Gritty Mountaineers Fall in Millburn Tournament Final

West Orange's softball team is making a transition as the season approaches the home stretch.

The Mountaineers, who routed Verona 14-2 Monday, lost a 6-5 heartbreaker in eight innings to Governor Livingston of Berkeley Heights Tuesday in the final of the Millburn Tournament. That final was rained out back on April 16.

West Orange, 14-6, played a strong game against a very good team – Governor Livingston is 17-2 and has a 10-game winning streak.Governor Livingston took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The Mountaineers tied it in the fourth, but the Highlanders regained the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the inning. The Mountaineers scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth to take a 5-3 lead.

Governor Livingston tied in the bottom of the inning and won it in the eighth on an RBI single by Mackenzie Liss. The winning run was scored by Emily Beisser, who reached on an error.

West Orange coach Jamie Galioto is trying to find the right fit after losing junior third baseman Lindsay Flores to a broken ankle last week in a game with Columbia.

"We're still trying to figure things out," said Galioto. "Defensively, we're all out of position. We have to come up with another plan. Singles are turning into triples."

Galioto said that sophomore Kelly Bolen will be the third baseman when the Mountaineers play a game at Glen Ridge Wednesday. The Mountaineers then will return home Thursday for a game to play Millburn, a team they lost to 3-2 on April 8. 

"We're going to try things out," said Galioto. "We're looking for her to make the routine play. Hopefully the kids won't be uncomfortable at the positions they're playing."

Senior right fielder Nora Crann went 2-for-4 with a run scored, RBI, single, double and triple. Junior Molly Rich went 1-for-4 with an RBI double and junior Ariel Stanziale went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

"We're just not comfortable at the positions we're at, hopefully the changes will fix that," he said.