extend the lead to 6-2.
But Woodbridge Academy wasn’t quite done. Dia Jayadas led off with a single and scored on two wild pitches. With two out, Sarvanan clubbed a triple to right field but Edralin was able to quell the threat herself by corralling a liner back to the circle for the final out.
“In think our energy was where it’s supposed to be today,” Szentygorgyi stated. “We’re 2-0 and we’re excited about it. The fact that we’re finally getting out here to play, the kids are excited and they’re very confident and they’re playing together as a team.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Highland Park fights off pesky Woodbridge Academy
