County Final—Familiar Turf for Hillsborough Softball

Like clockwork, the change of seasons, holidays and taxes; another year means another trip to the Somerset County Tournament final for the Hillsborough High School softball team.

The top-seeded and defending champion Raiders will be making their ninth appearance in the championship game since 2002, when they face third-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Nap Torpey Athletic Complex in Bridgewater.

And while Hillsborough’s presence in the title game is anything but a surprise, its luster is certainly not lost on the Raiders.

“It gets better and better each year,” said Hillsborough senior pitcher Brittany Ksiezopolski, whose freshman season of 2008 was the only year during the past decade not to feature the Raiders. “The first year is always the best, but to come back the third year in a row and try and win the title again, it’s even better.”

It was Ksiezopolski’s right arm that was a big part of Hillsborough’s championship last season, as she fired a four-hit shutout in the final and the Raiders topped Montgomery 1-0, a year after falling to the Cougars in the final on an eighth-inning error.

Add those games to two straight appearances in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament sectional finals in each of the past seasons, as well as plenty of big-time regular-season matchups, and Hillsborough certainly isn’t short on big-game experience. And it is just that exposure the Raiders have had to what it takes to be successful on the sport’s biggest stages that should provide them the biggest advantage Saturday against the upstart Panthers, whose 2008 county title is their only appearance in the final since 2001.

“The kids have been there, they understand what it’s like to be under the big lights,” Hillsborough coach Cheryl Iaione said. “Even (in the semifinals), you had a huge crowd here. They understand what it’s like to play in front of people, they understand what’s at stake. If we lose it’s not going to be because of nerves, it’s just going to be because we didn’t play well enough to win or the other team played better than us.”

There will be one major difference between Hillsborough’s county-final experience this time around: For the first time since 2007, and for only the second time since 2004, the Raiders will be facing someone other than its biggest rival for the crown.

The Somerset County Tournament final has featured Hillsborough vs. Montgomery in each of the past two seasons, as well as in the 2005 and 2006 finals, with the teams splitting the four meetings.

But while Hillsborough won’t get to face its Route-206 neighbors for the title—in fact the teams two schedule regular-season meetings have yet to be played because of weather-related postponements—that certainly doesn’t take the juice out of Saturday’s tilt and it definitely won’t stop Hillsborough from properly getting up for the game.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, as long as you’re there,” said Iaione, who team beat the Panthers 11-1 and 5-0, respectively, in the teams’ meetings this season. “You know Bridgewater’s going to get up for it, and we’ve beaten them twice, so that’s two games they want to get back. So we’re going to have to be ready to play.”

“Honestly, I really don’t care who we play next week,” Ksiezopolski said after Hillsborough’s 2-0 victory over Watchung Hills in last Saturday’s semifinals. “As long as we’re there.”