Middletown South, Backed By McMahon Pitching Gem, Grabs Second Straight Sectional Title

Photo above: The 2016 North 2, Group III champions

MIDDLETOWN – It’s only a game. But when you see the tears streaming down long-time Middletown South head coach Tom Erbig’s cheeks to the point where he modestly turned away to compose himself; you realize it’s much more than just a game.

“I love them, they’re a second family,” Erbig said after his team had just beaten South Plainfield on a 1-0 walk-off win for their second consecutive sectional championship. “It’s the first time ever I asked a player to ‘get this one for me.’ They have a prom tonight and look at them, no one’s leaving. That’s the type of kids they are; I love them.”

Erbig said he had a gut feeling about allowing his senior catcher Hannah Wisialko to swing away in the bottom of the seventh instead of calling for a suicide squeeze which he had done in a similar situation a year ago in the Group III semifinals. But with one out and runners at second and third he gave his No.6 batter the green light even though she had struck out in her two previous at bats.

“I had a feeling, it was really nothing more than a gut feeling,” Erbig said. “I let her swing, she made the contact. All she had to do was put the ball on the ground. We were going to force them to make a play at the plate and we were going to still have a runner at third base whether she’d been out or not, so let’s force them to make a play.”

It worked to perfection.

South Plainfield shortstop Meghan Hughes robbed Eagles shortstop Julia Blarr of a hit leading off the bottom of the seventh ranging far to her left to stab a screamer off Blarr’s bat for the first out of the inning.

But on the next play she booted Ally Massa’s grounder for an error on a ball that should’ve of been a sure out putting the winning run on base.

Starting pitcher Maddie McMahon then grounded a single past the diving Hughes with pinch runner Alissa Carfora making it all the way to third base with McMahon holding at first. With Wisialko now at the plate, a passed ball allowed McMahon to advance to second, setting the stage for the game’s final play.

After working the count to 2-and-2, Wisialko hit the ball to the right side of the infield where first baseman Naomi Nieves fielded it cleanly and made perfect throw home, but Carfora used her speed to just beat the throw to the plate sliding under the tag with the winning run.

“I’m just happy we won and get to keep moving on and keep playing together,” Wisialko said. “It was very emotional, I had to rise to the challenge and thankfully I did. I actually thought a suicide squeeze was coming because that’s what happened last year so I was like ‘here we go.’ That was 100 percent the biggest at bat of my career.”

McMahon was once again sensational in picking up her 25th win of the season. The Siena College-bound righty hurled a complete game shutout, allowed only one hit, struck out 11 and walked two batters. At the plate she kept the inning alive in the seventh with her second hit of the game going 2-for-3.

“I don’t know how to put it just how good Maddie is; I don’t know what words to use,” Erbig said. “When she’s on the mound I have all the confidence in the world that she can throw what I ask her to throw and get it done. Basically, she handles herself as well as any pitcher I’ve ever had here. She stands on the mound, composes herself and throws the pitch she needs to throw at the right time. And she getting really good at getting the big hit; that’s the competitiveness in her.”

“It feels awesome, all the hard work has paid off,” McMahon said. “I had a feeling in the seventh. When Ally got on I was like ‘alright we got this, we can make this work’ and here we are. I knew I needed to be on my game today, I knew they were a really good team. I just needed to get the job done. We worked so hard. The six seniors, we’ve been playing together since elementary school, so all the hard work has finally come together. It’s an awesome reward but it’s still not over. There’s still a lot of things we’re looking to strive for.”

One of those things is Saturday’s Shore Conference Tournament semifinal game against No.1 seed Jackson Liberty as the No.4 seed at Wall Township High School with first pitch scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Then it’s on to next week’s NJSIAA Group III championship semifinal against the winner of the West Essex - Sparta game next Tuesday, June 7 at 1:30 at Caldwell University.

Fourth-seeded South Plainfield (25-6) made a number of sparkling plays in the field to take away a number of base hits from the third-seeded Eagles (26-3) but in the end it was a defensive lapse that led to the winning run.

“That’s a good club,” Erbig said. “We just weren’t hitting and when we did they made every play. Then they make an error and that opens the flood gates a little. We’ve been able to capitalize on people making errors the last couple of games. If a team makes a mistake we seem to capitalize on them and that’s the name of the game when you get to this point.”

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