CLARK, NJ- Well, just like that, another softball season in Clark has come and gone with another successful season in the books for the Johnson Crusaders varsity softball team. If I was one to say we were going to experience what we did, I would’ve told you during those preseason practices that it would have been a longshot! For a season without two of the better players that led the program from 2014-2017, here are the final looks of the 2018 season now that we are heading towards the end of the school year.
2018 Season:
-19-6 record (6-2 in conference play)
-2018 Union County Conference Watchung Division Champions
-2018 NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Sectional Finalist
I hadn’t been sure of what to expect of the upcoming season, with what the program had lost to graduation, I was curious as to who was going to fill up the holes with the season quickly approaching, or should I say, good weather, with six games getting cancelled due to rain (four games not played, two rescheduled). It was a pain in the neck and disappointing, with some of the best teams supposed to play Johnson, we lost out on games against Watchung Hills, Mt. St. Dominic Academy, Roselle Park and Bridgewater-Raritan.
Wins:
Elizabeth (2)
Cranford (2)
Westfield
Governor Livingston
Immaculata
Benedictine Academy
Scotch Plains-Fanwood
Pope John
DePaul
Pingry
Brearley
Metuchen
Monroe Township
Carteret (NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 First Round)
Chatham
South Plainfield (NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Quarterfinals)
Bordentown (NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Semifinals)
Losses:
J.P. Stevens
Hunterdon Central
Westfield
Summit (Union County Tournament First Round)
Governor Livingston
Robbinsville (NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Sectional Final)
-My Preseason Thoughts:
I wouldn’t call myself a pessimist as much when looking at the upcoming season, more being curious of what was to come with some new faces, some people taking new positions and everything in-between for Johnson. I thought at the start of the season that Westfield and Cranford were going to be the teams who would be running away with the conference, but after seeing how some of the first games were unfolding, I said this was going to be a “wait-and-see” experience.
I already knew the spots of pitching (second starter), first base and shortstop would be the main areas that new faces were going to be playing. I had covered 15 of the 25 games and got to see some really great action within those games, even if they were wins or losses. The players, many of whom I’ve known since their freshman or sophomore year were all great!
Roster:
1- Lia D’Angelo- SS
2- Mackenzie Purcell- 2B
3- Nicole Pecoraro- P
7- Jen Tinger- 3B
9- Hannah Brogan- RF
11- Bailey Rosenmeier- 1B
20- Sydney Tropeano- CF
22- Victoria Zatko- SS
23- Nicole Cassano- P/RF
24- Lauren Donah- LF
32- Megan Tinger- C
Here are the players and some thoughts I wrote from the 2018 season:
#1- Lia D’Angelo (Sophomore)
Lia D’Angelo was a player who was relied upon to run the bases as a courtesy runner for the catcher and did quite a good job in the situations where baserunning was critical towards the outcome of a game. Although I didn’t see her play as much, she definitely has a chance to do some really good things in her junior and senior seasons with the Johnson Varsity Softball team.
#2- Mackenzie Purcell (Senior)
Mackenzie Purcell has been a great infielder and an amazing teammate throughout her entire high school softball career. A great teammate in the dugout, leader on the field, she always helped her team in her days as a Crusader. I remember the road game at Governor Livingston, going up there for coverage, she had a fantastic day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a triple, making the 9-5 win a sweet one, avenging the 1-0 loss in the 2017 Union County Tournament Finals.
Overall, she finished with career numbers that consisted of a .258 batting average, 58 hits, 15 doubles, three triples, 42 RBIs, 33 walks and four stolen bases. Although her time on the varsity team as a freshman was not as much, she won the starting job at second base her sophomore year and really went off and rode with it. Her work on defense was just as important and great to watch, outside of the offense.
I graduated with her older brother Chris, so I had indirectly known her parents prior to the start of the softball season, when she and the players of the 2016 team had big shoes to fill, replacing the holes from a dynamic 2015 team that had won 22 games the previous season.
Not only to mention she was a member of three conference championship teams (2015, 2016, 2018), the 2016 Union County Tournament championship team that broke the curse of the semifinals that had plagued teams of the past. Purcell was also a key player in the 2016 NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 sectional championship, a run that was quite memorable for all those involved, from coaches to players to parents and those who covered any portion of that run.
