Softball: Torres has another dominant outing as East Brunswick Magnet wins big
WOODBRIDGE — What had all the makings of being a classic duel between the Gold Division’s dominant pitcher and her heiress apparent never quite materialized on Wednesday.
Then again, pitchers’ duels and East Brunswick Magnet’s prolific offense rarely occupy the same space, especially when it’s gifted opportunities and extra outs, as Woodbridge Academy provided.
The result was a 14-2 East Brunswick Magnet softball victory in which the Tigers only needed eight hits and benefitted from 12 unearned runs and another dominant effort in the circle from senior Aralyn Torres, who carried a no-hitter and a shutout into the final frame.
More: Softball roundup: Daily April results and links for Skyland , GMC, area Union County
More: Softball ballot: Vote for Central Jersey Player of the Week for Week 4
“You can never give anybody extra outs, you’re not going to survive that way,” stated East Brunswick Magnet coach Michael Buonaguro. “And, if you have a team like us that can capitalize on that you’re going to score runs.”
The teams just met on Saturday, a 6-0 Tigers triumph in which freshman Zoha Shaikh became the first pitcher in the division to hold the defending division champs to single-digit runs. Shaikh outperformed Torres in some ways, striking out 13 in six innings while the Tigers senior fanned 12 in seven. Both pitched two-hitters and neither walked a batter.
“I think she caught us off guard Saturday,” Buonaguro offered. “We worked on our hitting in practice and we came out hitting. We came out mean, it was an important game and everybody stepped up to the plate, no pun intended.”
Torres fired a one-hitter Wednesday with nine strikeouts, three walks and three hit batters. To give you an idea of Shaikh’s afternoon, three of her strikeout victims reached base on passed balls and two of them scored.
“Their pitcher does have a really good curve and drop ball,” said Torres, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. “She’s really good.”
The first of those passed ball strikeouts led to a first-inning run for East Brunswick Magnet (13-2, 10-0), extending the frame so Rayna Serronico could single home Torres, who had walked.
Nicolena Giddis got the first of her three RBIs in the second when she singled home Makayla Caban, who had walked.
The Tigers erupted for nine unearned runs in the third, requiring only three hits to accompany the two untimely Setters errors to break the game open. Isabella Serronico tripled in a couple of runs and Torres had her first RBI.
“Offensively, we don’t see enough of that speed throughout the year. Our girls tried to make adjustments but she just dominated us at the plate.” Woodbridge Academy coach Scott Modzelewski said about Torres. “Pitching-wise, they were both very close. It’s kind of hard to have a pitching duel when we have that many errors in the game. My pitcher did a great job, she did a fabulous job.”
Woodbridge Academy (6-5, 5-4) finally broke through in the fifth as Dia Jayopdas led off with a single to left and scored on a wild pitch, and Kiah Parekh was hit by a pitch and scored on an infield error.
“Honestly, that’s not really on my mind recently,” said Torres, who had two no-hitters last year but none, yet, this spring. “It’s kind of just finish the game as best we can.”
As for Shaikh, Buonaguro is impressed.
“She’s good, she’s accurate,” he began. “I don’t want to see her next year, the year after and the year after that. She’s only going to get better.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: East Brunswick Magnet tops Woodbridge Academy
