SPORTS

Perrotte hurls a gem as Monroe softball hands South Plainfield first loss

Mike Becker
@realmikebecker

MONROE – What a difference two-and-a-half weeks made.

After playing an offensive slugfest back on April 15 that saw the two teams combine for 25 runs and 26 hits, including 21 runs over the final three innings, the Monroe and South Plainfield High School softball teams played a much tamer, controlled game on Saturday with Greater Middlesex Conference White Division ramifications at stake.

Monroe junior pitcher Glorianna Perrotte had her curve ball working well on Saturday, and had the South Plainfield hitters confused at times, as she struck out nine, walked none, and fired a six-hitter as the Falcons got revenge from that April 15 loss with a 3-1 win and handed the Tigers their first loss of the season in the process.

The win for Monroe (12-1) puts the teams even in the loss column in the White Division at one loss — both to each other.

"I don't want to give my secrets away, but I have been working on my curve ball a lot and it's definitely one of my best pitches," Perrotte said. "It had good late break on it and I'll just come back, switch it around so they're not going to get used to one thing coming their way. But I've definitely been working on my curve ball a lot and it's a very effective pitch."

Perrotte didn't give up a hit after the fourth inning as she retired 10 of the final 11 batters she faced, six of them by strikeout — the only batter to reach base during that span was when she hit South Plainfield's No. 2 hitter Meghan Hughes with a pitch with two outs in the fifth.

She proceeded to get Caroline Ratti, one of the GMC's most dangerous hitters, to ground out to second to end the inning as Ratti was they tying run.

Monroe strung tiself to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first with a pair of two-out hits — after Cindy Foresta drew a two-out walk and Sarah McGrath reached on a hard hit ball to third, which was scored an error, that couldn't be handled by Ratti, Angela Mazurkiewicz and Ashlyn Petersen followed with RBI singles.

South Plainfield (16-1) got one run back in the next inning when Gina Tartza singled with two outs aqnd scored on Katherine Vill's RBI double to left-center, the only extra-base hit of the game, Monroe got the run back in the bottom half of the second as Hannah Fisher walked to start the inning and scored on Foresta's RBI single up the middle.

South Plainfield threatened in the third as Hughes and Ratti collected back-to-back two-out singles, but Hughes was gunned out at the plate trying to score on Holly DeLair's single to center field on a perfect one-bounce throw to the plate from Kendra Barlotta, which ended the inning.

South Plainfield's only other hit was a two-out single from Vill in the fourth, as Vill took the loss by giving up eight hits and three runs, one of which was earned. She struck out two and walked two.

"Two good teams playing, one had to lose," South Plainfield coach Don Panzarella said. "That's what heppens. 3-1 game. We weren't aggressive at the plate like we usually are, I thought. Taking too many strikes and everything we manufactured was with two outs today, you're not going to win like that."

For Perrotte, it was a stark contrast from her previous outing against South Plainfield when she was tagged for seven earned runs in the fifth inning, was pulled to start the sixth, and then wound up coming back in during the middle of the seventh, eventually giving up the winning run.

She had the look of a seasoned veteran on Saturday.

"I really wanted to refine my skills and obviously I've been pitching more games, we've had more practice time between then and now," Perrotte said. I wanted to work on hitting my spots, executing that, and just framing the batter so they're not going to expect what's coming. Get them off balance with an off-speed pitch, jam them inside, work it around, so I really wanted to refine how I was pitching."

Staff writer Mike Becker: mbecker@mycentraljersey.com