She had the key sacrifice bunt that moved Victoria Zatko to second base, setting up Bailey Rosenmeier’s game-winning RBI single that lifted Johnson over Raritan in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Quarterfinals, which of course, I couldn’t be there in person to see, attending my younger brother’s graduation from Union County College, but received the updates on the game from the parents (you should’ve seen my face in the phases of receiving text messages during the graduation ceremony).
In addition to that, she had some great games at the plate her sophomore season. The first one, was the 2016 Union County Tournament First Round against Rahway (15-3 Johnson win, game called after top of the fifth inning due to the mercy rule).
She went 2-for-3 with a double and four RBIs, including a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning that gave Johnson a 4-2 lead, along with a fourth-inning two-run single that sealed the game as part of a six-run inning that put the game away. The next big game at the plate included on Wednesday, May 11 against Union, the day the Crusaders honored Stephanie Visconti and Gabby Zatko with their annual Senior Day game.
Purcell went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, adding to the offensive onslaught, as the Crusaders defeated Union 12-1, with a two-run single, as part of a seven-run bottom of the fourth inning. She made the key hits and baserunning decisions throughout her entire career! Which, to be honest, is much more important than knocking in three to five runs per game. It is those players who don’t receive the recognition that the major players receive after every big game and win.
She did a lot of great things for the program and has all the accolades to reflect upon, including the 2016 Union County Tournament chanpionship, three conference championships and the 2016 sectional championship and I wish #2 the best in her future in college and her future endeavors!
#3- Nicole Pecoraro (Junior)
Having seen Nicole Pecoraro play a little when she was on junior varsity, I knew the varsity team would be getting a key pitcher who would step it up in the games where Nicole Cassano would be playing in the outfield or needed a day to keep her arm fresh for the conference and state tournament games.
She took the spot on the pitching rotation of Cassano, who became the go-to and number one pitcher following the graduation of Gianna Randazza.
The biggest thing I noticed, featured the ten-inning thriller in the 2017 Junior Varsity Union County Tournament Finals, where Johnson defeated Governor Livingston 9-8, the first JV county championship in quite a long time, but a run for all of them to remember. She was going to leave an impact and be a great player, supporting her teammates in the dugout and whenever she would be in the circle and pitching.
She went 6-0 in her first varsity season, capturing wins against Elizabeth, Immaculata, DePaul, Pingry, Metuchen and Monroe Township. Her statistics featured 43 innings pitched, 27 strikeouts, seven walks. scattering 51 hits and allowing 27 earned runs.
I can remember the Immaculata game vividly, where it could’ve gotten ugly, but Johnson turned the 6-1 deficit into a 9-6 win with an eight-run sixth inning to get a huge win, as Johnson built a seven-game winning streak after an 0-2 start to the season. She looked good on the mound and had a lot of her pitches and work on the mound coming together for her and she did good whenever called upon to go to the circle for games for her junior season.
There were also wins on the mound against DePaul, a game I saw that almost got away late, but Pecoraro and her teammates held on to get the final outs to secure a sweep at the Cedar Grove Tournament.
She will definitely be a key component of the softball team moving onto her senior year and she has a lot of great things to look forward to!
#7- Jen Tinger (Senior)
Jen Tinger had been the team’s starting third baseman since her sophomore year and she also had to take on the task of filling in the shoes of a 2015 Johnson graduate who held the role of third base and with the season rolling around, she had done some great things and was a key player of the accomplishments the program achieved that 2016 season.
The first time I saw her have a great day at the plate was the 2016 Union County Tournament Quarterfinals, in the cold and rain in Linden. She went 2-for-4, but drove in a key run in a game that could’ve gotten out of control for the Crusaders. She made a lot of great plays at third base, but there is one play that stands out when I reflect upon all the coverage that I’ve done.
In the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Sectional Final against Voorhees, she appeared to make the routine throw to first base for an out, but the runner beat out the throw. The next moment before I knew it, Visconti heaved the ball back to Tinger to get the lead runner out in the top of the third inning, a huge play that kept the game scoreless and proved to be a difference as her team captured the sectional title for the first time in 20 years.
