Softball: Monroe, Warwick, Marlboro are riding momentum into playoffs
Top-ranked Monroe-Woodbury is the only large public school in the state to remain unbeaten in softball. The Crusaders (18-0) close out the regular season with a division finale at Middletown on Tuesday and a crossover with challenging Valley Central on Thursday.
“I’m really happy with our team right now,’’ said head coach Penny Roberts. “I’m really happy with how our younger players have stepped in and started to fill roles and get very comfortable with the team very quickly. And I like the leadership that our older players are getting. We have nine seniors so I expected leadership and I’m getting that, which I’m super thrilled about.’’
Monroe-Woodbury will be the No. 1 seed in Class AA when the Section 9 brackets are announced on Wednesday evening. The likely next seeds (in no particular order) will be Warwick, Kingston and Valley Central, teams M-W has beaten 17-2, 4-0, 15-1 and 7-0 over the past three weeks.
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The roots of this success for this core group go back to Monroe Little League, which won a 10-under regional title and years later was one win from reaching the World Series – Roberts coached that youth team and has 10 of those players on this high school team. She was looking at a photo of that team, and all the memories flooded back.
“I love that whole process,’’ Roberts said of the girls’ advancement. “You’re playing at such a young, tender age. The girls had so much fun and they were playing for their community. … It was really cool.’’
Why not us?
It was Warwick’s goal to not only win the OCIAA Division II title but also give Monroe-Woodbury a run for the Class AA sectional crown. The Wildcats (10-5 overall) have a one-game lead on Valley Central (11-5) headed into a final division showdown on Wednesday but Warwick must win to avoid a tie-breaker.
“Our goals were to win the division and let’s get on the other side of the (sectional) bracket against Monroe and hope for the best,’’ said coach Matt Carcaterra, his team boosted by seven seniors. “While doing that, we can’t rule out talented teams like Valley Central and Kingston (10-7) … (but) we’re feeling pretty good, we’re feeling pretty confident and hungry.’’
A win over VC would pretty much lock up a No. 2 seed behind Monroe-Woodbury. In an April 4 meeting, Warwick couldn’t push across the tying run in the seventh inning in a 2-1 setback to the Crusaders. Meeting again on May 2, though, Monroe-Woodbury sent a message with a 17-2 victory over Warwick.
Is Warwick a team that will give Monroe a run?
“I’d like to think so,’’ Carcaterra said. “We know in the back of our head that we are right there and good enough to play with them. We’ve beaten them in the past so we kind of have that confidence going in a little bit.’’
It was Warwick that surprised a 20-0 Monroe team by winning the 2019 Class AA title. The Wildcats were shifted down to Class A for 2020 and Carcaterra was hoping for back-to-back crowns but the emergence of COVID canceled the season.
“I was returning pretty much all my starters from that (2019) team and then COVID shut us down so that was heartbreaking,’’ Carcaterra said.
High-scoring Dukes
Marlboro carries an 11-1 record into the Mid-Hudson Athletic League Final Four in Highland on Wednesday – the Dukes will play either Roosevelt or Saugerties in the American Conference final at 4:30 p.m. and a win would put them in the 7 p.m. final against National Conference survivor Spackenkill or Pine Plains.
A chief reason for Marlboro’s success has been a lineup that is hitting well from one to 10 in the batting order. The Dukes have topped double-digit runs in seven contests, taking pressure off the pitchers and a good defense.
“The one big jump team-wise has been definitely hitting,’’ said coach Ray Leduc. “Some games different girls step up and we get some production; if they’re not maybe hitting for a game or two then different parts of the lineup have been stepping up.’’
Leduc is relying on the likes of Ava Del Salto, Kasey Conn, Kalista Birkenstock and Ray’s daughter, Ella. Even toward the bottom of the lineup there’s been production from Carly Correa, Emmie Mae Cabrera, Emma Jackson and Isabella Gulcaglayan. In early May, the team had only 10 strikeouts.
A top contender in Class B, Leduc believes his team has all the elements to challenge for the sectional title, thanks in part to five seniors who are currently in their fifth or sixth varsity season.
“We have some seasoned girls, which helps,’’ Leduc said. “We don’t have to do as much as far as practicing to go over stuff. They’ve been through the gauntlet.’’
kmcmillan@th-record.com
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Softball: Monroe, Warwick, Marlboro are riding momentum into playoffs
