SOFTBALL: South Plainfield’s rally, couple of upsets highlight GMC Tournament quarters

SPOTSWOOD — East Brunswick played error-free softball for 6 2/3 innings in Saturday’s Greater Middlesex Conference quarterfinals, making a couple of spectacular plays in the process. But the 21st and final out proved elusive and, after three walks loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh inning, a dropped fly ball allowed two runs to score, lifting the second-seeded South Plainfield High School softball team to a 3-2 decision over the Bears at Spotswood High School.

“They played great, it was a great game,” said South Plainfield coach Don Panzarella, whose team improved 18-4 and will host sixth-seeded Metuchen in one of Wednesday’s semifinals, with top-seeded Old Bridge taking on defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas on an adjoining field in the other semi. “East Brunswick did what they had to do to beat us and I’m so proud of the way (we) came back.”

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It appeared that though the Tigers would be hosting Wednesday’s semifinals, they might not be participating in them. South Plainfield took a 1-0 lead in the first as Sophia Alvarez walked, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Hailey Fonti’s single to left.

Tigers ace Erin Townley (14-3) retired the first 10 batters she faced, but Carmela DeMaio doubled and two walks loaded the bases in the fourth, but Gabby Cicencia chased down the third out in center field for South Plainfield.

Townley and South Plainfield were not as fortunate in the next frame. Gab Nieves stroked her first of two singles with one out, and leadoff hitter Maria Rampollo clubbed a 1-1 delivery for her fourth home run of the season and a 2-1 East Brunswick advantage.

“I feel like our team definitely didn’t give up, which is important,” said Townley, who tossed a five-hitter with four strikeouts and two walks. “Overall, the team had my back the whole time and I’m very proud of our win.”

South Plainfield’s fifth inning ended with Bears leftfielder D’Liah Kercado corralling Nicole Swatko’s long fly near the fence, and, with two out and a runner on third in the sixth, Jocelyn Sosa hit a rocket back to East Brunswick hurler Jocelyn Nazario, who got her glove on the ball, with shortstop Eva Munoz grabbing the liner for the third out.

It appeared to be East Brunswick’s day, until it wasn’t.

Ava Cabrera led off the seventh with a walk, and took second on Cicenia’s bunt. Lindsay Oller flied out to deep center, but Nazario then walked Alvarez and Swatko to load the bases -- the last on four pitches. Fonti then lofted a deep, but playable, fly to right that was dropped, scoring both runs.

“We’ve been hitting the ball real well but certain days, this time of the year, you’re not, (and) playing good teams it’s going to be a close game,” Panzarella said. “They’re going to have to learn to play from behind once in awhile. We found a way to win. They don’t quit.”

St. Thomas Aquinas 6, Spotswood 0

Though St. Thomas’ Hayley Wieczerzak and Spotswood’s Ava Mormile have been, arguably, the two best pitchers in the GMC, both have been prone to occasional spates of wildness this spring. Saturday was no exception as each had issues locating the plate at times.

Wieczerzak overcame her wildness, but Mormile didn’t, and that’s a major reason the Trojans will continue the defense of their five straight GMCT titles.

Fourth-seeded St. Thomas scored three runs without a hit in the third inning, and held a 4-0 cushion after six innings, despite only getting one hit.

The Trojans scored the only runs required in the third inning as three walks loaded the bases for Liz Negron with two out.

Negron smacked a 2-1 pitch off Mormile’s wrist and it ricocheted to her chin. Negron defiantly ran to first with the 1-0 lead, and two more runs would follow on an infield error.

“When I get up, I’m thinking poking it out there if I get a good pitch,” said Negron, whose team will take on top-seeded Old Bridge in the semis. “Getting the bases loaded, watching how (Ava) wasn’t on her game, trying to be picky at the same time. Don’t overcompensate. If I get that pitch, just try and drive it out.”

Wieczerzak produced St. Thomas’s first hit with a leadoff double to right in the fourth inning, two walks with two outs loaded the bases, and Wieczerzak scored when Mormile plunked Kamerin Collado.

Wieczerzak yielded a leadoff single to Hanna Brown in the second and, after a strikeout, walked the next two batters to load the bases. But Wieczerzak struck out the next batters, and added three more strikeouts in the fourth despite walking two more batters.

Wieczerzak finished with a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts and five walks.

Negron added the Trojans’ second hit with a solo home run in the seventh and three errors enabled Sophia Colucci to score the final run.

“It felt amazing,” Nergron gushed. “We knew that Ava’s fast and she has good movement and I just had to time it up. I was thinking about poking it out there and it really did go out there. When you don’t think about hitting home runs, it happens, and you’ll feel better once you don’t think about it.”

Mormile (16-5) hurled a three-hitter with four strikeouts, five walks and two hit batters for fourth-seeded Spotswood (18-5).

Wieczerzak, who has been shattering records throughout her spectacular career, shattered one of the lights near home plate on a foul ball in the seconds inning, causing a 20-minute delay as shards of glass could be removed from near the St. Thomas dugout.

Metuchen 8, North Brunswick 2: Eva Szap and Kasthryn Morano each homered and Mary McGrath smacked a three-run double as sixth-seeded Metuchen (11-7) extended its winning streak to five games. Alicia Montalbano had another strong showing in the circle for the Bulldogs, tossing a six-hitter with 12 strikeouts while walking two. Juliana Williams and Megan LaVielle had two hits apiece for third-seeded North Brunswick (16-5).

Old Bridge 2, Sayreville 1: Top-seeded Old Bridge (18-4) scored twice in the fourth inning and that was all that Gianna Lombardi (15-4) needed to defeat No. 8 Sayreville (12-6) for the Knights’ eighth consecutive triumph. The Bombers scored in the top of the fourth on Mya Infante’s solo home run. Zoe Milonopoulos answered with a one-out solo shot in the bottom of the frame and Amanda Jupinka walked and scored the winning run on an error. Lombardi uncharacteristically walked three without striking out a batter, stifling Sayreville with a four-hitter.

Correspondent Josh Rosenfeld covers GMC softball. Follow him on Twitter/X @JoshPRosenfeld

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ SOFTBALL: South Plainfield’s rally, upsets highlight GMCT quarters