Sayreville edges J.P. Stevens to advance to GMCT softball semifinals

EDISON – It was a softball game marred by walks, hit batters, and escaping self-provoked jams.

Ultimately, Sayreville was able to get out of trouble at a better frequency than J.P. Stevens, partuclarly in the fifth inning of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

In a 1-1 game Mary Kate Kersting hit a one-out go-ahead bases loaded RBI bloop single in shallow right field along the foul line and Brianna Parisio followed with a run-scoring single up the middle to the left side to put Sayreville ahead 3-1 in the top half of the fifth.

In the bottom half of the fifth a hit batter, single, and another hit batter all with one out loaded the bases for J.P. Stevens and the tying run on second — Bombers senior pitcher Erin Fitzsimmons though induced a hard hit grounder to third base and Christina Misiur fired home to start an inning-ending 5-2-3 double play on a very close play at first to save a run.

Fitzsimmons retired six of the final seven batters she faced over the final two innings and sixth-seeded Sayreville held for the 3-1 win over the third-seeded Hawks and will face second-seeded Monroe in the semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Edison Angels Complex.

"We were really motivated and we were rally focused on winning and we never got down on ourselves even if runners did get on," Fitzsimmons said. "We were so focused."

J.P. Stevens (16-6) threatened to take the lead in the bottom of the first, but Gabby Young was thrown out at home trying to score from second on a single by Julie Siecinski as Parisio, Sayreville's center fielder, nearly made a diving catch for the out, but trapped it and threw a perfect strike to nail Young at the plate.

Sayreville (15-5) threatened and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third as Kayla Stvan scored on Misiur's bases loaded one-out single to center, though Emily Cabrera was thrown out at home by Kayla Smith trying to score from second as the Bombers had bases loaded and no outs at one point in the inning, but came away with only one run.

Kelsey Shalonis walked to lead off the home third for the Hawks and would wind up scoring as Fitzsimmons issued a walk and hit batter with one out, which loaded the bases, and Amanda Lombardi drove in a run with another hit by pitch to score Shalonis.

Fitzsimmons allowed only four hits and struck out 10, but walked four batters and hit four batters.

Her counterpart, freshman Ashley Lombardi, fared similarly — she issued three runs, two of which were earned, and allowed six hits, struck out four, walked four, and hit three.

Rebecca Wehrle went 2-for-3 for Sayreville, as her double to lead off the fifth helped ignite Sayreville's go-ahead inning that made the difference with Kersting and Parisio's go-ahead hits.

"We have the pitching, we have the fielding," Sayreville coach Christa DeLucia said. "Got to hit the ball and when those girls came up they were very focused on what (Lombardi) was throwing and did just a good job of putting ther ball in play."

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@GannettNJ.com