PHOTOS: Donovan Catholic's Magical Softball Run Ends In State Final

Elizabeth, NJ -- If the Donovan Catholic softball team keeps growing at the pace they have this season, the future is very bright.

The young Griffins (25-6) walked off the field at Kean University as the state runner-up in the NJSIAA Non-Public A championship game, falling to Immaculate Heart team 2-1 on Saturday afternoon. 

"We actually grew in one game like we did all year," head coach Debbie Schwartz said. 

And in many ways, the championship game did mirror the Griffins' entire season: A bumpy start followed by increasingly strong performances fueled by a refusal to back down to the No. 1 team in the state.

"It's a big game in a big venue, and I think they were all a little overwhelmed," Schwartz said of her lineup, which has five freshmen and four sophomores, with one senior splitting time with one of the freshmen. "But one thing about these kids is they never, ever give up. They fight to the end."

The early nerves were apparent immediately. Freshman pitcher Lindsay Nelson, who came into the game with 36 strikeouts in the last four games, hit leadoff hitter Reece Guevarra with her second pitch of the game. The speedy Guevarra then went to third on Immaculate Heart shortstop Taylor Kenerson's bunt that was bobbled as the Donovan infield tried to rush to get the out. Gurevarra and Kenerson then scored when IHA first baseman Emilie Cieslak smacked a 3-1 pitch just past the diving attempt of Donovan second baseman Mya Lamicella into right field.

But just as it appeared Immaculate Heart was in the brink of opening its championship defense with a big first inning, the Griffins steadied themselves. A popped-up bunt was squeezed for the first out. Then Donovan catcher Kati Vazquez met  Cieslak's attempt to score on a single to center by Taylor Gallagher with a tag for a key out. After a Sarah Siclari bunt gave the Blue Eagles runners at second and third, Nelson ended the threat by striking out Reagan Jones looking.

As Nelson got stronger, so did her defense, and together they gave Immaculate Heart just three more baserunners on two solid singles and a single base on balls. Nelson, who struck out 6, made a nifty backhand snare of a hit for a putout in the sixth inning; left fielder Halie DeCarlo made a diving catch of a foul ball in the second inning with a runner on second, and center fielder Grace Leone had two key catches.

At the same time, the Griffins began to figure out Immaculate Heart pitcher Olivia Sprofera, breaking through in the top of the fourth inning. Vazquez, who had two hits, smacked a two-out single to right for her second hit of the game, then stole second. Amanda MacBurnie reached on an infield hit that fell into a gap and trickled into center field, and Vazquez, who was running hard, scored. But that was all the Griffins would get as the next hitter popped a bunt into the air for the third out.

In the fifth inning, Lamicella reached on a bunt when the throw to first sailed over Lamicella's head into right field, and Alexa Pagano drilled a pitch to center. But with two outs, Schwartz held Lamicella at third on Pagano's hit, unwilling to test the arm of Gallagher, Immaculate Heart's center fielder. The Griffins weren't able to push the run across. 

Donovan got baserunners on in both the sixth and seventh innings, but Sprofera finished off the threats each time with strikeouts.

Nelson said that while the team was disappointed with the loss, the way the team played through the  state tournament means good things for 2017.

"We upset people no one thought we could beat," she said, referring to the Murderers' Row of teams that Donovan had to face en route to championship game: Immaculata, St. John Vianney, Red Bank Catholic and Notre Dame. "We'll be just as good or better next year."

"It's a huge accomplishment," said right fielder Emilie Zuhowski, the lone senior on the Donovan squad, which shared the Shore Conference Class B South title with Jackson Liberty and won the Non-Public A South championship to get to the title game.

"The pitchers we faced in (Shore Conference Class) B South, at Pinelands and Jackson Liberty and Lacey, prepared us for the state tournament," Schwartz said. "They are all young pitchers and will be back next year, too." 

"If the girls keep working hard, anything is possible," Schwartz said.

(Photos by Karen Wall)