Late Rally Falls Short As Middletown North Drops Sectional Final

Photo above: Senior Riley Kernan winding up during Wednesday's game

MIDDLETOWN – Same time, same place, and same team. Exactly one year to the day Middletown North lost to South Plainfield in the NJSIAA North 2, Group 3 semifinals eliminating them from the state playoffs. Yesterday the Lions suffered the same fate at the hands of the same team only this time it happened to be in the final.

Top-seeded Middletown North (23-4) – ranked fifth in the NJ.com Top 20 – lost to third-seeded and No. 14 South Plainfield (25-4) 3-2 in Wednesday’s North 2, Group 3 sectional final abruptly ending its dream of winning its first state sectional title since 1992.

Trailing 3-1 entering the bottom of the seventh Junior Gabi Cerbo drilled a one-out double over the right fielders head and junior Alyssa Vetrano followed with a line-drive single to right putting the tying runs at first and third with only one out.

Number eight batter Cara McNulty then grounded to second baseman MaKayla Sosa who stepped on second for the force, pivoted and threw to first but McNulty beat the throw by a step keeping the Lions hopes alive. Cerbo scored on the play to make it a one-run game with a runner at first and two outs but Tigers senior pitcher Katherine Vill then struck out senior Ryan Rasmussen to end the game.

“We knew coming in that they were a great team,” South Plainfield head coach Don Panzarella said. “They’re a great hitting team one-through-nine. They really impressed me, my hats off to them. I don’t know if it did or it didn’t help (beating the Lions last season). The fact is we knew we were going to have to play pretty good if we were going to come away with a win. I knew with our pitching and defense we were going to be in the game, but I just wasn’t sure if we were going to score enough runs.”

The Tigers jumped out in front in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Senior Caity Hughes led off the game with a ground single through the 4-3 hole, stole second base, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jen Grasso and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jillian Holoboski.

Lions starting pitcher Riley Kernan struck out Vill to get out of the inning and retired the side in order in the top of the second.

Kernan led off the bottom half of the inning working an 0-2 count into a walk during an 11 pitch battle with Vill in which she fouled off five consecutive pitches after working the count full. Dri Noterile was inserted as a courtesy runner for Kernan bringing up number five batter Adriana Cerbo.

Cerbo promptly roped a double into the right-field corner but with Noterile laboring towards third base Lions head coach Chris Hoffman made the ill-advised decision to wave Noterile home.

Grasso fielded Cerbo’s double cleanly in the corner, wheeled and threw it to the cutoff man, Sosa, who then fired home in plenty of time to nail Noterile by ten feet. A sacrifice fly by Gabi Cerbo moved Adriana Cerbo to third before junior Alyssa Vetrano lined an RBI single into center to tie the game. McNulty then grounded out second to end the inning.

Hoffmann took the blame for the loss following the game. “I screwed up sending the girl home there,” Hoffmann said. “It might have been the difference in the game looking back. I feel really bad for the team, because I let them down today and screwed this up for them.”

South Plainfield score two runs in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead on a two-run double by senior Camryn Schaeffer driving in Grasso and Holoboski, who both singled and advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Vill.

A super play by Hughes at shortstop saved a run for the Tigers in the bottom half of the fourth after Gallo reached second on a two-base error on a line drive to centerfield and moved to third on a ground out. Gabi Cerbo then grounded what looked like a sure RBI single up the middle before Hughes cut behind Sosa scooped up the ball and in one motion threw to first just nipping Cerbo.

The Lions threatened in the bottom of the sixth after junior Milena Wilton and senior Liz Dorsa led off the inning with back-to-back, line-drive singles putting runners at first and second with no outs. Kayla Gallo then hit into a fielder’s choice to third for the first out before Kernan grounded to Sosa at second who tagged Dorsa as she ran past and fired to first in time to beat Kernan completing the 4-3 double play.

“I thought we had good at bats,” Hoffmann said following the loss. “We hit a bunch of line drives at people that they caught. The second baseman made a couple a good plays and good throws and the shortstop made a good play behind second – they were the better team today. But we still got stuff to look forward to like Friday (SCT quarterfinal game against Brick). Hopefully we can get recharged. It’s going to be tough, but I guess we’ll really see what we’re made of.”

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