Softball Vaults to County Top With Victory Over Union

When the season first began, the Cranford varsity softball team was cautiously optimistic they could remain among the Union County elite despite the loss of seven key players.

Ten games into the season, the Lady Cougars have not only replaced the missing pieces, but have yet to miss a beat. Yesterday's 2-1 victory over Union propelled them closer to obtaining a top-seed in the upcoming Union County tournament.

"When county seedings come out, it would be nice to be number-one," said senior right-hander Kelly Hardman. "But again, we play Governor Livingston next week and hopefully we get a win out of that and that will help us in the seeding. We take the same approach to every game. We just want to play good defense, hit, score runs and ultimately win."

Sophomore catcher Melissa Moreno drove home two runs with a double to deep centerfield in the third inning, scoring Hardman and Kathleen French. The rest was up to Hardman and the rest of the defense. The senior struck out seven, walked just one and gave up three hits to improve her record to 5-1 on the campaign.

The victory was more impressive because of the caliber of their competition. Union is the defending county championship team, led by Amanda Kardys, one of the top hurlers in the county.

"We went to pitching class together since freshman year," said Hardman. "So every Monday night in the winter for about three months, we saw each other. So yeah, there's a friendship, but every single game we have to take the same approach."

"Once again, Kelly did a great job on the mound," said Cranford head coach Bob Bruno. "Anytime you get that kind of performance on the mound you're going to be in the game."

Cranford, who improved to 8-2 overall, was trailing 1-0 after one inning when Kardys drove home Union's only run on a single. Hardman would give up just two other hits the rest of the way, with Kardys leading off the seventh with a base hit. That ratcheted up the tension around Adams Avenue field, but freshman first baseman Jess McCoy made a savvy play, when she took the grounder and threw to second for the force out. Hardman struck out the next batter before McCoy snared a line drive to end the game.

"Today was definitely an important game," said senior third baseman Taylor D'Antico. "We needed to beat Union in order to get a higher seed in the counties and they were ranked ahead of us. But after this win, we'll hopefully move up. It really means a lot to us. We needed to come out here strong and that's exactly what we did. We came out here, worked hard and got a win out of it."

"We had to prepare ourselves in practice because we knew if we beat this team, we would be seeded higher for the counties," said Stephanie Bagniewski. "It was a good victory and everyone did really well."

It's a start to the season that even Hardman couldn't envision.

"Honestly, I couldn't," said Hardman. "But I'm happy to say that everyone is stepping up to the plate. Melissa, a sophomore, had the game-winning hit. Everybody's definitely contributing to the team and it's an awesome feeling, that when the ball's hit, I know it will be caught, or when we need a run, it'll get done."

"As I said in the early part of the season, this is going to be a learning process and the curve is on the upswing right now," said Bruno. "Myself and the other coaches in the program are very happy about that."

The Cougars will finish the week with St. Mary's and Hillside before setting their sights on G.L. next week.