EAST BRUNSWICK — The weather felt like March, the calendar showed April, but the atmosphere was more like May when the Sayreville and East Brunswick high school softball teams squared off in battle between the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division favorites on the Bears’ new hilltop field Saturday.
The ramifications of East Brunswick’s 5-4 decision may also come into play next month when the seedings for the GMC and states tournaments are determined.
Both teams played resiliently, capitalizing on each other’s mistakes in a taut matchup that featured three lead changes, with five of the nine runs unearned. Each team managed to score without getting a hit, including East Brunswick’s two-run, winning rally in the fifth inning.
“The two of us have played great games over the past few years, they were always good, strong games,” East Brunswick coach Kevin Brady noted. “The teams know each other really well and I think we get up for each other.”
The winning really began with a walk to D’Liah Kercado, who was forced at second on Christina Lee’s grounder. Lee stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Bella Warrington’s grounder. Maria Rampolla, who had walked, then scored on another ground ball by Eva Munoz.
Neither school had allowed a run going into the game and Sayreville set the tone for the close contest by having the second batter of the game bunt, following Gianna Falto’s leadoff single. Winning pitcher Bella Stagliano was prepared for a nerve-wracking contest.
“We knew they were a good team coming in, we knew their pitcher was good,” Stagliano said. “We knew they had good players on all levels and we all came together and our team chemistry kind of picked us up. Even when one thing went wrong, we stayed strong together the whole game and nobody backed down. Every play was like, the moment.”
Sayreville scored first in the third inning when Sara Williams walked, took second on an errant pickoff attempt, and scored on successive fly balls to right field, with Falto delivering the sacrifice fly.
East Brunswick (3-0) responded by scoring three runs in the bottom half of the inning, as Kercado, Lee and Rampolla singled in succession, the latter scoring the other two. Rampolla then came around to score on a muffed fly ball.
The Bombers (1-1) answered with a run in the fourth as Riley Swanton singled with two out and Williams doubled her home. Sayreville tackled on two more unearned runs in the fifth as Mya Infante reached second on a dropped popup ...
