June
10, 2007
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| Clifton players celebrating the school's first state championship since 1998. Clifton knocked off Toms River East, 2-0, on Saturday. | |
TOMS RIVER -- If somebody told you that the Clifton softball team had spent Friday night watching the movie Fantasia, it would have fit right in with the magical way the Mustangs played their Group 4 state championship game on Saturday.
The Toms River North field might as well have been their Magic Kingdom, as they time and again escaped disaster before finally breaking through and taking a most improbable 2-0 win over Toms River East in 10 innings.
The triumph gives the Mustangs their fourth state championship in school history and first since back-to-back crowns in 1997 and 1998. It also represented their 30th win of the season against three losses, while the Raiders finished at 31-3.
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| Lindsey PeQueen threw 9 scoreless inning for Toms River East before being undone by the tiebreaker rule in the 10th. |
“I watched the ’97 and ’98 teams get them, and ever since I was little I wanted one, too, and now I’ve got it,” catcher Jill Leonard gushed. “My senior year is now complete.”
“It’s great to know I brought it home with this team,” pitcher Deanna Giordano added. “Leaving high school with a state championship under your belt is amazing.”
For Mustang head coach Cara Boseski, the win completed her softball Circle of Life, as she became a state champ as a player (1997) and coach. The latter stands out more to her.
“Then I was a player (third baseman) on the team. This time, being a coach, I wanted it so bad for them,” Boseski said while fighting back tears. “It’s the best feeling as a player. You prepare them, but you leave it up to them in the field, and how they played and how they wanted it, watching them (at the end), that whole huddle thing, it’s just great that they have this memory.
“I did go back (to ’97) for a little bit, I remember what it was like, but this is an even better feeling.”
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| Deanna Giordano struck out the final two hitters she faced to close out the game, the last of of her 10 strikeouts in 10 scoreless innings. |
That she had a comparison to make was the product of an amazing set of defensive plays. The Raiders spent the entire game knocking on the door, only to have Giordano shut it in their faces with help from her teammates throwing out five baserunners.
Leonard threw out three and second baseman Lindsay Moore two, and both were also instrumental in the 10th inning rally that finally broke the scoreless deadlock.
With the international tiebreaker rule in effect beginning with the 10th, pinch runner Emma Gretina (running for Giordano, the last out of the ninth inning) took her place at second base to open the inning. Leonard chopped one to third that was mishandled for an error, putting runners on the corners. Allie DiAngelo came in to courtesy run for Leonard and went to second on indifference.
Kim Ferrara then single through the hole to left, sending Gretina home. When the ball was bobbled, Boseski sent DiAngelo, but she was cut down at the plate. Nicole Wisse came in to pinch run for Ferrara, and she went to second on indifference and third on a passed ball.
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| Clifton did all of its scoring in the top of the 10th inning. |
After a strikeout, Moore sent a base hit to left to plate Wisse with a huge insurance run. The safety came after she had flied deep to center in the eighth inning, missing a home run by less than 10 feet.
“After I flied to center, I thought that I had a good chance of getting a hit, and I got one big time,” Moore commented. “It gave us confidence when we went into the field, knowing we could go for the out at first and not worry about the girl going to third.”
TRE could not take advantage of its runner, as she was thrown out by Leonard trying to steal third on the fourth pitch of the bottom of the 10th.
“I kind of knew she was going
to go, so I followed it,” Leonard said. “I just had to get her.
The out was crucial.”
“
There was such a concentration level amongst the girls today, I think they
were ready for anything,” Boseski felt. “We knew they were a very
aggressive team on the bases, and we were prepared for that.”
Giordano took care of the rest, striking out the final two hitters to complete the victory. She walked two and struck out 10 while allowing six hits, three of them in a wild ninth inning.
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| The Clifton defense worked out of a few tight spots to keep the game scoreless through nine innings. |
Opposing pitcher Lindsey PeQueen led off with a single on an 0-2 pitch and went to second on an errant pickoff attempt by Leonard. Courtney Olsen singled to put runners on the corners. With the thought of possibly loading the bases to set up a force all around, Boseski let Giordano go after the next hitter.
“I thought about it, but I had all the confidence in these girls that they could get out of it,” Boseski acknowledged.
“Our coaches came out and said, we’ve been in worse positions, just get one out at a time, and that’s exactly what we did,” Giordano related.
“I’ve been saying it’s one pitch at a time, one out at a time,” Boseski continued. “The way Deanna stayed composed and poised on the mound, it makes our defense not be on edge.”
The next hitter, Kaila Conboy, grounded to Moore, who made a perfect strike to Leonard to cut down courtesy runner Nicole McIntire at the plate. Holly Luciano singled to center, and pinch runner Alexis Grosso at first looked to go home, but went back to third and barely beat the throw from center to catcher to third.
With the bases loaded, Giordano got a ground ball to third, which Amanda Caparso grabbed and tagged Grosso for the second out. She then caught the next hitter looking at a third strike to complete the Houdini-esque escape.
“She did that all game,” an elated Leonard said. “She couldn’t have done a better job than today. We’ve been through so many jams this season, there was no doubt she was going to get us out of them.”
The Raiders had runners in seven of the 10 innings, and even had a runner at third in the second and third without scoring. Leonard threw out a runners stealing in the fourth and sixth innings, with the latter going to center fielder Kim Lope covering at second.
Moore’s other defensive gem came in the eighth, after an error allowed the leadoff hitter to reach. The ball went into right field, and Sam Litchfield picked it up near the fence. She threw a pill to Moore, who noticed the TRE runner had hesitated around second. Her throw to third was easily in time to nab the runner.
“Sometimes it hard to know where to go with the ball, but you’ve got to make the right decision and we’ve been making right decisions,” Leonard assessed.
“I can’t even explain how perfect our defense was today,” Giordano said. “We were solid. It just goes to show that behind the pitcher is a good defense. That’s what winning this game was all about.”
“We tried to tell them, never give up and never compromise your dreams,” Boseski said. “They didn’t today and they came home with a win. This was their dream, coming home with a state championship.”
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