Middletown North Advances To SCT Final With 7-3 Win Over Saint John Vianney

Photo above: Star of the game, sophomore third baseman Milena Wilton

WALL TOWNSHIP – After losing to Saint John Vianney 4-1 in the Monmouth County Tournament final, Middletown North tasted sweet revenge downing the Lancers 7-3 Saturday afternoon at Wall Township High School advancing to their second straight Shore Conference Tournament final.

The Lancers held a 3-1 lead entering the top of the fourth before Middletown North took their second lead of the game hanging three runs on SJV to take a decisive 4-3 lead.

Emily Kernan was hit by a pitch with one out setting off the game-changing fourth-inning rally. Catcher Ryan Rasmussen followed with a soft liner into centerfield for a hit before centerfielder Payleigh Behan used her blazing speed to reach first base beating the throw on a slow roller to short for an infield hit loading the bases.

With the top of the order now coming up, Milena Wilton came through with the play of the game, lining a two-run single into right field to tie the game 3-3 with Behan taking third on the throw to the plate. Behan then raced home on the next play as Liz Dorsa hit into a fielder’s choice at second for the go-ahead and winning run and a 4-3 lead.

“I was just thinking that we needed to score right there,” Wilton said. “I just wanted to do everything I could to hit the ball into the grass and get some runs in. It felt great to get the hit for the team and to get the win; it feels really good.”

“Milena’s a spart plug at the top of our order,” Lions head coach Marc Rosner said. “She’s a great team player and she’ll do absolutely anything for the team. She’s one of the those players you’re going to get maximum effort from all the time.”

Wilton was also flawless at third base making several sparkling plays in the field helping starting pitcher Riley Kernan’s cause on the mound.

“Milena always makes the plays, she’s on my travel team too and I appreciate everything she does,” Kernan said. “She had some big shoes to fill at the leadoff spot but she’s filled them 100 percent and she’s just a great player all-around.”

The Lions took advantage of an error-prone SJV team that uncharacteristically botched five plays leading to four unearned runs.

“We took advantage of their mistakes,” Rosner said. “The teams at this point of the season who are going to make less mistakes are going to win.”

The first of those unearned runs came in the top of the first when Dorsa lined a single to centerfield with one out. Lancers pitcher Demi Rivera then knocked down a Christine Gebhardt screaming line-drive back to the mound, but threw the ball away putting runners on first and second. Rivera then issued a walk to Kayla Gallo loading the bases.

Riley Kernan grounded to third for what looked like an easy out, but instead of just tagging the runner Lancer shortstop Shelli Rivard threw the ball away at third allowing the runner to score and kepping the bases loaded.

Rivera got out of the inning without allowing further damage striking out the next two batters.

Kernan got off to a rough start in the circle in the bottom half of the first hitting the number one and two batters she faced before No.4 batter Gianna Mavica drove in Helena Coppola with a single into right tying the game at one and leaving runners at the corners with only one out.

On the next play, Mavica was caught in a run-down trying to steal second and draw the throw from the catcher which is how the play unfolded. Mavica ended being caught in a run down and thrown out at first but not before Rivera scored from third for a 2-1 lead.

The Lancers tacked on another run the second inning but it could have been worse. A one-out double into the left-field corner by Ally Jones and a line-drive RBI single into the right-centerfield gap by Anne Manganeillo pushed the lead to 3-1 putting runners on first and second.

Kernan struck out Rivard for the second out before uncorking a wild pitch moving the runners up before Manganeillo tried to score on Kernan’s second wild pitch of the inning. However, Rassussen quickly fielded the ball from behind the plate and tossed it to Kernan covering home for the out.

Kernan fought control issues most the afternoon and admittedly did not have her best stuff. But the University of Rhode Island commit battled through one tight spot after another and did not allow another run to score after the second inning.

“I worked really hard today and really relied on my defense as I always do,” Kernan said. “Today I struggled and they helped me a lot and offensively they helped me too because I struggled at the bat too, so they helped me all-around.”

Kernan only had one three-up-and-three-down inning all game and got out of third and fourth inning jams with runners on second and third without allowing a run. Then in the fifth a runner was thrown out at third for the final out of the inning.

As is usually the case with Kernan she gets stronger as the game goes on and Saturday she retired the side in order in the sixth and gave up a meaningless one-out single in the seventh before a strikeout and a ground out ended the game.

“Riley battled,” Rosner said of star pitcher. “She continues to mature more-and-more mentally out there. She got off to rough start but after that she bore down and relied on her defense. Her and Ryan do a great job working together back there and our defense did a great job. She was able to work past everything today.”

The Lions added an insurance run in the sixth. Behan led off the inning with her second hit of the day and moved to second on a Wilton groundout and went to third on Dorsa’s line-drive single into left. Rivard then dropped a pop up just beyond the second-base bag allowing Wilton to score on the error.

In the seventh, two more Vianney errors led to an additional two-unearned runs before Kernan finished off the game in the bottom half of the inning.

In a gutsy performance, Kernan allowed three runs on seven hits, struck out five, walked two and hit two batters.

“This win gives us even more confidence, “Kernan said. “We’re going push forward to win this game (SCT final) because we really had in our heads a state title. But the Shore Conference title is just as big or bigger as the states, so we may not get the ring but we have a chance to be SCT champions two years in a row.”

The win sets up a rematch of last year’s Shore Conference Tournament final as the third-seeded Lions (26-4) will attempt to win back-to-back SCT titles against cross-town rival Middletown South after beating the Eagles 1-0 a year ago to win the programs first SCT title since 1974. The Fourth-seeded Eagles (27-3) beat No.1 seed Jackson Liberty 2-0 in Saturday’s second semifinal to advance.

“The win just shows out toughness and we refuse to lose,” Rosner said. “We want to play for a championship. We were able to win the A North division championship, lost in the Monmouth County finals and we lost in the state semifinals so we know this is our last chance to win a championship and we’re very happy to be back in this game with a chance to play for it.”

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