SP-F Softball in UCT Quarterfinals

When the top eight softball teams in Union County descend upon Linden's Memorial Field complex Friday night – weather permitting – Scotch Plains-Fanwood will be one of them.

It didn't matter one bit to the Raiders that they lost to Elizabeth twice before in Union County Conference-Watchung Division play by the rather decisive scores of 17-6 at home on April 8 and 12-1 on the road May 4.

Scotch Plains returned to Elizabeth for a first round Union County Tournament contest Saturday and did more than just hang tough with the Minutemen.

This time the Raiders won.

It took nine innings, but Scotch Plains held on to prevail by the score of 10-9 to advance to Friday night's quarterfinals.

In one of the two 6 p.m. games at the Memorial Field complex, ninth-seeded Scotch Plains will take on top-seeded Cranford. The two were originally scheduled to play in one of the 8 p.m. games, but switched with the New Providence-Johnson quarterfinal because the Scotch Plains prom is Friday night.

If Friday's quarterfinals are rained out, they will be made up on Saturday, with Saturday's semifinals pushed back to Sunday. Potential times for Saturday and Sunday's re-scheduled games will be determined by the tournament directors.

"The kids are excited to be in this position and to be able to play a team like Cranford," first-year Scotch Plains head coach Jess Hulnik said. "All the pressure is on them to hold their No. 1 seed."

As of Wednesday, Scotch Plains was 9-12 and Cranford 16-3.

Both have 4 p.m. conference games scheduled for Thursday, with Scotch Plains hosting Rahway and Cranford at Summit.

Scotch Plains lost at Rahway 6-3 Monday and at home to Union 4-0 Tuesday in conference play.

Cranford had a nine-game winning streak snapped at Group 4 power Hunterdon Central 6-0 Monday, while Tuesday's conference game at Hillside was cancelled.

"We hope to give them (Cranford) a good game and have a good time," Hulnik said.

Back on the first Saturday of the season – April 3 – Scotch Plains faced Cranford at its Cougar Classic at Adams Avenue Field in Cranford. The Raiders were more than respectable in a 4-3 setback.

Scotch Plains scored the game's first two runs in the top of the first, with Cranford answering with two in the bottom of the inning. Cranford then took the lead for good at 3-2 with a run in the bottom of the third and added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth for a 4-2 advantage.

Scotch Plains scored the game's final run in the top of the sixth.

The Raiders faced Cranford freshman lefty Julie Siragusa that day, with the hard-throwing southpaw tossing a six-hitter that included nine strikeouts and no walks.

Cranford senior leadoff batter Kelly Hardman slugged a home run, while teammate Nicole Ravetier went 2-for-2 with two RBI.

Hardman took the loss against Hunterdon Central and is 8-2, while Siragusa is 7-1. Either one could get the mound start vs. Scotch Plains.

"We're looking forward to it," Hulnik said. "Cranford is fortunate to have two good pitchers. Hardman has great movement on her pitches and Siragusa throws hard. With us being the nine seed and them the one, this will be a little bit more of a challenge for us. We have nothing to lose."

Hulnik said that Saturday's contest vs. Elizabeth was a well-played game and a little bit of a slugfest.

"We came out ready to play," the coach said. "We felt like we could beat them if we were on our game."

According to Hulnik, Scotch Plains tied the game at 6-6 with a single run in the top of the seventh. The actual line score that was reported had Elizabeth with 10 runs and Scotch Plains with nine, with neither team scoring in the seventh.

The game remained tied at 6-6 until the top of the ninth when junior Aysia Peterson slugged a grand slam home run to give the Raiders a 10-6 advantage.

"We got two singles and a walk and then Aysia hit a 3-2 pitch," Hulnik said.

Hulnik also reported that it was Peterson's second home run of the year, with her first coming in Scotch Plains' 16-7 conference win at Westfield back on April 16. Scotch Plains also defeated Westfield 3-2 Friday at home in conference action.

Elizabeth came back to score three runs in the bottom of the ninth.

