West Essex's Quest for Essex County Title Squelched

NEWARK—The West Essex softball team has often concealed its lack of offense this season by the superior arm of senior pitcher Austin Leigh.

But there was no where to hide on Saturday night.

Cedar Grove pitcher Gabby Castelli worked her way out of a couple of jams, while striking out six and surrendering just four hits as the third-seeded Panthers scored a pair of unearned runs to capture their fourth Essex County Tournament crown and first in 26 years with a 2-0 win at Ivy Hill Park.

"It was a tough loss, but we'll regroup," Leigh said. "This is a good team and we'll be ready for the states."

The top-seeded Knights (17-3), who lost for the second time this year to the Panthers after splitting the regular-season series, walked off the field dejected after being unable to overcome a pair of costly errors that resulted in the Panthers' runs in the top of the sixth inning.

"We'll hope to learn from this loss and use the experience in the states," West Essex coach Andrea Mondadori said.

Cedar Grove (22-3) scored both its runs in the sixth inning as leadoff hitter Cassidy Trause drew a one-out walk and then scored the first run on an overthrow into right field on Gianna Cuffari's infield grounder.

Cuffari ended up on third, but Leigh nearly prevented further damage by retiring Danielle Trentin on a ground-ball out before inducing another grounder off the bat of Lisa Stacewicz, but the ball was mishandled and allowed Cuffari to score for a 2-0 lead.

The deficit was too steep against Castelli, who allowed just one baserunner—Alexa Ramos—over the final two innings.

While the miscues in the sixth inning might appear to be the glaring difference, Mondadori pointed to the Knights' inability to push a run across the plate early in the game.

"We needed to score in the first couple of innings," she said.

Twice in the first four innings the Knights placed two runners on base with no one out, but were unable to score.

In the second inning, Leigh and second baseman Candice Travis each connected on base hits to start the frame. But Castelli, a freshman right-hander, cooly struck out third baseman Alyssa Witte,  Ramos and first baseman Jackie Martorana to halt the threat.

West Essex catcher Alissa Kerr and Leigh reached base to start the fourth inning, but Travis and Witte each hit into a fielder's choice and Castelli retired Ramos to end the inning.

Leigh matched Castelli's dominance as she also struck out six while giving up just three hits and one walk.

"She pitched fantastic," Mondadori said. "She's [Castelli] a real good pitcher."

But the coach said the Knights, who will face Caldwell High in the first round of the state tournament Tuesday at home, had their chances against Castelli.

"We knew that we had to score early," she said. "We put the bat on the ball and never gave up."

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