A Long Trip Well Worth It: Lady Rebels Advance in States

The trip from Howell High School to the sprawling campus of West Windsor Plainsboro High School North may only take a little under an hour, but after a season of mostly playing schools and Ocean and Monmouth County schools, it may as well have been on the other side of the country.

Taking on a Knights team they knew very little about, the girls worked together top pick up a 2-1 win in the first round of the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament. 

It was by no means an easy victory, but the girls put together some timely hitting, some well played defense and had even just a little bit of luck on their side to upset the fifth seeded Mercer County squad. 

Helping to bolster the team's confidence was knowing that junior Carsin Connor had the ball for them even in her first state playoff game. Connor has been strong all year for the Lady Rebels and was once again a force to be reckoned with as she struck out seven batters while giving up just seven hits.

Connor said after the game that playing an unfamiliar opponent in a different location than the team is used to made for a very interesting day for the Lady Rebels. "Today was a very hard game," she said. "We came in here knowing that we were the lower seed and we had to try our hardest because it was going to be a tough one."

The hurler said all the Lady Rebels knew about their hosts was that they had some big hitters and that they were a determined team. "We knew that we had a job that we  had to get done and it was going to be more tough than any other team out there," she said. 

When the game got underway it did not appear to be the Rebels' day. The Knights knocked out a single to center and drew their only walk of the game before the first out was recorded. Fortunately, despite a one out RBI single, the Howell defense was able to clamp down to stop the bleeding at just one run.

That was the way the game stayed until the top of the third inning when sophomore Kelly Hardiman smacked a double to the center field wall for just her team's second hit of the contest. Junior Lauren Saal was right behind her and drove her in with a double to the left field wall after Hardiman had gone to third on a wild pitch.

The score remained knotted up at one heading into the top of the fifth inning when Saal knocked her second double of the game before being driven home herself on an RBI single to center by senior Lauren Van Wie. 

Howell may have held a one run lead, but their advantage was anything but set in stone for the rest of the game. In the bottom of the fifth West Windsor got a two out single and then had runners on second and third after a pop fly to left was dropped by a Rebel fielder. 

Fortunately Connor showed no signs of being rattled by the potential winning run being on base, as she struck out the clean up hitter to get out of what could have been a very sticky jam.

Even in the sixth inning when the home team got a single and a sac fly to start the inning, the defense stepped up to keep them off the board. The defensive play of the day may well have come in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Knights were looking to get back into the game in their last time up. 

After the ninth hitter reached on a single to center the Knights were back to the top of their line up without a single out recorded. When the lead off hitter hit what looked to be a dangerous bloop to center, junior Cassidy Browzowski fielded it and made a quick flip to second to nail the lead runner. 

When the ball dropped at her feet, Browzowski said she knew she had to act quickly if she was going to get any out, let alone the lead runner. "I thought she was already there so maybe she thought I was going to catch it," she said of the West Windsor runner. "I knew that I had to come up strong and get her out."

That was all the momentum the Lady Rebels needed as they recorded two quick outs to end the game.

With their season extended at least a few more days, Co-Head Coach Sandra Hempel said she and her colleague Elissa Connell were proud of the way the team performed in unfamiliar circumstances. "They came out strong, they talked on defense, they got up to bat wanting to hit the ball and wanting to actually place the ball on the field with line drives," she said.  "They didn't want to pop up. They wanted to get clean line drives to get on base and help their team out with some runs."

Even with the win, when the last out was recorded the 12th seeded Lady Rebels were unsure of where their next game would be. But by the end of the night they knew that with the fourth seeded Brick Memorial team losing to another squad from Mercer County in the 13th seeded Steinert Spartans the Rebels would be able to bring the state tournament to their home field for the next round. 

Stay with Howell Patch for updates on the next game and coverage of the Lady Rebels as their season continues later this week.