BRIDGEWATER – The Bridgewater-Raritan High School softball team needed an injection of energy Thursday, a day after losing in nine innings at Delaware Valley and now playing Bernards for the second time in three days, looking somewhat flatter than it did during Tuesday’s decisive win.
Freshman pitcher Rachel Eng provided the spark and junior third baseman Briana Cacchio turned up the heat.
Looking very much like a deer in headlights, but showing the poise of a seasoned vet, the rookie right-hander came on to make her varsity debut in the sixth inning with her team down a run, and turned in a perfect frame. Cacchio then finally punched through a pair of runs with a two-out hit in the bottom of the frame and the Panthers claimed their second Skyland Conference Raritan Division victory over Bernards this week, 2-1 at North Bridge Street Field.
After threatening in the first and third, Bernards took the early lead, breaking through with a run in the top of the fourth inning. Krisztina Lekai slammed one off the pitching rubber for an infield hit leading off and went to second on a wild pitch. After a line out and a groundout, with Lakai crossing to third, sophomore Gracie Mongno delivered the run, rolling an RBI single into center field.
But Bridgewater-Raritan, which had been flat all day, especially at the plate, finally got the boost it was looking for.
With sophomore ace Brynn Hawley having pitched 19 innings in three days, including 12 against the same Bernards lineup, the scrappy Mountaineers put the pressure on, getting runners into scoring position in four of the first five innings. The second-year righty did a good job to work her way through most of those jams – helped by some airtight defense behind her – but Panthers coach Sandy Baranowski felt it was time for a different look and she went to the freshman hurler, who suddenly found herself making her first varsity appearance in the sixth inning with her team trailing in a tight game.
But what she lacked in stature, she certainly made up for in guile, retiring the side in order in the sixth and firing up her teammates.
“It was amazing,” Cacchio said. “Just the fact she’s so little and so nervous out there is amazing for her and we kind of fed off that.”
“She’s a good little pitcher,” Baranowski said. “She’s been starting for us on the JV, but this was a big spot. I almost didn’t pull the trigger, but sometimes you just have to trust your gut. With this new rule (seeing conference opponents twice in three days), they just saw Brynn Hawley for 12 innings in a span of two days, so we needed something a little different, and maybe that did provide the spark.”
