Lady Cougars Earn UCT Softball Crown Behind Hardman, Siragusa

After losing six starters to graduation and opening the season with a 7-2 home loss to Governor Livingston, some questioned just how ready the Cranford softball team could be this season.

The answer came Saturday, when the Lady Cougars won the Union County Tournament Championship with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Governor Livingston at Kean University in Union.

"It was a surprise," said head coach Bob Bruno. "I can't say I predicted this. Chuck Bell, our assistant coach showed me a text message one of the other coaches sent to him on March 6, and the direct quote was, 'this is going to be a long season', and we had a good laugh about that. It was a season in which six out of nine kids grew up and became very good softball players."

Beating Governor Livingston made the victory that much better.

"It was kind of apropos," Bruno said. "We started the season with GL, we finished the season with GL. It showed the kids believed in what they could do and that they could win and they did a great job. I was really happy for them."

"In the beginning of the season I really couldn't have told you how far we could have gone," said senior third baseman Taylor D'Antico. "Everyone was thinking, we're going to have a young team, with all the people we lost last year, it was going to be tough to come back this year and win something. We had some of our freshmen starting and we really came together as a team. We worked really hard to get there. We did what we could in order to win."

The Cougars knocked out the Highlanders with the one-two punch of senior righthander Kelly Hardman and freshman lefty Julie Siragusa. Together they held a tough GL lineup in check.

Top-seeded Cranford struck first when Nicole Ravetier belted her first home run of the season, followed by an RBI single from D'Antico, giving Cranford a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first. GL was held scoreless in the first two innings before tying the game with two-run homer in the third. But that was the only mistake Hardman would make.

"I think the key was that Kelly's changeup was working," said Bruno. "In her loss to them the first game of the season, they were hitting her changeup a little bit. We spoke about how that was going to be her out pitch for the day and she did a great job. Defensively, we made all the plays we needed to make. In the previous two times that we played them we didn't do too well in the field. We got some key hits, some two-out hits, and we won."

The Highlanders pushed across a run in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead, but the Lady Cougars answered right back, using the lost art of bunting to put two runners on base. Olivia Salinardo and Brianna Capese both had bunt singles. Shortstop Nicole Ravetier then singled home a run before Siragusa's RBI single gave Cranford a 4-3 lead.

Bruno then called on Siragusa to shut the door and the southpaw was ready for the challenge, having quieted GL's bats in two previous games.

But GL did not go without putting a scare into Siragusa. The last out was a long fly ball that was caught by Hardman in center field, and while that might have been a fitting end for the senior, it was the freshman who was holding her breath while the final out was in flight.

"I threw that pitch and I saw it go and I was like, that's a home run," said Siragusa. 'But once I saw Kelly take two steps back, she got it and I just jumped into Melissa's arms and we went crazy."

Siragusa was dialed into the Highlanders weakness, so she worked the pitches to the inside part of the plate.

"I feel that they couldn't get around on my curve, it was coming in on their hands a lot. It was just a tough pitch for them to hit."

It was enough to hold GL in check, right up until the celebration.

"When that final out was made, I was excited," said D'Antico. "We all were. We were really expecting it. Just coming out there with our last game like that was a really good way to end the season."

The feeling was even sweeter for Cranford considering the pressure they placed upon themselves with their state tournament loss last Thursday. It was either win, or go home empty-handed. That wasn't an option.

"After Thursday, we kind of talked about it," said Hardman. "We knew we had to forget about it. States is totally different than counties. We really wanted counties. Of course we want states, but counties is a more approachable goal. Everybody put it behind them. We had to come out on top and we did."

"It was great," said sophomore catcher Melissa Moreno. "I knew coming in that we had this. There was a lot of pressure from everyone, but as a team we were calm and very relaxed. We were pumped up at the beginning of the game."

"We wanted it," said Hardman. "It was the last game of our season, the last game of my career in high school. We all just wanted it. On the bus, we had our music with us, and we just wanted to go out and win."

Bruno, in his fourth year as head coach, has led Cranford (24-4) to three county crowns and a state sectional title during that span. Hardman has been there since day one.

"It's awesome," said Hardman. "In the beginning of the year everybody was saying, 'oh you have to replace how many spots, they're young.' Everybody really did what they could do. Everybody bonded together. Everybody contributed in the last game, whether it was hitting, whether it was fielding, whether it was cheering on different teammates. Everybody did a great job this season. I couldn't have asked for anything more."

"As a freshman, it's amazing," said Siragusa. "Losing seven girls last year, I would never think that we could come this far. Working together, we became like sisters out there. We know who we are and did what we had to do."

D'Antico, a senior headed to Coastal Carolina to play soccer, won a county soccer title in the fall and a state sectional basketball championship in the winter. She says she'll never get tired of the success or the friendships made along the way.

"We knew this could be our final high school softball game and our last game as a team together. We wanted to go out with a bang. We were not leaving that field with a loss."  

Ravetier, a junior, was the hitting star with three of her teams' nine hits, including the first-inning round-tripper.

"She was the happiest girl in Union County," said Bruno.

Hardman, who was credited with the win after tossing four innings of two-hit ball, finished her final season with a mark of 14-3 and will next take her talents to the diamond at the College of New Jersey.

Siragusa (10-1), who struck out five and walked one in three sensational innings of relief, finds herself in the same spot as Hardman four years ago--celebrating a county championship while looking ahead to a very bright future.