Sayreville shuts out East Brunswick for GMC softball title

EDISON – After the stinging pain Erin Fitzsimmons and her Sayreville War Memorial High School softball teammates had two seasons ago when they lost 3-0 to South Plainfield in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament finals, Fitzsimmons and her teammates were not going to let history repeat itself on Monday against East Brunswick.

Sophomore shortstop Ryane Brush hit a two-out, two-run homer run in the top of the first inning to stake sixth-seeded Sayreville to an early lead and Fitzsimmons did the rest, as she fired a two-hit shutout to lead the Bombers to a dominating 7-0 win over the fifth-seeded Bears at the Edison Angles Complex for Sayreville's first county title since 1978 and third of all time.

"The kids are just playing really, really well. I don't think I've had a team playing this well in all the years I've been coaching," Sayreville 10th-year head coach Christa DeLucia said. "They deserve it and I think they're really the best team in the county. A quality win."

Fitzsimmons walked four and hit a batter in the win, but never allowed a runner get past second base as she struck out eight batters, including striking out the side in the seventh to end the game.

"I knew exactly what to expect and my whole team was ready," said Fitzsimmons, who six days earlier had fired a two-hit shutout in a 4-0 win over East Brunswick in a state tournament game. "I had a pretty good warmup and I was anxious to come into this game and my team was ready."

Six starters from that 2013 team started for the Bombers on Monday, but what were nerves from freshmen and sophomores then was a more confident, experienced bunch of juniors and seniors this year.

"As a sophomore I was extremely nervous — not only me, but my whole team was. We were all a young team," Fitzsimmons said. "This year we're all seniors, juniors, so we weren't as nervous. The nerves were out and we were ready to win this year."

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Already out in front 2-0, Sayreville (17-5) broke the game open with a three-run third — leadoff hitter Emily Cabrera led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on an error and Christina Misiur and Brush both drew one-out walks to load the bases.

Mary Kate Kersting hit a two-out two-run single to right-center and then Brianna Parisio lined a run-scoring single to left as a second runner trying to score on the play was thrown out at home.

The Bombers would add two more runs in the top of the fifth, again from the lower part of their order, as Parisio hit a one-out RBI single to score Brush and Fitzsimmons, the No. 8 hitter, followed with a sacrifice fly to center to make the lead 7-0.

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"They're playing at a very, very high level," said East Brunswick coach Kevin Brady, whose team has fallen in the finals three of the past four years. "This is as deep as an offensive team as you're going to see. They can hit 1-through-9, they can hurt you. When you're going 8-9-1 in the second or third inning, there's no break. There's no break at all. To their credit they did very well. They put together good at-bats and they maximized chances. The first inning home run obviously sets the tone for them and gives them so breathing room."

Cabrera was 3-for-4 and Parisio went 2-for-2 as Sayreville collected eight hits over East Brunswick (17-11) starter Kaleigh Dwyer, all over the first five innings.

Brenna Razzano had both hits for the Bears against Fitzsimmons — a one-out bloop single over the third base bag in the third and a single to right to start the sixth.

Sayreville doesn't have much time to enjoy the victory — they have a state game Tuesday at state-power Hillsborough, but they certainly don't have the same feeling of defeat they had two years prior in the final.

"It feels amazing because I just think back to sophomore year how bad I wanted it," Fitzsimmons said.

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@GannettNJ.com