Fazio Dominates as Chatham Moves On

It was all Cougars on Thursday afternoon at .

The softball team defeated Somerville High School 10-0 to move on to the semifinals of the North 2, Group III sectional tournament. The win was a true team effort, highlighted by the complete-game shutout thrown by pitcher Amanda Fazio.

"I just had a good pitching day on the mound today, and the hitting was just something on top [of that]," Fazio said.

The victory moves third-seeded Chatham (18-5) into the sectional semifinals, where it will travel to face No. 2 South Plainfield on Tuesday.

The Cougars struck early as Kelsey Davies led off the first inning with a bunt that the Somerville infield couldn’t handle. Davies made it safely to third thanks to error, setting up the Cougars for a big inning.

Kendall Davies then singled to score Kelsey giving Chatham the 1-0 lead. The rally didn’t stop there as Cara Delsandro and Fazio added singles to load the bases before Kelly Winans stepped to the plate and single scored both Kendall Davies and Delsandro.

"We were able to go out and play hard that first inning, and it was just contagious. That's what got us going," Fazio said. "When the first three batters were able to get some hits, it just makes it easier to get up there."

Pioneers pitcher Amanda Carisone got out of the inning only allowing those three runs, but the inning was a sign of things to come for Chatham’s explosive offense.

The game was just the opposite for Fazio who seemingly cruised unfazed through the Pioneer’s lineup. The only trouble she found herself in on the day came in the fifth inning when two Somerville runners were on base. Fazio went on to pitch herself out of the jam with the help of her defense.

Chatham put the game out of reach in the third inning when Fazio tripled to lead of the inning. Winans then picked up her third RBI of the day. The hits continued as McCall Moore and Patricia Crigler added to RBIs to give Chatham a 6-0 lead.

The final blow to Somerville’s playoff chances came when Victoria Codington stepped to plate as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the sixth. Codington lined a base hit into right field giving Chatham the victory in the game shortened by the 10-run rule.

Head coach Alexis Davies said after some "shaky games" earlier in the week, the team did some soul-searching.

"We sat down as a team yesterday and talked about what we wanted the rest of the season to look like," she said. "We decided that we just want to go out there and play Chatham softball the way we've played it all season, and I think that's what we did today."

An early lead made it easier for the Cougars to play their best Thursday, in Davies' opinion.

"We're really confident in Amanda and in our defense, and once we got that three-run lead we were all pretty confident that we could continue to stay ahead," Davies said.

"I think it takes some of the pressure off, makes it easier for you to stay confident and think you'll stay ahead. Everyone just plays looser," Davies said of the team.

The Cougars played a solid game in every aspect on Thursday and only committed one error throughout play. On the offensive side Fazio contributed four hits while Winans added three and Moore added two timely hits. Fazio, who threw a no-hitter in her last start, threw six innings of scoreless ball and Pioneer’s pitcher Carisone gave up 10 runs over six innings.

Though the pressure is on, Fazio said the team wants to keep the season going.

"You're 'one and done' at this point, you're just trying to play to keep the season going," she said. "We're really just trying to play our best every time we step onto the field."

The win improves Chatham’s record to 18-5 on the season. The loss for the Pioneers ends their playoff hopes and leaves them with a 14-8-1 record on the season.

Chatham Patch Editor Laura Silvius contributed reporting to this article.