Softball: McCabe, defense help Watchung Hills past J.P. Stevens in N2G4 semifinal

EDISON – Keeping a stacked J.P. Stevens’ offense at bay is no small feat, but the Watchung Hills High School softball team was able to do just that on Tuesday with a combination of strong pitching from Robin McCabe and good field placement from the rest of the Warriors’ defensive ranks.

McCabe fanned five, walked one and scattered seven hits in seven innings leading the fourth-seeded Warriors in a 3-1 upset victory over top-seeded J.P. Stevens to clinch a spot in the North 2 Group IV final.

Offensively Watchung Hills’ strategy was centered on small ball to ensure base runners and scoring opportunities, which is a tactic that the Hawks had utilized all season making the teams similar in execution. The Warriors bunted early and often relying on their speed to create positive outcomes.

“Our game is excellent pitching, good defense and we like to move runners over,” said Watchung Hills coach Mike D’Alessandro, whose team is 25-5 and recently won the Somerset County Championship title. “We like to take advantage of building a couple of runs and that’s what we did today and from there we just held on. Bunting is always part of our game. We like to take advantage of the fact that we have some speedy kids.”

“We’re playing our best ball now,” D’Alessandro said. “I think early in the season you have to feel a few things out and tweak things and move people around. We started to hit strides right before the Somerset County Tournament started so since that time it just seems like everything is working. We’re getting great pitching, solid defense and timely hits.”

READ: Tuesday's softball roundup, including all local state tournament results

Twice in the contest relief pitcher Alyssa Murray took warmup throws, but never saw the inside of the circle because despite some signs of fatigue McCabe was able to finish the job.

“We knew that they were a good team and it wasn’t going to be easy,” sophomore McCabe said, who was on the varsity team as a freshman. “But our team just mentally wanted it more and that showed throughout the game because we never gave up. (J.P. Stevens) likes to take it out, so I went inside on them.”

Kayla Schinik opened the game for Watchung Hills with a bunt and legged out a throw to take first base. Brooke Aldrich sac-bunted to move Schinik to second and Annie Suitovsky blooped to take first and move Schinik to third. Izzy Definis knocked in the RBI and put the Warriors on the scoreboard.

Two innings later Julia Stasil blasted a laser RBI triple up the middle and Nicole Carroccia followed with an RBI single to round out the scoring.

In the second inning the Warriors had a rally going with the bases loaded and two outs. Aldrich hit a fly ball in the hole that looked like it was going to drop for a single, but not on Kayla Smith’s watch.

The Hawks center fielder ran in and made an outstanding shoe-string grab, right before the ball hit the ground, to prevent a higher score deficit and to end the inning.

Smith also recorded career hit No. 100 in the game. It was a hard grounder up the middle for a single, and when she made it safely to first the J.P. Stevens’ fans erupted into cheers for their leadoff batter.

“I think it just made everything sweeter,” said Smith, who will be attending Penn State in the fall. “I was so relieved after. I did it for my team, and even though we didn’t come up with the win it still felt good.”

“I think if I get a good read it’s instinctual,” Smith said about her highlight reel-worthy catch. “I try to do whatever I can. It was bases-loaded so at that point you just have to go all-out, and I have fun catching those.”

The Hawks plated its lone run in the home sixth when three base hits led to a bases-loaded, one-out situation for Bri Zederbaum – and she delivered with a sac fly RBI. Losing pitcher Ashley Lombardi struck out two, walked none and scattered 14 hits.

“I think we started ready, I honestly don’t think we started nervous,” J.P. Stevens coach Krystle Petty said. “I think that’s what is tough about states, you can do some research, you can scout but we haven’t played this team before. We knew what was coming, but we mishandled it a little in the beginning. We settled in, but their pitcher did a very good job.”

“I can’t say enough about this season,” Petty said. “I’ve been coaching for a long time and I played for a long time and these girls were such a pleasure because they get along so well and they believe in the coaching staff and each other and work hard every single day.”

Watchung Hills will see No. 10 seed Piscataway in the N2G4 final. The Chiefs are on a hot streak. They have two major upsets in the tournament’s quarters and semis which means they will have a lot of momentum behind them heading into the deciding round of the tournament.

Staff writer Alyssa Davis can be reached at adavishntsoftball@gmail.com or on Twitter @AlyssaM_Davis. For more softball coverage, check out the Inner Circle softball blog at http://MyCentralJersey.com/blog/TheInnerCircle.