"The ninth inning was a little odd, with seven runs being scored," Hulnik said.

A two-run homer by Elizabeth's Kassy Vega accounted for two of the three runs before the Minutemen loaded the bases with two outs.

Scotch Plains junior right hander Amanda White - who pitched the distance - then got the game's final batter to fly out to clinch the victory.

"We made it exciting at the end," Hulnik said.

It was reported that White was able to end the game by getting a fly out to center. However, according to Hulnik, it was senior right fielder Cassie Zito that caught the final out.

"Amanda pitched well to hold us for nine innings," she said.

Elizabeth went up either 3-0 or 2-0 to start the game.

"We kept together well and didn't panic after the first inning," Hulnik said.

NOTES: The state tournament pairings for softball and baseball will be released Thursday on the NJSIAA's website. Although the Raider softball team was 8-10 after Friday's cutoff date, there was still a good chance that they made the grade in North 2, Group 3. Certain teams – depending on the section they are in - did not need to have at least a record of .500 to qualify this year.  

35th ANNUAL SOFTBALL 
UNION COUNTY TOURNAMENT

SEEDS: 1-Cranford. 2-Gov. Livingston. 3-Union. 4-Johnson.

5-Roselle Park. 6-Brearley. 7-Union Catholic. 8-Elizabeth. 
9-Scotch Plains. 10-Westfield. 11-Rahway. 12-New Providence.

13-Linden. 14-Oak Knoll. 15-Dayton. 16-Kent Place.

17-Roselle Catholic. 18-Roselle. 19-Plainfield. 20-Hillside.

PRELIMINARY ROUND: 
Wednesday, May 5 
Linden 15, Hillside 0 
Oak Knoll 16, Plainfield 3 
Thursday, May 6 
Dayton 11, Roselle 1 
Roselle Catholic 6, Kent Place 3

FIRST ROUND: 
Saturday, May 8 
New Providence 8, Roselle Park 1 
Johnson 9, Linden 0 
Scotch Plains 10, Elizabeth 9 (9 inn.) 
Cranford 9, Roselle Catholic 0 
Union Catholic 4, Westfield 3 
Rahway 7, Brearley 0 
Monday, May 10 
Union 10, Oak Knoll 0 
Gov. Livingston 19, Dayton 1

QUARTERFINALS: 
Friday, May 14 
At Linden's Memorial Field complex 
TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET: 
9-Scotch Plains vs. 1-Cranford, 6 p.m. 
12-New Providence vs. 4-Johnson, 8 p.m. 
BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET: 
11-Rahway vs. 3-Union, 6 p.m. 
7-Union Catholic vs. 2-Gov. Livingston, 8 p.m. 

 
SEMIFINALS: 
Saturday, May 15 
At Linden's Memorial Field 
Bottom side of the bracket semi, 6 p.m. 
Top side of the bracket semi, 8 p.m.

FINALS: 
Saturday, May 22 
At Kean University's 
Cougar Field in Union 
Junior varsity: noon

Varsity: 2 p.m.

UCT CHAMPIONS 
2009: Union 
2008: Cranford  
2007: Cranford  
2006: Cranford  
2005: Brearley  
2004: Roselle Park  
2003: Roselle Park  
2002: Cranford 
2001: Governor Livingston  
2000: Union 
1999: Governor Livingston  
1998: Westfield  
1997: Governor Livingston  
1996: Union  
1995: Union  
1994: Union  
1993: Union  
1992: Union  
1991: Union  
1990: Westfield 
1989: Union Catholic 
1988: Union  
1987: Union  
1986: Westfield  
1985: Westfield  
1984: Westfield  
1983: Union  
1982: Roselle Park  
1981: Johnson Regional  
1980: Linden  
1979: Johnson Regional  
1978: Westfield  
1977: Scotch Plains  
1976: Westfield 
Championships: Union (11), Westfield (7), 
Cranford (4), Roselle Park (3), Gov. Livingston (3), 
Johnson Regional (2), Scotch Plains (1), 
Linden (1), Union Catholic (1), Brearley (1).