6/7/2008 - Defense Never Rests
Clichés. The sports world is rife with them. And even though clichés state the obvious, they hold some grain of truth.
One of the most overused clichés came to mind after watching Kittatinny fall to Sterling 1-0 in the Group 2 state final Saturday in the sweltering heat at Toms River East High School: Defense wins championships.
Yes, it is one of the oldest clichés around, but for anyone who watched the Cougars play their hearts out in the heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Silver Knights, defense was the difference.
When you get to the state final of any sport, there is usually not much separating the final two teams left in the tourney field, so it usually comes down to whichever team makes the least mistakes and has the ability to capitalize on its opponent’s misfortune.
That is exactly what the Silver Knights of Sterling (27-3) did against the Cougars (20-7), who were making their first-ever appearance in the state final. The Knights made three defensive gems to keep the Cougars off the scoreboard, while taking advantage of one Kittatinny miscue in order to bring home the state title.
Kittatinny, which capped a marvelous season with its appearance in the title tilt, had played tremendous defense all season and rode its defense and the gallant pitching of senior Kelsey Roberts (12-5) during it magical postseason run.
But it was an infield single that was mishandled in the fourth inning that did the Cougars in. Stephanie Mastropaolo, who was a thorn in the Cougars’ side all game with her terrific play in right field, ripped a shot that deflected off Roberts with two outs and a runner at second. The ball trickled toward second base and was a sure infield single that would have loaded the bases.
However, the ball had eyes and was misplayed allowing Steph Hulme to race all the way from second to break a scoreless tie. This was a bad omen for the Cougars because the Silver Knights were 26-0 in games they had scored at least one run. That’s right. All three of their losses were shutout defeats.
The Cougars had their chances against Sterling ace Samantha Giambri (17-2), but the Knights defense was airtight as Giambri was able to keep the Cougars off balance with an effective riser, change and screwball.
Mastropaolo keyed the defense and was able to track down two shots to deep right to rob Kelly Moyer and Sara Stocklinski of possible game-changing hits. But it was Sterling second baseman Alex Cariedo who was the biggest thief and stuck a dagger in the Cougars to end the top of the fifth.
Moyer had reached second base and with two outs the always reliable Meg Frawley stepped into the batter’s box for the Cougars. Frawley, if you remember, had a huge, clutch RBI single in Kittatinny’s wild 3-1 comeback win over Pequannock in the section semifinals.
And it looked like Frawley was up to her old tricks again when she sent a soft liner that was ticketed for short right field and would have chased home Moyer to knot the game at 1-1. But Cariedo made a beautiful lunging grab and was able to keep the ball in her glove and take the wind out of the Cougars’ sails.
Kittatinny wasn’t done, however, and threatened in the sixth after Meganne Smith and Emily Hullings reached via a bunt single and a single to left, respectively. Sterling left fielder Melissa Sundberg saved a double and a run when she cut off the ball in the gap. But Mastropaolo hauled in Stocklinski’s drive to right and the Knights wiggled out of the inning a batter later with a grounder to second.
To toss in another cliché for the Cougars, you can say it just wasn’t meant to be Saturday against the Knights. But it does not take away from their accomplishments. They shared the Sussex County Interscholastic League crown with Jefferson for their first SCIL title since 1997 and they won their first section title since 1992.
There was no doubt that the Cougars had plenty of talented players and that coach Heather Mate did a fantastic job all season. But it was the outstanding play and leadership of seniors Stocklinski, Roberts, Franny Gely and Melissa LaCouture that paved the way.
Stocklinski, Gely and LaCouture will all head to Sussex County Community College next season to help give coach Nick DeGennaro his best recruiting class ever, while Roberts will play at Arcadia University outside Philadelphia.
But what a run and the memories from this season will last a lifetime. So great job, Cougars. It was a pleasure watching you play and you did yourselves, your family, your school and the SCIL very proud.
THE SOUTH DOES IT AGAIN: The heat in Toms River made it feel like we were in the Deep South, but it suited the schools from South Jersey just fine. All six softball state champs hailed from below Route 78. Sterling is from Camden County, Group 1 champ Pennsville is from Salem County, Group 3 champion Kingsway hails from Gloucester County as does Group 4 champ Williamstown.
The Southerners also won the Non-Public A (Red Bank Catholic) and Non-Public B titles (Mater Dei). What does this mean? Well, for one thing, they can handle the heat better. But other than that, nothing. It is just one of those quirks. Last year, the South only had one champ in Group 1 titlist Florence, so there is nothing really to read into it.
Each section has had its dominant teams over the years, so the titles are pretty well spread out, considering that the North schools are split into two sections. And if you look at the schools with the most state titles, the top five breaks down like this: Cherokee (South) 8, Immaculate Heart Academy (North) 7,. Montclair-Kimberley (North) 7, Gloucester Catholic (South) 6, and Whippany Park (North 2) 6.
So it is all pretty even in the end. But as far as SCIL teams are concerned, Lenape Valley and Jefferson are the only schools to win state crowns. Lenape won back-to-back crowns in 1990-91 in Group 2 behind Karen Lewandowski, while Jefferson turned the trick in 2003 in Group 3 and 2004 in Group 2 under the legend, Ed Levens.
In fact, Kittatinny is the only other team from the SCIL to reach the final since it was instituted in 1976.
TRIVIA TIME: I will leave you this week with a couple softball and baseball trivia questions. First, which was the first SCIL school to reach a state final in either softball or baseball and in what year? Remember the league was formed in 1975.
What county school was the first one to win a section crown in baseball? And finally, how many times has Jefferson’s softball team reached the final and in what year did the Falcons make their first trip?
I will have the answers next week, and as always, this is an exhibition, so no wagering. (Thanks, David Letterman). And as usual, there is no grand prize, just the satisfaction of knowing your local sports history.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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