Wolfpack Outlasts Mendham to Win Group Title

West Morris Central and Mendham High School softball teams were so evenly matched Friday, it took them three extra innings to decide the biggest game of the season.

In the end, the top-seeded Wolfpack beat the Minutemen 5-4 in 10 innings to capture the NJSIAA North 2, Group 3 championship.

Central jumped out to an early lead, 3-1, before Mendham began chipping away each inning. The Minutemen pulled to within one in the fourth inning, and tied the score in the fifth.

The teams battled back and forth, and knotted the score at 4 before forcing extra innings.

Central’s ace, Jamie Fesinstine, struck out 10 Minutemen in 10 innings of work, and recorded her 400th career punch out in doing so. She went 4-0 in the postseason, allowing six total runs in four rounds of play.

In the tenth, per NJSIAA rules, each team was given a runner to start the inning on second base. Mendham wasn't able to capitalize on the opportunity, grounding into a double play, and opened the door for Central.

In the bottom of the frame, Cental bunted its runner over to third on a fielder’s choice, setting the table for senior captain Courtney Chase.

With the free base runner waiting, down the third base line, Chase hit a shot over the leftfielder's head, driving in the winning run.

“It feels amazing, I don’t know how else to describe it,” said Chase. “I thought it was going to be close, but I didn’t think it would go 10 innings.”

Despite just 13 wins in the regular season, the Minutemen left their mark on the 2013 playoffs. The team came into the tournament seeded 15, but knocked off the 2, 3 and 7 seeds before facing Central in the title tilt.

“A heck of a game,” said Mendham coach Lori Welles.  “Central’s got it all, but my girls have been fighting these last few games to get this point.  They really fought hard this game. Central stepped up and got the hit they needed. I couldn’t have asked any more of my girls, they put everything into this game.”

Fesinstine capped a record-shattering career at West Morris with a hard-earned championship trophy.

“I am on ‘Cloud Nine,’ I am so happy right now,” said Fesinstine.  “I knew our team could do it, we have such a great team. We knew it would be a great fight. We knew they were a great team that didn’t get a good seed, but it is amazing.”

“Resiliency,” said Central head coach Courtney Bertos. “They went up early, we came right back in the first. But they chipped away and took advantage of our mistakes. At not one point in the game did anyone quit on themselves or on their teammates. People stepped up when we needed them to.”