Lady Rebels Bring Home CJ IV Crown

When they arrived for their Central Jersey Group IV Final game against Rancocas Valley on Thursday afternoon, the Howell Lady Rebels were a quieter squad than they had been in earlier games in the state tournament.

For a team that normally exudes an infectious energy, most of the first three innings saw the team keep to themselves as they fell into an early 9-0 hole. Maybe it was nerves at being in the first sectional final in the program's history, maybe it was the long bus ride down to the southern most point of the section or maybe it was just a slow start to the day.

Fortunately, once the fifth inning rolled around, the Lady Rebels became more like their normal selves and their bats came alive as they bounced back strong for a 12-10 win.

It very well could have been a case of too little too late as the home team was threatening a 10 run mercy win by the end of the third inning. What they could never have expected and what helped to give the Howell team a second wind was the incredible resiliency of their bats. 

There was a small glimmer of hope in the third inning when Lauren Van Wie drove in Kelly Hardiman. That got the team on the board, but in the fifth inning the bats came alive and pushed the Lady Rebels out in front to stay. 

The inning started with Lauren Saal, Van Wie and Christina Pohlirom loading up the bases with just one out. That was all the motivation Cassidy Brozowski needed as she walloped a bases clearing triple to right center field. She was quickly driven in by Nicole Daukshus who hit a double of her own.

Annmarie Bartow, who went 3-5 in the game, helped to drive in another run as the Lady Rebels batted around to take the lead. Other big hits in the fifth came on a two run hit by Saal and RBI knocks by Van Wie and Carsin Conner. The final blow came in the seventh inning when Van Wie, who contributed four of her team's hits, drove in Hardiman to give her team the lead for good.

Van Wie said the game was something she will not soon forget. "I'm so happy that we all came together, we never gave up and we just scored all the runs we needed to score," she said. 

As for what it means to be sectional champions before her career with the Lady Rebels winds down, Van Wie said, "I never imagined it and it feels great. It's just everything I ever wanted for my senior softball year and I'm so happy I ended it that way."

For Conner, her biggest contributions in helping the team win the game came in the pitching circle. After replacing Steph Gilbert in the second inning, the junior fireballer used the strong defense behind her to stop any further damage from ending their year. 

The junior said that while the team had gotten down on itself early, they were also able to bounce back by sticking together. "We got together and we put our heads together and we were like we've got to do this just for ourselves and we deserve this," she said. "These seniors deserved to win and they deserved the states and that's what we wanted to do. We just wanted to give them their season."

In her first full season of varsity action, Conner said this year has surpassed her expectations. "I don't think anything could have prepared me for today. This was above and beyond anything I've ever been in and any game I've ever pitched in."

Coach Sandra Hempel said seeing her team bounce back the way they did made her incredibly proud of their performance. "They didn't want to let it drop anymore in holes, they wanted to make catches and they just wanted to win it all. They wanted to make Howell history."

The coach also attributed the slow start to "jitters," that the team was eventually able to put behind them. "They realized they really wanted to take it home. They have heart and they wanted to make the balls drop and they wanted to hit it where it needed to be placed and get base runners on and get some girls home."

Next up for the Lady Rebels is a game in the Group IV semifinals against a still to be determined opponent. That game is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Neptune.