Another thing she did, included the start of the four-run bottom of the sixth inning. Originally, she stood at the plate with a runner at first with one out. However, after a caught-stealing and a 3-0 count turned into 3-2, plate discipline was going to be important to get runners on base and she got it all started with a walk.
Following that, Gabby Zatko reached on an error and Shannon Brogan’s bloop RBI single came with Gianna Randazza’s three-run home run that effectively sealed the deal and the sectional championship for Johnson, when it was rare to capture one with powerhouse programs like Robbinsville and Bordentown in that section.
Overall, she always did the little things that mattered more in the games, such as getting on base via walk, single, double, etc. Sometimes, it’s the players like that who contribute the most, although they may not be the ones who tie the game or win the game, but set up those situations, which is more important in the big games.
This past season, she completed a massive comeback effort against Immaculata, driving home the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly as Johnson won 9-6, perhaps one of the greatest comeback games I think I’ve covered.
“Our team is really outgoing,” Tinger said following the win against Immaculata. “It shows no matter what happens, we can bounce back as a team and nobody goes down alone. Once someone gets a good hit, we just build off of that and good things happen.”
Her final career numbers for Johnson included a .271 batting average, 57 hits, four doubles, one triple and 23 RBIs.
She also named the 2018 Johnson Varsity Softball Best Teammate, receiving recognition at the Spring Sports Awards ceremony in May. She was a great presence in the dugout and in practices, always wanting to see her teammates get better and improve every single day of the season.
I wish her the best as she takes the game of softball with her to College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey. I know she’ll do well and continue to take the work ethic she led the team with throughout her entire career and do great work at the collegiate level!
#9- Hannah Brogan (Junior)
Hannah Brogan had gotten her varsity career started her sophomore year with her older sister Shannon being in her senior year and had bounced between that team along with junior varsity. I knew she came through with a lot of big hits throughout the games on the JV team and had a feeling she was due for some big-time games, to follow in the footsteps of Shannon.
The comeback game against Immaculata was the first time I saw her in a clutch situation. It was her RBI triple that got Johnson to within 2-1, before the Spartans got their runs and before the Johnson rally in the bottom of the sixth inning that captured their third straight win at the time. She also got a rally started with a two-run double against Pope John at the Cedar Grove Tournament on April 21.
Another big game she had was at Governor Livingston on May 1, where Johnson snapped a three-game losing streak to the Highlanders. She hit a towering home run to deep left field and chugged around the bases with great speed, completing a big win for the Crusaders that was the framework of their run to the Union County Conference Watchung Division championship and the second in the past three seasons for the program.
The next week of the season produced some more big hits for Brogan. In the second game against Governor Livingston, she produced a game-tying two-run triple with two outs in the bottom of the tenth inning, narrowly missing a potential walk-off home run by a few feet, which would’ve been a great way to win the conference, but proved to be a classic softball game against two longtime rivals.
The next game at Cranford saw more great hitting from Hannah, including a two-run double in a six-run top of the sixth inning, where Johnson secured the conference championship, where they trailed 1-0 before tying the game in the top of the fifth inning.
Hannah definitely has one more big year ahead of her in her senior season, where she will be one of the key players and continue the tradition of the competition that the Johnson Varsity Softball team brings every single day of the season.
#11- Bailey Rosenmeier (Junior)
Bailey Rosenmeier was the kind of hitter who could strike when other teams least expected it to happen and she was stepping on the field for the first time since her freshman season in 2016, having missed the entire 2017 season due to a major knee injury.
I had a feeling she was going to have a breakout year, with it only being a matter of how everything was going to pan out when she and the team started it all out.
She became the team’s first baseman, which I sort of thought she would have good games defensively. Working for the chance and taking this position in the infield, she took it and never looked back, providing big-time hits for her team as the season progressed.
Once again, the Immaculata game was the one where she and a lot of other players really showed how they would handle the major moments and respond after a shaky start to a game. It was her bases-clearing triple that really began the entire rally. It turned a 6-2 deficit into a 6-5 game and appeared to really spark the team’s come-from-behind win and keep the positive momentum of the season.
