Softball: Marlboro’s Gaudio outduels Hillsborough’s Davenport in Group 4 final
UNION TOWNSHIP (Union) – A nail-biter of a pitcher’s duel between a senior superstar and a freshman ace in a state final wasn’t the headline most people expected to come out of Saturday’s NJSIAA Group 4 softball championship game. Sure, it was no surprise Hillsborough High School senior ace Sarah Davenport was nearly unhittable – she has been for three years now – but with Marlboro rookie right-hander Emily Gaudio matching Davenport nearly pitch for pitch, it stood to reason a mistake would prove the difference.
After 9 1/2 innings of the two aces matching zeros, including Davenport retiring 24 straight hitters from the second inning on, Marlboro got the break it was looking for in the bottom of the 10th when a sacrifice bunt was thrown away, allowing the winning run to score and give the Mustangs the program’s first-ever state title with a 1-0 victory at Kean University.
Pinch-runner Ava Bufano began the bottom of the 10th inning as the ghost runner on second base, as per the international tiebreaker rule, and it was no surprise when Marlboro coach Nick Scalzo signaled for a sacrifice from catcher Skyla Campisi to start the frame. But after the bunt was scooped up at third base, the throw to first went awry, allowing Bufano to score from second and sending the Mustangs to the title.
“This is just an incredible feeling that most don’t get to experience, especially a freshman,” said Gaudio, who finished allowing no runs on just three hits, walked two -- one intentionally -- hit a batter and stuck out eight. “(I focused on) just making sure that I make the pitch and I execute and not give them anything to hit well, because I know I have a great defense behind me that can field every ball hit to them.”
“It was definitely going to come down to something small for one team,” said Davenport, who allowed one unearned run on two infield hits, a walk, and struck out 17, finishing her season with 431 Ks and her brilliant and historic career with 1,093 punchouts. “They were a great team and it was hard to pitch to them, so you’ve gotta stay on your game the whole game, and I think (catcher) Grace (Brouillard) and I did a good job with pitch selection. It just comes down to one of those things that could go either way. This could have happened in any inning to either team.”
Marlboro’s offense had been contained to the second inning until the final frame. After Davenport stuck out the side in the first, Campisi began the second inning with a walk. Amy Fitzpatrick then bunted – a tool the Mustangs employed for much of the afternoon against Davenport – and it went for a single, before Isabella Pitarresi followed did the same, called safe at first base for another hit.
But that’s when Davenport did as Davenport does, re-focusing and side-stepping the threat. Aimee Notaro laid down a bunt with the bases loaded, Davenport came in and scooped it with her glove, flipping to Brouillard to record the first out by an eye lash, before the right-hander rung up the next two hitters to end the threat.
Marlboro would not get another base runner until the game’s final play, as Davenport got better and better, sharper and sharper as the game wore on.
“When you get to extra innings, yeah, I kind of figured that (it would be a mistake that made the difference),” said Hillsborough coach Cheryl Iaione, who knows first-hand how delicate every play can be in extra innings after seeing her team drop the 2021 final on an eighth-inning misplay. “I didn’t think it would happen the way it did, but what are you gonna do? I’m not going to blame that – a lot of things happened prior to that to magnify that moment. We just didn’t hit the ball and that’s on us. And some mental mistakes didn’t help, either.”
While Gaudio retired Hillsborough in order during all three extra innings, the Raiders had runners on in five of the first seven frames during regulation, but couldn’t find paydirt, victimized by some unfortunate base running and some big pitches from the Mustangs rookie hurler.
Speedy leadoff hitter Clay’le Correa, who finished with two of her team’s three hits and stole two bags, began the game with a walk, and after the next hitter took ball one way outside, Scalzo made a visit to the circle to calm his freshman hurler. The conference seemed to do the job, as the hitter struck out as Correa stole second, and then Gaudio got a pop out and a grounder to end that threat.
Boro challenged again in the third. Lilly McDonough was hit by a pitch with one out, but was caught stealing, before Correa singled and stole second, but was stranded. Claire Marcinek then unleashed a scorching double off the right-center field fence to start the fourth inning, but was also left on base.
Correa reach on a bunt single to start the sixth, was sacrificed over by Murphy, but after Scalzo, wisely, opted to walk Marcinek, Brouillard ripped a liner to center field that looked as if it might fall in off the bat, but then sailed. Fitzpatrick came streaking in from center field and reached up to snag the liner as it headed over her head, and she then fired to second base to double off the runner to end the inning.
Kayla Chess then led off the seventh and reached on an error, but Gaudio side-stepped that rally to keep Boro off the board.
While 12 of the final 14 batters Davenport faced were retired by strikeouts, headed into the bottom of ninth inning, Marlboro put the ball in play three times in the frame, with her defense stepping up big to force extra innings. Second baseman Kaitlyn LaMotta made a nice grab of a slap to retire the first hitter, before Chess made a brilliant snag of a line drive at third base, and McDonough finished the inning with a phenomenal sliding catch of a sinking line drive in right field.
It was the only ball Marlboro hit out of the infield Saturday.
Hillsborough’s most golden opportunity came in the top of the 10th innings. With Chess starting at second base as the ghost runner, Anna Torres dropped down a nice bunt to sacrifice Chess to third – the only Raiders runner to each third base all afternoon – but Gaudio got a foul out and a grounder to short to keep it scoreless.
“We didn’t hit the ball. We had a few opportunities, but we just didn’t come through,” said Iaione. “Sarah pitched a whale of a game. As much as she was there for us for three years, we weren’t there for her today, and that’s unfortunate. But they’re a good team. They played a great game, too.”
What it means
Marlboro wins a state title in its first-ever trip to the final. The Mustangs stunned Kingsway in the Group 4 semifinals on Tuesday, before toppling juggernaut Hillsborough on Saturday.
Hillsborough, which has played three state finals on three different fields – Toms River East in 2014, Ivy Hill Park in 2021, and Saturday at Kean -- has been snake-bitten its past two trips to the championship game. Before Saturday’s 10th-inning error sent the Raiders to their third finals loss in as many trips, they lost the 2021 Group 4 final on a flyball that got lost in the lights in the eighth inning that lifted Livingston to the championship.
They said it
“It’s just such a special moment that I wouldn’t trade for the world. And I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with any other group of girls. These girls mean the world to me, I grew up with all of them, and I just love each and every one of them so much.” – Marlboro freshman ace Emily Gaudio, after the Mustangs captured the Group 4 championship Saturday at Kean.
More: Softball: Skyland Conference Senior All-Star Game set
What’s next
Davenport, Correa and Murphy will don the Raiders uniform one last time Thursday at the Skyland Conference All-Star Game, slated for 6:30 p.m. at Diamond Nation. Davenport will start for Team American, which will be coached by Boro skipper Cheryl Iaione.
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 @SimeonPincus
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Marlboro’s Gaudio outduels Hillsborough’s Davenport
