Shawnee Eliminates Absegami from Softball Playoffs

For the second straight softball game, was involved in a no-hitter.

However, this time the Braves (17-7) were on the losing end of the score.

Shawnee's Jackie Pezzato silenced the Braves' high-powered offense, as the Renegades advanced to the NJSIAA Group IV South semifinals with a 3-0 win on Friday, May 25.

Absegami ace Kelly Lupton, who pitched a no-hitter in the first round, only allowed three hits against Shawnee.

However the day belonged to Pezzato and the Renegades (23-3).

"We were playing our best softball, and we didn't know if we would win but I thought we would get some hits," Absegami coach Pat Esemplare said. "She kept us off-balance. She threw a screwball inside that we had to fend off our hands. She changed things up and then threw outside with a curve. She kept us off balance."

Pezzato gave her defense little to do, striking out 13 batters.

Lupton, who is headed to the University of Maryland on an athletic scholarship, registered 15 strikeouts in the game and allowed just one earned run.

"She did stick with it," Esemplare said. "She had a rough patch in the third and fourth innings and was frustrated, but she was able to focus and shut them down."

One Shawnee score came on a wild pitch, another on an error, and the third on an RBI double by Pezzato in the fourth inning.

It was the first run that Esemplare thought was the key to the game. The longtime coach believes the Braves are a different team when they score first.

"If we could have gotten one across the plate, I think the game could have been different," he explained.

He added: "We do all the stats, and when you score first in softball, you win 75-80-percent of the time. It doesn't make sense to me but that's the way it is."

In the seventh, the Braves got the lead-off hitter on with a walk, but couldn't get anything going against Pezzato.

"The game is not over until the last out," Esemplare said. "The girls have to believe that. There is no clock. You have to keep playing until the final out and play until you make that out."

The Braves' playoff run is over, but they still have two regular season games remaining. Absegami plays Egg Harbor Township on May 29 and Buena Regional on May 30.

Lupton can still register her 100th career hit with two more hits, and the Braves have a chance to get to 19 wins, which would be third-best all-time in school history.

"That's a good goal to shoot for," Esemplare said.