Before that, I didn’t have a doubt she would crack through when the team needed a big hit the most. It was her game-winning RBI single that gave Johnson a 2-1 win over Raritan during their sectional championship run in 2016. She did get the offense started in the 2016 Union County Tournament Finals with an RBI single, which is funny, since I read a lot of my old works and reflect upon everything I’ve seen and what these players achieved in their earlier years of the program.
She delivered an RBI single on May 8, the team’s Senior Day game against Elizabeth, where the Crusaders won in epic fashion, with Victoria Zatko’s walk-off, two-run home run was the second-to-last moments of the icing on the cake to the team’s conference championship.
Her game-tying RBI single in the top of the fifth inning against Cranford got her team back in it and settled down what was a tight game and set up what was to come in the top of the sixth inning, adding a conference championship to the program’s outstanding history.
Her comeback season featured numbers such as a .222 batting average, 18 hits, five doubles, one triple, 16 RBIs and two walks. She did some great things with the basketball team in the months leading up to the softball season and I have no doubt she will do more great things as she moves ahead to her senior season of softball and give more great work to the young players and mentor them and give it one last run.
#20- Sydney Tropeano (Senior)
Sydney Tropeano had to fill in another major role that was vacated from the 2015 senior class and did a good job as the team’s starting center fielder the past three seasons with the Crusaders. This was really the first major year I had the chance to see her step up at the plate, serving majorly as the flex player (play in the field, but no at-bats, sort of like a reverse-designated hitter as you see in baseball).
I graduated with her older sister Sam, so it was cool updating her sister whenever I had the chance to do so through my crazy schedule and I did see her sister share the game story from the Immaculata-Johnson game on Facebook and knew that my good work had spread to the people who share the works on Facebook, which I always appreciate.
Tropeano was another example of someone who could get the big hit and surprise a lot of opposing pitchers when she stepped up to the plate. In the home opener against Cranford, she went 2-for-3 and scored a run in the win. The game the next day against Immaculata, she got the game to a tie, delivering with a clutch RBI single, scoring Rosenmeier to tie the game at 6-6. That was a game where most of that comeback was completed before the first out was even recorded.
She also had speed and showed it on the basepaths. In that same game, she made the turn for second base and went to third on an error. Following a flyout in that game by Jen Tinger, she raced home and scored to give her team a 7-6 lead as a part of that big sixth inning.
On May 1 at Governor Livingston, she knocked in a run and had two hits that contributed to the 9-5 win for Johnson. Tropeano was a key element in the lineup, getting on base in the critical situations to allow the other girls to assist in team efforts to come through whenever the major hits were needed the most.
Like the other four seniors, she was part of the 2016 sectional championship team, the same team that won the county and conference championships, the year everyone broke through, breaking every curse that seemed to plague the great things of teams in the past.
I wish #20 the best of luck in her future endeavors and it was great getting to cover most of the years of her career with the Johnson softball program.
#22- Victoria Zatko (Junior)
Victoria Zatko was one of the emergent-type players for Johnson as this season started. She did have some big hits earlier on in her career, but this was really the first year where she was really starting to rip the cover off the ball and produce major hits in a more constant manner. She was also changing her position, playing more of her junior season at shortstop instead of her usual position of catcher.
Although I wasn’t all the way in West Jersey, she hit her first home run of the season at Hunterdon Central, a two-run shot in a 5-2 loss, but one to set the stage of what was to come for Zatko and the team. One major game that although I missed, I kept track of, the game against Scotch Plains-Fanwood on April 17, where she had a day at the plate.
She went 4-for-5 with two home runs and three RBIs, a showing of how she can intimidate opposing pitchers and make them want to pitch around her whenever she was at the plate. That was one of those colder days of the season, where I was bundled up and covering a high school baseball game, receiving updates from parents and taking notes of the baseball game, but I figured since the softball game was already in the sense of a blowout,
Her amazing performance in that game got her nominated for the Jersey Sports Zone Mid-State 38 Player of the Week for softball! I remember voting close to maybe 200 or 300 times, but I couldn’t remember exactly because I think I lost count after the first two waves of trying to get the votes out and sending the link out to assist in getting the honor for her.
In the Cedar Grove Tournment against Pope John, she brought home two runs on a single in a five-run third inning that gave Johnson a lead they would not relinquish after trailing 3-0 early on.
