South Plainfield softball advances to GMC Tournament final

EDISON - The South Plainfield High School softball team is headed back to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final.

The top-seeded Tigers (22-3) defeated fifth-seeded J.P. Stevens 2-1 on Sunday in the semifinals at Middlesex County College. South Plainfield, which will be playing in its 12th GMC Tournament final, will face the winner of No. 2 South Brunswick and No. 3 Sayreville at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, also at MCC.

"It feels amazing, it's our year, this is our year," South Plainfield pitcher Katherine Vill said of advancing. "It means a lot, and it's our last year so we want to go all the way."

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South Plainfield has been rolling so far this season, opening with a 13-game win streak before falling to Bishop Ahr 1-0 on April 27. The Tigers lost two in a row, to A.L. Johnson on May 10 and then to J.P. Stevens, 2-1, on May 11, and are currently in the midst of a four-game win streak.

"We kind of got to see how they are, how (Ashley Lombardi) pitches, and they're always good competition, so I like playing them," Vill said of J.P. Stevens. "It's always a fun game."

Having already faced the Hawks this season helped South Plainfield on Sunday as it had to come from behind to win. J.P. Stevens (16-5) scored a run in the top of the first as shortstop Julie Siecinski led off with a single to right field. With one out, Lombardi singled and Siecinski scored on an error for an early 1-0 lead.

"It was like, 'Ok, now we have to come back with it,'" Vill said. "They get theirs, they're a good team, they're going to score, we have to come back. I thought I pitched well, and defensively we did awesome, and then we got our clutch hits like we always do, and we just held it."

The Tigers answered back in the bottom of the inning. Shortstop Caity Hughes led off with a single to center field and stole second base. With one out, third baseball Jillian Holoboski singled to center, which scored Hughes and tied the game 1-1. With two outs, catcher Camryn Schaeffer doubled, which scored Holoboski for the 2-1 lead.

In the top of the third, J.P. Stevens loaded the bases with one out, but Vill managed a strike out and fly out to center to end the threat. After allowing two runs in the first, Lombardi settled down and allowed South Plainfield just one hit the rest of the game, a single to Schaeffer in the bottom of the fourth.

Lombardi allowed two runs on four hits and struck out four for J.P. Stevens.

For South Plainfield, Vill, who just set the new school record for wins with 82 on Thursday, allowed one run on five hits and struck out five.

"It was amazing, I'm so honored to be part of all the other pitchers who have been there," Vill said about setting the record. "I had no idea, they didn't want to tell because they didn't want to make me nervous."

South Plainfield advanced to the final last year as the top seed, but fell to South Brunswick, which was making its first appearance in a final, and ended up winning its first title in program history with a 6-4, 11-inning victory over the Tigers. South Plainfield is no stranger to playing in the final, and the experience the team gained last year will only help as the Tigers look to win the title.

"I think we came together really as a team this year, we know how to play with each other, now it's like we've had a great season but now it really matters so this is where we have to play our best," Vill said. "We're driven to get it, we just have to keep our defense and get our timely hits."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego