SOFTBALL

Softball: South Plainfield advances to group final

Andy Mendlowitz
@andy_mendlowitz

 

The South Plainfield softball team poses after winning the North 2 Group III semifinal game on May 26.

BERKELEY HEIGHTS—Ball one. Ball two. And the pitching coach out to the circle

South Plainfield’s Katherine Vill had retired 15 in a row against Governor Livingston High School in Friday’s North 2 Group III semifinal. But she ran a 2-0 count on the first batter in the bottom of the seventh while nursing a one-run lead. The coach, Nick Panzarella, simply told her to calm down.

Vill allowed the walk and later gave up a hit. But go ahead and try to frazzle the senior. Just try. She deftly got a pair of fly outs as the third-seeded Tigers won 2-1 to advance to the championship May 30 against top-seeded Middletown North, which beat No. 4 Chatham 8-2 in Friday’s other semifinal.

South Plainfield (24-3) did little celebrating with two championship games on tap. Saturday, the Tigers were set to face South Brunswick in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final. Before they could worry about their local rivals, though, South Plainfield’s focus was on the second-seeded Highlanders. Governor Livingston (23-3) had won 21 straight, including the Union County Tournament May 19.

Friday, it was Vill going low and away, using her curveball all day, staying spot on. The right-hander gave up three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

“She lives on the outer half of the plate,” Governor Livingston coach Mike Roof said. “She was on the outside corner all day long. I don’t even think she came inside once. … And if you don’t adjust to it and you’re stubborn, then you’re not going to succeed.”

He added, “You can’t try to pull the ball. And when we try to pull the ball, you’re just going to ground out to the left side of the infield. We did that more than we needed to today.”

It was a crisp, clean game that started with a bang for Governor Livingston. In the first inning, Highlanders ace pitcher Alanna Namit drove the ball over the left fielders’ head for an inside the park home run and a 1-0 lead (there’s no fences at the field).

That didn’t shake Vill, a four-year starter for the storied South Plainfield program. She simply shrugged it off. After giving up a leadoff hit in the second, Vill didn’t allow a runner until the seventh.

“Grooving it,” she said of her stretch. “It’s kind of like you’re in your own zone. I don’t hear all the girls screaming. You don’t hear that. I’m just focused. … I know my defense is there to make the plays for me.”

Vill entered with 185 strikeouts in 174 innings, so she can get swings and misses. But Friday wasn’t about power pitching. It was about painting the corners.

“I’m more experienced now,” Vill said. “I know what certain situations are. I know how to handle certain things. I know where my mind should be when I’m pitching.”

Governor Livingston’s Namit nearly matched Vill, allowing four hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

South Plainfield tied it 1-1 in the third when Camryn Schaeffer hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored leadoff hitter Caity Hughes, who had singled past the diving second baseman.

In the fourth inning with two outs, No. 9 hitter Makayla Sosa beat out a bunt to the third baseman.

“My coach told me just do whatever it takes and I just decided that I needed to put it down on the ground,” Sosa said. “Usually, I put it down on the ground so I was just hoping that it stayed. … If I had to, I was going to dive into first.”

Sosa said she likes hitting ninth because Hughes is on deck and “she usually is the spark plug for the team. I like to just be the set up for her.”

After Hughes got hit by a pitch near her wrist, Jennifer Grasso drove home Sosa with a single past the diving second baseman.

“The timely hitting has been the key all year, it really has,” said legendary South Plainfield head coach Don Panzarella, whose son Nick is the pitching coach. “Move the runner. Sac fly, and that’s how you’re going to win the big games. I’m impressed today.”

The seventh had drama in both halves. In the top half, South Plainfield appeared to score another run on a sacrifice fly, but the runner was called out for leaving too early. In the bottom of the inning, Vill put on two runners with one out, before getting out of the inning.

“The kids did pretty awesome,” Don Panzarella said. “I can’t say enough about this year. Whatever happens—I don’t want to say is icing on the cake, you know, we want to win the championship. They believe in themselves. And I started to believe in them and that confidence builds in each game. They find a way and that’s something you can’t teach after a while.”