Softball: Murray, Wieczerzak power St. Thomas over Metuchen in battle of unbeatens

METUCHEN — The difference in demeanor between the St. Thomas Aquinas and Metuchen high school softball teams in the minutes prior to the showdown between Middlesex County’s top-ranked teams couldn’t have been more disparate on Saturday.

While Metuchen psyched itself up for its biggest game of the year by singing and dancing to an eclectic mix, ranging from reggae to boy bands, the Trojans went about their pre-game routine in workmanlike manner, arranging their gear and occasionally acknowledging the beats with a head-bob or two.

The Trojans wouldn’t have to wait too long to celebrate, however, as their No. 3 batter, Mary Kate Murray, drilled a home run to dead center, her third in as many at-bats, providing – as it turned out -- the only run her team would need in an 8-0 win.

Murray later added a three-run shot to deep left, her eighth of the season, finishing off the scoring as St. Thomas (7-1), No. 1 in the Home News Tribune Top 10, rolled over second-ranked Metuchen (4-1).

Hayley Wieczerzak (5-1) fired a gem for the Trojans, authoring a four-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts and four walks, and was able to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard, despite placing runners in scoring positioning in each of the final four innings.

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Murray, who closed Friday’s 10-2 win over Lodi Immaculate with a two-run blast, following a grand slam, fell behind 0-2 to her longtime summer teammate, Abby Kozo, in the first inning at bat, then worked the count to 3-2. She hit a towering fly ball to deep center that Metuchen’s Leslie Flaherty tracked down and got her glove on before crashing into, and then over, the temporary fence for a home run.

Kozo nearly knotted the score in the bottom of the first as she led off with a double that two Trojan outfielders collided on while trying to make a play. She took third on a wild pitch and tried to score on a one-out, sharp grounder to third by Flaherty. Murray field the ball and fired to the plate to nail Kozo. It was the closest Metuchen came to tying the score.

The Trojans added three runs in the second with run-scoring singles by Amya Hill and Wieczerzak, and Hill made it 5-0 with another RBI-single in the fourth. Murray’s second blast capped the scoring.

Metuchen, which came in averaging 12 runs a game in the GMC’s top division, placed runners on second and third base in the fourth and fifth frames, and first and second in the sixth and seventh innings, but could not capitalize.

What it means

The outcome leaves St. Thomas (4-0) as the lone unbeaten team in the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division, with Metuchen and South Plainfield close behind at 4-1. This was the Trojans’ fourth win in a row over Metuchen, who last won in this series on April 19, 2014.

Key play

After Kozo led off the bottom of the first with a double and took third on a wild pitch, Flaherty drilled a hard grounder to third. Kozo took off and Murray, at the urging of her infield teammates, fired to the plate to gun down Kozo. Had Kozo been safe Metuchen would have tied the score with one out and a runner on, and it might have been a different contest.

“We took a chance there and it didn’t pay off,” Metuchen coach Hannah Thomas explained. “I think if we continue to be aggressive on the basepaths due to small ball, bunts, that sort of thing, it will work for us in the future.”

By the numbers

Between Friday and Saturday, Murray hit for the home run cycle: a solo shot, a two-run blast, a three-run clout and a grand slam. She homered in three consecutive at bats, and now has eight home runs this year and 29 for her career.

The first four batters in the St. Thomas lineup (Hill, Wiezczerzak, Murray and Liz Negron) collected 12 hits, drove in seven runs and scored five times. The top two batters for Metuchen delivered all four Bulldog hits, a single and double for Kozo and a pair of base hits by Kiara Guzman.

Game balls

For all of Murray’s heroics, Wieczerzak had the hard-hitting Bulldogs on their heels for seven innings.

They said it

“I just tried to stay very calm in the box, I didn’t psych myself out,” Murray said about falling behind in her first inning at bat. “I think that home run kind of took a toll for the game and we got really hyped and continued that momentum. I’ve played with Abby since I was 11 and I love Abby, we’ve stayed friends through the years. It’s always fun playing against your friends.”

Murray could not recall being in a hotter groove and attributed it to the work she puts in.

“I worked really hard in the off season to improve from the past two years. Coming into my senior season I really wanted to have a statement year and do really well with my team for the last time.”

On Wieczerzak: “Hayley’s been very, very good on the mound and she’s been dominating, but she was dominating last year and I think she’s keeping that momentum through last summer into this year.”

“(Hayley’s) a great pitcher and if she keeps the ball in the right spot, she hits all of her spots and keeps them off balance, we don’t have to do much on defense,” St. Thomas coach Missy Collazo concurred. “It was a good game. She walks a few too many people. She’s pitched a lot of good games this year. The Morris Catholic game (a 1-0 loss), I thought was phenomenal that she pitched as well. It’s hard to say what was her best. She did a great job today in a big spot. It’s big win, it’s a division game. The first goal is to win the division, the second goal is to win the county and then get further in the states, so this is one step in the right direction. First round through the division, try to win all of the games we can.”

“It’s very frustrating to put up zero runs when we have the caliber of hitters that we have,” Thomas said. “It’s frustrating, not that we can’t hit a pitcher like this but it just didn’t happen today. We just couldn’t get the big hit. We got the kids on, they had more patient at bats toward the end of the game, we made Hayley work a little bit harder, throw more pitches. She was the only out there the entire game and obviously, she was tired, it’s hot out here, so our approach was a better toward the end of the game. We just weren’t able to get that big one.”

Up next

St. Thomas travels to Old Bridge Monday, while Metuchen hosts Bernards. Both teams take on No. 3 South Plainfield later in the week, which could shake up the Red Division race.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Softball: Murray, Wieczerzak power St. Thomas over Metuchen