Softball: One last homer for St. Thomas’ Mary Kate Murray highlights GMC All-Star Game
SOUTH PLAINFIELD — Mary Kate Murray’s high school career ended the same way it began:
With a home run.
The St. Thomas Aquinas High School senior, who homered in her first at bat as a sophomore, concluded her career with a mammoth solo shot to left field in the GMC Senior All-Star Game on Tuesday.
Murray’s blast helped Team Pink -- comprised of seniors from Red, Gold and Silver Division schools -- to a 10-5 decision over the Black squad, with players from the White and Blue Divisions.
“There’s no better way I could have ended it,” said Murray, who turned on a 3-1 pitch because she didn’t want to end her career with another walk. “I think it’s like a full circle moment. I remember my first home run as a sophomore, it was at Monroe, I was the third batter, it was the first pitch. And it was gone.”
When asked if her farewell shot may have been her longest, she said “it’s up there.”
The Albany-bound third baseman, who clubbed 14 home runs despite being intentionally walked 16 times this season, walked on four pitches in her first at bat. Spotswood’s Alex Diaz, pitching at the time, apologized to her.
Many of the GMC’s biggest stars had big moments. Metuchen’s Abby Kozo singled and doubled in the first two innings and struck out six in five scoreless innings as the starter for Team Pink. Bulldog teammates Brianna De La Fuente and Kylie Flaherty each had two-run singles over the first two frames as Team Pink took an early 4-0 lead.
Pink added three more runs in the fourth on an uprising spearheaded by players who don’t get as many headlines. South River slugger Brittany Baber doubled to the fence to drive in one run, while Carteret’s Kira Sliziewicz and New Brunswick’s Luz Martinez Acevedo each singled in a run.
Baber, who battled .553 with 11 home runs, 42 hits and 45 RBI while toiling in the Gold Division, was asked if she had something to prove against the GMC’s finest.
“I just like to have fun,” said Baber, who drove in the Pink’s final run with an eighth-inning single. “I already knew some of the players from travel ball so it was nice to come play with them because I’ve never played with them before, I always played against them. To be teammates with them was amazing, it was so fun.”
Sliziewicz, who replaced Kozo in the circle, got to face some of the GMC’s elite hitters and ended the contest with a a strikeout.
Martinez Acevedo, who matched her team’s season win total on this evening, was thrilled with the opportunity.
“It was a different vibe, challenging too, because I came from not knowing anything about softball,” she said. She called her run-scoring single “amazing, because I never thought of myself like this. It feels great.”
Colonia’s Dylan DaCunha contributed a two-run double for Team Black and demonstrated her effort by diving headfirst into a fence chasing a foul ball. Perth Amboy’s Ashlee Duran and Edison teammates Kayla Vicidomini and Allison Dima each contributed a pair of hits for the losing side.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: STA's Mary Kate Murray's final HR highlights GMC ASG
