In early February, 29 young ladies tried out for the Madison 12U travel softball team. Fourteen players were selected and practices began in the high school gym throughout February and into March. On March 27, the team played its first game of the season in Livingston, with piles of snow still stacked against the outfield fence.
Ellie Martine started the season with a single, stole second base and scored the first run of the year as Alyssa Debiasse singled and cleared the bases. Madison ended the day with a 5-4 victory, the first of many one-run games over the next few months. Two weeks later on April 10, the team traveled to Nutley where they won their second game of the season, 14-4.
Over the weekend of April 30-May 1, Madison competed in the 15th Annual Michelle Fund tournament in Lincoln Park. Their weekend began with a 6-1 win over Long Valley, followed by a 6-7 loss to Randolph and a 5-8 loss to West Milford. On Sunday, Madison faced Long Valley again in the first game of the day, earning a 9-8 victory 9-8 before falling to the NJ Sparks in a 4-1 loss.
Two weeks later, the young ladies of Madison traveled to Staten Island for a one-day "friendly". They started the day with a 4-3 loss to a team from Long Island, followed by a 13-0 victory over the East Brunswick Chaos. The final game of the day was a 7-0 loss to the host team from Staten Island, leaving Madison with a 5-5 record through the middle of May and ready for the big tournament month of June.
The team spent the weekend of June 11-12 at the West Milford tournament. Rain washed out the Saturday games leaving teams with only one day of softball in a single-elimination format. Madison avenged their Michelle Fund tournament loss with an early Sunday morning 5-2 victory over the host team from West Milford. In the second game of the day, Lincoln Park proved too much, sending Madison home with a 6-2 loss.
The weekend of June 16-19, Madison joined 64 other teams from the tri-state area at the Sparta School's Out Tournament. Madison opened the tournament under the lights against host Sparta. It was a pitchers duel until the bottom of the fourth inning when Alyssa DeBiasse lead off with a double to centerfield. As the Sparta pitcher proceeded to strike out the rest of the Madison order, Alyssa managed to steal third and then score on a passed ball for the first run of the game. In the top of the fifth Sparta worked the bases loaded on three walks and snuck a run across to tie the game at 1 on a wild pitch. That's how the game ended.
On June 18, Madison rang up an 8-4 victory over Long Valley. Long Valley started strong pushing three runs across the plate in the top of the first. Madison tied it up in the bottom half as Ellie Martine singled to get things started followed by a Shea McGuire walk. Caitlyn Massaro doubled to right field to knock in two runs and then scored on Grace Nittolo's single to left field. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the third as Massaro walked to start the inning. DeBiasse, Nittolo and Izzy Dagon had consecutive singles to knock in three runs. Long Valley added a run in the top of the fourth to make it 6-4. Madison added two more runs in the last inning courtesy of singles by Samantha dePoortere, Massaro and Nittolo to seal the victory at 8-4. A few hours later, the long day caught up with the kids as South Plainfield handled Madison with ease and gave them their worse loss of the season, 12-0.
Sunday's 8 a.m. start found opponent East Brunswick looking for a chance to avenge its loss to Madison a month earlier in Staten Island. The game remained a scoreless tie until the top of the fifth. Grace Nittolo started the inning with a single. Izzy Dagon executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to advance Nittolo to second. Caroline Abruzzo singled to center to knock in the first run of the game. Jenny Scavone followed with another single to send Caroline Abruzzo to third base. Marissa Diaz followed with a hard-hit ground ball to second to knock in the second run of the inning. East Brunswick kept it close with a double and a single in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 2-1 game. In the top of the sixth, Martine and McGuire singled to put runners at the corners. Massaro followed with a triple to the fence in right field, knocking in two runs. MacKaella Goodwin followed with a hard grounder to second to push Massaro across with the fifth run of the game and a 5-2 win. The victory advanced Madison to the semi-final game against Montgomery, N.Y.
In the semi-final, the second game of the day, Shea McGuire hit a home run, went 2-for-4 and drove in two runs as she led Madison to a 9-5 victory. Goodwin went 2-for-2 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Caitlyn Massaro and Caroline Abruzzo combined for the win, striking out eight and walking only three. Eight hours after they arrived at the park, Madison had earned their way to the Sunday night final with a rematch against Sparta.
In the final, Madison threatened in the top of the first inning with Ellen Martine leading off with a single and advancing to third based on Shea McGuire's sac bunt. Caitlyn Massaro and Alyssa DeBiasse worked walks to load the bases before a strikeout and groundout ended the inning. In the second inning, Sparta pushed across two runs on a two-out rally with a pair of walks, a single and a double. Madison left runners stranded on third seocnd and fifth innings, but was unable to score. This time, the young ladies from Sparta earned a 2-0 victory, leaving Madison with the second-place finish in the 12U B bracket.
On June 25, Madison traveled to Long Hill for their final tournament of the season. Madison was unstoppable, scoring 41 runs in 3 games. In their first game of the day, Madison scored eight runs in the first three innings to put the game away early. Samantha dePoortere went 3-for-3 with a single and double. They ran wild on the basepaths with nine steals, two each by Marissa Diaz, Izzy Dagon, Caroline Abruzzo and MacKaella Goodwin. The final score was 14-2. In Game 2, Madison routed Chatham by a score of 16-0. Caitlyn Massaro stuck out four, walked just two and allowed no earned runs for the game. Rachel Hall went 3-for-3 with a double and two singles and three RBIs. In the third game of the day, Madison handled Long Hill again, 11-1. Ellen Martine went 2-for-2 in the lead-off spot while Isobel Dagon, Alyssa DeBiasse, Grace Nittolo and Samantha dePoortere all collected hits. Pitching her second complete game of the day, Caitlyn Massaro struck out nine while allowing just one walk and one run. As a result of their big day, Madison earned a place in the grand final on Sunday against Cranford.
Through the first four innings of the Grand Final, Cranford and Madison played just about perfect softball. Each team managed a single in each inning, but never advanced past second base thanks to excellent pitching and defense. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Izzy Dagon made two shoestring catches in center to keep Cranford off the basepaths and preserve the 0-0 tie. In the top of the fifth, Mackenzie Goodwin lead off with a single. Grace Nittolo dropped a bunt down the first base line, beating the throw to first as Goodwin scampered to third. Goodwin stole home on a wild pitch for the first run of the game before Cranford ended the inning with Nittolo stranded at third base. Cranford threatened in the bottom of the fifth with a lead-off walk. Two pitches later, the tying run stood on third base with no outs. Caroline Abruzzo handled a pop to the pitcher for the first out of the inning. The next batter skyed a foul ball down the third base line. Izzy Dagon, now playing third, continued to show off her glove, making the catch in front of the Cranford dugout for the second out of the inning. The next batter stroked a hard grounder to short, where Samantha DePoortere handled it with ease and threw the runner out at first to end the inning. Grace Nittolo started off the seventh inning with a single and stole second base. dePoortere grounded out to short, advancing Nittolo to third base. Elle Martine followed with sacrific fly to right to gave Madison an insurance run and a 2-0 lead. Cranford came up in the bottom of the seventh and the top of their order. Abruzzo got the lead off batter to ground out, but walked the next better. A sacrifice bunt, perfectly played by Goodwin for the second out at first base, put the a runner at third with the cleanup hitter at bat. Abruzzo struck her out on three pitches to preserve the victory and give Madison 12U their first tournament title.
Madison finished up their spring season with a record of 13-8-1. After three months of softball against competitors from across New Jersey, Orange County, Long Island and Staten Island, the young ladies of Madison had come to bat over 500 times and finished with a team batting average of .354. They were ready to start their summer softball competition.
