Lady Braves Advance to Group II Final With 8-2 Win

After an 8-2 victory over the West Essex Knights at Pulaski Park in Bloomfield, the Lady Braves are on their way to their first Group II championship.

Before their matchup against the Braves on Tuesday, West Essex did not surrender a run in four games on their way to a sectional title.  The Braves turned that trend around, hanging up eight runs on Austin Leigh and the Knights.

Hills fed off the mistakes made by the Knights, putting the ball in play all game long and forcing West Essex to make plays. Several Knights' errors opened the door for the Braves, who made them pay for their mistakes.

"The one thing we do is we make contact," said Coach Joe Leicht. "We keep telling the girls if you make contact, one of two things are going to happen: you're either going to find the hole or someone makes a mistake."  Both of those things happened against the Knights, and it showed on the scoreboard.

Indian Hills controlled the momentum throughout the majority of the game, but early on it was West Essex who put a scare into their opponent. On just the second pitch of the game, Christina Galese took Katie Enright to deep center for a leadoff home run. Enright settled in and retired the next three batters, but the Knights had an early 1-0 lead.

West Essex threatened to add to their lead in both the second and third, but both times the Braves' lockdown defense got them out of jams.

In the second, the Knights had first and second with one out, but a big play by Kelly Strittmatter put an end to the rally Strittmatter made a great running catch on a lazy line drive that looked like it would drop between first and second, then doubled up the runner at first to end the inning.

The Knights threatened again in the third, getting the first two batters to reach base safely. The next batter lined the ball up the middle, but Strittmatter made an incredible lunging catch, tossed to Danielle Brogan to double up the runner at second, then threw to Christie Testa at first for an unimaginable triple play.  

After the game, Leicht gave the highest of praises to his junior second baseman, calling her the best infielder he has ever coached in baseball or softball in his 36-year coaching career. "She's unreal. She's the best in the world."

Strittmatter credited the huge triple play as the turning point in the game. "Defense is a huge part of the game. If you don't play defense, you can't win."

Of course, you can't win without run support, and Strittmatter did her part getting the Braves on the scoreboard. In the bottom of the third, Strittmatter tied the game after crossing the plate on an RBI groundout by Enright. Then in the fourth, RBIs by Carey Houston and Perri Goldberg raised Indian Hills' lead to 3-1.

The big inning came in the fifth, when the Braves put the game out of reach by tacking on five more runs. Both hard base hits and Knights' errors lead to the big inning, highlighted by RBIs from Kara Pepper, Strittmatter (two), and Ashley DeYoung.

Enright cruised from the fourth inning on, giving up just three hits over the final three innings and a late run in a rainy seventh inning. The senior pitcher assisted on the final out, throwing out Galese at first to seal an 8-2 win.

The Braves play Overbrook from out of the South or Governor Livingston from the Central on Saturday in Toms River for the Group II championship.