Softball: South Brunswick's offense breaks out in GMCT quarterfinal win

COLONIA - In its two prior matchups with J.P. Stevens, South Brunswick seemed to get just enough offense late to manage victories.

On April 5, the Vikings scored three runs in the top of the eighth and won 5-3. On April 23 it scored one run, the game winner, in the sixth inning for a 1-0 win.

On Wednesday night with much more on the line in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament quarterfinals, it was a completely different story as the Vikings' offense exploded in a 9-1 victory over the Hawks (10-8).

A four-run first inning from the Vikings (13-7) set the tone that Wednesday night wasn’t going to be similar to the two April matchups, and Elizabeth Mullen pitched all seven innings and got out of a couple jams to keep the Hawks off the scoreboard early.

“We know that [Leila Ruiz] is a tremendous pitcher who locates the ball really well so we just had to make a few adjustments from our past games,” South Brunswick coach Heather Wells said. “We were a little too aggressive in the past and we just needed to sit back and wait for our pitch. We were able to do that today and we made her just throw a lot more pitches that she normally would have and really pick and choose what to swing at.”

The Vikings are clicking on all cylinders at the right time of the season, as its win streak has now reached seven games with important victories over Old Bridge, Roxbury, and now J.P. Stevens in that stretch.

Having one of the tougher schedules in the conference throughout this season has really pushed the Vikings to learn from their mistakes along the way and quickly. Now in tournament time where it’s win or go home, the Vikings are leaning on that maturity to a potential deep postseason run in both conference and state play.

“Throughout the season we’ve been pushed with a very tough schedule,” Wells said. “It’s not like we could mess around with stuff in easier games so we kind of had to live and learn and figure out what worked best for us. Having open communication with everyone and being on board about understanding that every single game is going to be different and bounce back from those mistakes you’re inevitably going to make. If we’re able to do that, our energy level stays up and positive throughout the entirety of the game. We’ve really been riding that in the second half of the season.”

What it means 

South Brunswick will move on to face top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the GMC Tournament semifinals on Saturday morning.

The Vikings have now won seven straight games going back to April 29.

With Wednesday’s loss, J.P. Stevens has been knocked out of the GMCT and only has state tournament games left to play in 2022.

Key plays 

After striking out two batters in the top half of the first, Mullen helped herself out in the bottom half with an infield single that drove in Ella Squaires to open the scoring.

Three batters later the bases were loaded for Carla Seyfarth, who doubled to right center and drove in all three runners and South Brunswick held an early 4-0 lead.

After three scoreless innings from both sides, sophomore Gianna Angermeier led off the bottom of the fifth with an inside the park home run, just beating the throw at home plate to put the Vikings up 5-0.

Both the infield and outfield were playing aggressively in for Angermeier, a slapper, who was already on her way to third base by the time outfielders were just getting it in.

Later on that inning Mullen helped herself out again and doubled to left center, driving in another run to extend the lead to 6-0.n in the bottom of the sixth.

Keelin O’Brien put the finishing touches on the victory with a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.

The Hawks made a habit early and often on Wednesday of stranding runners on base with a chance to close the gap before South Brunswick could extend its lead.

In the third, fifth and sixth innings J.P. left a runner or two in scoring position on base. Those runners would get on base with less than two outs as well.

Emma Clemens drove in the Hawks only run of the day in the top of the sixth with a sacrifice fly, but even then J.P. had runners on second and third with no outs, then again with two outs but grounded out to end the scoring threat.

When Mullen was getting herself out of those jams, she wasn’t overpowering and striking out J.P.‘s batters, but instead forcing them to hit in on the ground and trusting that the infield would make a play.

By the numbers 

O’Brien had two hits, three RBI, and scored three runs as well. Mullen had two RBI on three hits, and Seyfarth’s lone hit was her first inning double that drove in three runs.

Mullen pitched all seven innings and gave up just one run on six hits, striking out seven along the way.

Clemens had the only RBI for J.P. on her sixth inning sacrifice fly, which McKenna Graham scored on.

They said it

Heather Wells on the insurance runs, “Those fifth and sixth runs were vital to make sure we kept our foot on the gas,” Wells said. “I always want them to play the game likes it’s 0-0. It’s not enough, ‘cause you never know what’s going to happen especially in tournament time. It’s always 0-0, never look at the scoreboard, never lower the intensity and just finish it through.”

“[Mullen] is one of the most coolheaded pitchers I’ve ever had,” Wells said. “She’s 100 percent a team player, it’s never about her, and she really trusts her defense. She know that she’s got players behind her who will run through a wall to save a run for her. She trusts them and with that, she’s able to focus and calm down and really get the job done. Any pitcher at this point of the season, there’s a lot of stress and pressure but I’ve got seven starters who’ve played together since they were little and they want to finish together.”

What’s next 

Before South Brunswick plays in the conference semifinals on Saturday, it’ll play Freehold Township in the quarterfinals of Central Group 4 on Friday afternoon.

Also on Friday, J.P Stevens will face off with Elizabeth in the quarterfinals of North 2 Group 4.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Softball: South Brunswick's offense breaks out in GMCT quarterfinals