Union Catholic Beats Oak Knoll in State Tournament Game

After coming so very close to knocking off second-seeded Governor Livingston Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Union County Tournament, the Union Catholic softball team has bounced back rather nicely.

The Vikings first produced a non-league home triumph over in-town rival Scotch Plains-Fanwood 5-1 Monday.

That victory was followed up with a convincing 11-0 win over visiting Oak Knoll Wednesday in a first round Non-Public, North A state tournament contest.

The sixth-seeded Vikings will next play at third-seeded Mother Seton of Clark Tuesday at 4 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

Union Catholic won its second straight to improve to 15-6, while 11^th-seeded Oak Knoll fell to 9-10.

"Lately, we've been playing amazing," said junior catcher Erin Farley, who went 2-for-4 with five RBI Wednesday, including her first home run of the season.

Farley slugged a shot over the left fielder's head that rolled all the way to the infield of the baseball field. It was a three-run blast with one out in the bottom of the sixth that ended the game because of the 10-run mercy rule.

As she crossed home plate and was greeted by her teammates, you could hear Farley shout, "finally!"

"I came close to hitting a home run vs. Plainfield and hit two triples (in the same game) against Brearley, so it felt great," she said.

Sophomore slugging first baseman Ashley Straile is no stranger to connecting for a round-tripper. She produced her team-leading 10^th of the season Wednesday, which was a blast past the center fielder that went for a three-run homer in the third to give Union Catholic its first runs and a 3-0 lead.

In addition to her game-winning hit there, Straile also singled twice to finish 3-for-4, with three RBI and three runs.

Union Catholic managed 10 hits off Oak Knoll pitcher Noelle Villa, producing all of them in four innings. Villa actually struck out the side in order in the first and also pitched a perfect fifth.

Scotch Plains resident and freshman hurler Colleen Dow went 2-for-3, with a double and an RBI-single.

Vikings leadoff batter – junior left fielder Ali Rebozo – was 1-for-3 and scored three runs. She reached on a bunt single in the third, on an infield error in the fourth and on a walk in the sixth.

Also hitting safely for the Vikings were senior shortstop Toniann Beckman and sophomore third baseman Kelly Schulhafer, both going 1-for-2. Beckman connected for an RBI-single right before Farley's home run and walked twice in her previous two at-bats. Schulhafer singled in the third and scored on Straile's home run.

"Our hitting has really improved," Straile said. "We've also been getting over our fielding mistakes."

Straile had eight putouts and one assist to lead Union Catholic defensively. The Vikings did not commit an error, with Dow also reacting well to catch a line drive that was hit right back at her and Farley throwing out a runner attempting to steal second.

Dow tossed a two-hit shutout in her first state tournament contest. She allowed an opposite field triple to Villa with one out in the top of the first and an infield hit to Raquel Coviello leading off the second.

Dow, who struck out six and walked three, retired the last seven batters she faced, six of them on ground balls.

The only trouble she got in was in the fourth inning when Oak Knoll loaded the bases with two outs on a strikeout-wild pitch and two walks. Dow got the next batter to ground out to Straile at first to keep the game at 4-0.

"Colleen does her job on the mound and as fielders we do ours," Straile said. "When she gets in a slump she always seems to get out of it quickly."

Union Catholic, after getting swept by GL in Union County Conference-Mountain Division play by scores of 3-1 at home and 9-0 on the road, took the Highlanders to the 10^th inning before falling 3-2 via the International rule (starting the inning with a runner on second) in Saturday's UCT contest at Linden's Memorial Field Complex.

"It was frustrating and we were sad after the game, but we played well," Farley said. "We took the No. 2 team in the county to 10 innings and lost 3-2. We were so close. We've come very far as a team and have a lot of team spirit."

Now the Vikings will seek to get past Mother Seton to advance to the section's semifinals.

Mother Seton is 15-3 and has won six straight since a 10-0 road loss to Bishop Ahr of North Edison on May 4. The only losses have been to Bishop Ahr twice and Middlesex, which Mother Seton split with.

Head coach Tom Moran just won his 100^th game recently.

Seeking to clinch second place in the Blue Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference, Mother Seton is next scheduled to play Thursday at home at 3:45 p.m. vs. Spotswood in a Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament preliminary round game.

Should Mother Seton win that game, then it will be competing in the GMCT again on Saturday in first round action.

The squad is sparked by sophomore right hander Amy Frost (13-3) – a returning varsity player from Rahway - and speedy leadoff batter Olivia Ortiz. Slugging home runs in an 11-1 conference home win over Metuchen Saturday were Ashlee Foster, Raquel Molina and Frost.

Mother Seton still has to play at Metuchen in conference play.

Mother Seton went from the GMC's Gold Division to the Blue Division last year and won three games. The squad has a lot of players back from last year, yet had only one senior in the starting lineup vs. Metuchen.

NOTES: Union Catholic has now won more than twice the number of games it did last year when it finished 7-10.

The Vikings have one more regular season game scheduled, which is at non-league foe New Providence Monday at 4 p.m.

Union Catholic finished 9-5 in the UCC's Mountain Division, which at the moment Cranford and GL lead with just one loss to each other. The Vikings swept Roselle Catholic, Roselle, Hillside and Summit; split with Johnson; and were swept by Cranford and GL.

NON-PUBLIC, NORTH A FIRST ROUND GAME

11-OAK KNOLL (9-10)                  0   0   0     0   0   0 –  0    2  1

6-UNION CATHOLIC (15-6)         0   0   4     3   0   4 – 11  10 0

PITCHERS OF RECORD:

Oak Knoll – Noelle Villa, sophomore right hander

Union Catholic – Colleen Dow, freshman right hander, (14-6)

DOUBLES: Oak Knoll – None. Union Catholic: Colleen Dow.

TRIPLES: Oak Knoll – Noelle Villa. Union Catholic: None.

HOME RUNS: Oak Knoll – None. Union Catholic: Ashley Straile, Erin Farley. 

NON-PUBLIC, NORTH A

SEEDS: 1-Mt. St. Dominic. 2-Immaculate Heart. 3-Mother Seton.

4-Paramus Catholic. 5-DePaul. 6-Union Catholic. 7-Immaculata.

8-St. Dominic. 9-Pope John. 10-Morris Catholic. 11-Oak Knoll.

12-Pingry. 13-Roselle Catholic.

FIRST ROUND

Wednesday, May 18

Pope John 8, St. Dominic 1

DePaul 11, Pingry 0

Union Catholic 11, Oak Knoll 0

Morris Catholic 4, Immaculata 2 (9 inn.)

Thursday, May 19

13-Roselle Catholic at 4-Paramus Catholic

QUARTERFINALS

By Tuesday, May 25

At the fields of the higher seeds.

TOP SIDE OF THE BRACKET:

5-DePaul at 4-Paramus Catholic or

13-Roselle Catholic at 5-DePaul

9-Pope John at 1-Mt. St. Dominic

BOTTOM SIDE OF THE BRACKET:

10-Morris Catholic at 2-Immaculate Heart 

6-Union Catholic at 3-Mother Seton

SEMIFINALS

By Friday, May 28

At the fields of the higher seeds.

FINAL

Tuesday, June 1

At the field of the higher seed.