Softball Team Upset By Nutley in State Tourney

One thing about the state tournament: It is often unpredictable.

The tournament seeds go strictly by a teams' overall record, and as so often happens, even good teams can find themselves with a low seed.

Such was the case on Thursday afternoon, when 10-seeded Nutley, one of the best teams in Essex County, traveled to face second-seeded Cranford in the quarterfinal round of the NJSIAA North Jersey Group 3, Section 2 tournament.

The visitors proved they were much better than their 16-8 record indicated, posting a mistake-free 5-0 win. If you look at their schedule, which includes several top 20 teams from the tough Super Essex Conference, you can see why they were prepared for an upset.

"Essex County has superior softball to Union County," said Cranford head coach Bob Bruno. "They go out most days and have to compete hard to win. We come out most days and know if we put in a halfway decent effort, we're going to win. So to get our kids on the same page of excellence every single day, when we play some of these teams that aren't very good, it's hard for them to say as a kid, I have to gear it up. But they still know on their worst day, they're going to beat most of these Union County teams."

The big blow from Nutley came from the bat of Tara Petrucelli off starter Kelly Hardman in the second inning, as the visitors rolled to their seventh straight win.

Cranford will have to turn the page quickly.

"I just talked to them about, now we lose, we have to keep our composure, we're going to go play a good Union County team on Saturday," said Bruno. "They can't come out having any kind of self doubt. We need to come out and be aggressive and let's see what happens."

All season long, the Cranford varsity softball team answered the call, proving that a team with six new starters could make plenty of noise. Despite hitting the ball hard all day, they were unable to score, and it was one play early on which turned the momentum of the game in Nutley's favor, when they turned a wicked line drive to third base into a rally-ending double play. The Lady Cougars couldn't quite recover from that.

"The first inning was big, bases loaded, one out," said Bruno. "Taylor (D'Antico) couldn't have hit the ball any harder. Hey, that ball goes one foot one way or another, we score two runs, and maybe we're having a different conversation."

It wasn't a lack of effort. They just didn't get the breaks.

"I thought we hit the ball well," said Bruno. "They made every play that needed to be made. So that was the difference. Their third baseman had 12 assists. But here's the thing. You tell the kids, their pitcher's throwing a screwball, she's throwing the ball inside and we're pounding it down there. I told them, listen, wait until she makes a mistake, she'll get it out over the plate, and they're kids, so you can't do it for them."

Cranford will have to leave this game behind and instead, focus on the last game of the season when they play for the Union County title against Governor Livingston on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Kean University. Bruno has already named his starting pitcher for the big game.

"You have the scoop, Kelly (Hardman) is going to start," said Bruno. "We'll just go from there. Hopefully the team supports her defensively. I'm going to have a short hook. I'll have the kids warm up and we'll see where it goes."

Hardman has been a varsity player for four years, and she will no doubt want to close out her stellar career with a Union County championship before continuing at TCNJ in the fall.

"I'm pulling for Kelly. It'll be her last high school game," Bruno said. "I'm pulling for her that she has enough to win the game. To Kelly's credit, she doesn't get down on her teammates for making mistakes. She gets down on herself more than she gets down on them. I don't think that's in Kelly's personality to get in somebody else's face for making a mistake."

The Lady Cougars had a memorable game against the Lady Highlanders, when they came back from a 5-0 deficit to defeat GL 15-5 on the road with a stunning late-game comeback. Cranford lost to GL early in the season 7-2.

It's a game that will be worth the price of admission as the top two seeds battle for the county title. Bruno for one, is happy he'll be in the dugout, coaching the team has grown leaps and bounds this spring.

"If you asked me back in the beginning of March, do you think you would be in the county final, we always have those ideas in the back of our heads, but with the team being so young, and not having that varsity experience, I probably would have said no, I don't think we'd be there," he said. "But now that we're there, and I see the strides that some of these kids have made, I'm proud of them."