Floodgates open up in sixth as East Brunswick softball tops South Brunswick

SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Locked in a one-run game where solid pitching and strong defense was at a premium, it took one mistake for the East Brunswick High School softball team to capitalize and jump all over on in a Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division game against South Brunswick on Wednesday.

Leading off the top of the sixth inning, No. 3 hitter Ashli Venokur hit a ball sky-high to second base that seemed like a sure out, only to be dropped.

It was the start of the floodgates opening up — a sacrifice bunt moved Venokur's courtesy runner over to second base, which was followed by an infield single and bloop RBI single, which put the Bears ahead by two runs.

The next batter struck out for the second out of the inning, but a walk to load the bases followed by two consecutive RBI infield singles brought two more runs across, and then came the final blow — a two-run double to left-center from Brenna Razzano, plus another run scoring on an error on the throw home on the play, and all of a sudden it was a six-run sixth in which they batted around as the Bears held on for an 8-4 victory.

"That's been the story this year — if somebody gets a runner on that maybe should have been an out, you've got to jump at that moment and make a team pay for that," East Brunswick coach Kevin Brady said. "The margin is thin in these games and if you can get a fourth out, and you can maximize what that fourth out might mean, then you have to do your best in those innings."

East Brunswick (11-8) seemed tempted to take a 1-0 on the very first batter of the game — Samantha Smalley smoked a ball to straightaway center, but South Brunswick center fielder Amanda Fisher robbed Smalley of a home run, reaching over and literally collapsing into the mesh collapsable outfield fence.

The next batter Razzano though followed suit, and hit the ball far enough to clear the fence, smashing a homer to left-center to stake the Bears to a 1-0 lead.

"When Sam hit it, I knew that the pitcher was very hittable," Razzano said. "After Sam hit, I thought, 'If I just hit it a little bit to the right, I'm pretty sure I can hit a home run.' But I wasn't thinking home run at all. I was just trying to get on base and start something."

South Brunswick (9-6) tied the game in the bottom of the second as Meaghan Reeder reached on a one out error and scored when Nicole Majewski, who went 2-for-3, helped her own cause with an RBI double to right-center, which tied things 1-1.

That score held until the top of the fifth when Beth Anania hit a one-out bloop single to right that was misplayed and scored two batters later when Smalley hit an RBI double to right, giving the Bears a 2-1 lead.

Freshman shortstop Carly Rybinski, who went 3-for-3 with a run and RBI for South Brunswick, started the home fifth with a single but was then double off the very next batter as East Brunswick second baseman Alyssa Ippolito ranged to her left to snag a line drive.

After the six-run sixth from the Bears, South Brunswick threatened once more in the bottom of the seventh with five consecutive one-singles, which along with a throwing error on the final single, helped score three runs.

East Brunswick pitcher Kaleigh Dwyer though retired the next two batters, getting a fly ball to right and groundout to short to end the game, as the Vikings had the tying run waiting on deck.

Two of the four runs Dwyer allowed were earned, as she gave up nine hits, struck out eight, and walked two.

Majewski, the losing pitcher, lasted 52/3 innings and gave up eight runs on eight hits — six of the runs, which all came in the sixth inning, were unearned.

With the win, East Brunswick likely assures themselves of being seeded no worse than the No. 6 seed when the GMC Tournament is seeded Friday morning.

Still, it will be a different position for the Bears entering the county tournament, as for the past several years they've been the No. 1 seed but didn't have any county titles to show for that.

"Sadly I don't think we really get to fly under the radar too much, but in some ways this isn't the start of the season we had hoped to have, but that doesn't mean it can't be the end of the season that we started working toward in March," Brady said. "We have confident, battle-tested kids who are in different spots now. Some kids are getting used to those spots for the first time, so we are a different looking team than we've been in the past, but I do know I have kids who have been through wars and battles before, played in GMC finals before, played in sectional finals before, and you have to lean on them this time of the year — and they have to be the ones to pick up and raise the level of all the players and help the kids who are less experienced in those moments, to be ready to be at their best in those moments."

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@GannettNJ.com