She continued to rake at the plate as the season rolled along. The biggest memory I have of her junior year, along with the Jersey Sports Zone recognition, was her walk-off, two-run home run against Elizabeth in the bottom of the tenth inning to win the game for Johnson on Senior Day 4-3 in ten innings that guaranteed, at the time, a share of the Union County Conference Watchung Division title.
I recorded that on video and felt thankful I moved near the other side of the dugout to capture the hit, the emotions and the celebration at the plate! There must be something about the number 22 that makes it a great thing for Johnson softball, the last payer to wear that number was her older sister, Gabby.
The next day, Jersey Sports Zone came to a practice and rewarded her with a game ball for her success at the plate against Scotch Plains-Fanwood. That was a great thing to see, with her hard work paying off and receiving the recognition she deserved as one of Johnson’s Rising Stars, I have to term it, as one of the players returning next season to leave a positive mark on the program.
The NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Semifinals was another moment where she took advantage of and came up huge for her team. She drove in two runs with a single up the middle that set off an offensive surge against Burlington County-powerhouse Bordentown, a day where the season had ended one calendar year prior to the 2018 season. It gave Johnson a 5-1 lead and a lot of momentum towards a 7-3 win to advance to the program’s second sectional final appearance in the past three seasons.
Her final numbers for the 2018 season included 38 hits, six doubles, two triples, five home runs, 23 RBIs, 14 walks an two stolen bases.
She stands at 94 career hits, which I have no doubt she will reach her 100th career hit as her senior year rolls around. Victoria has really emerged as someone who could be one of the best players in the state entering the summer and someone who can also do a lot of damage as her senior year rolls around!
#23- Nicole Cassano (Senior)
Nicole Cassano really pitched some great games on the mound, although I had initially covered games where she was the team’s right fielder, before seeing more time on the mound as the second pitcher behind Gianna Randazza as the 2017 season came around.
One game that stood out to me from that year was the game on May 2, 2017, where Johnson faced off with fellow Union County powerhouse Governor Livingston, she held a loaded lineup to only two runs, while scattering 14 hits in a 2-1 loss in nine innings, which showed the stuff she was capable of doing as her senior year rolled around where she would be taking over on the mound as the number one starter.
The first game I saw her pitch was the home opener against Cranford on April 12, where she was seeking her first win of the season and delivered against a tough Cranford lineup that got a jump on her early in the game. She struck out six batters, scattered eight hits and allowed no earned runs (two total) as Johnson pulled out a 4-2 win and one to give them a needed jolt after a week of the season was washed out from the heavy rains of the previous week.
She went 3-for-4 at the plate, including a triple in the wild, come-from-behind win over Immaculata, a win that I think set the tone for what this team was capable of bringing every day on the field. Three days after losing to Westfield on their home field 6-5, she went 3-for-4 with two doubles and drove in two runs in a 5-2 win that completed a home-and-home series, but gave Johnson the conference lead heading into the Governor Livingston matchups that followed in the month of May.
In a 8-7 win over Pingry on April 30, she went 3-for-4 with five RBIs, a double and a home run. She launched a three-run home run in the bottom of the second inning where it was a high-scoring affair earlier on before Johnson was able to hold on and capture the win, after a setback in the first round of the Union County Tournament, a loss where I felt the seniors helped bring the team closer together and continue to get after it, only losing one game after the county loss before reaching the sectional final.
She delivered clutch hits including the go-ahead solo home run in a 7-2 win over Cranford that clinched the conference championship for Johnson, in their final conference game of the season. This also included a solo home run against South Plainfield in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Quarterfinals on May 23.
Her final numbers for the 2018 season on the mound included a 13-6 record, 117 strikeouts, 37 walks, scattering 116 hits while allowing 38 earned runs in her starts. Her numbers at the plate included a .371 batting average, 33 hits, seven doubles, three triples, four home runs, 20 RBIs.
Overall, her career numbers on the mound featured an 18-10 record over three years on the varsity team, 143 strikeouts and 46 walks. At the plate, she finished with a .336 batting average, 85 hits, 20 doubles, five triples, seven home runs and 60 RBIs. She was one player you could rely upon to give the team great production whenever a big game came around. She was a powerful one to deal with at the plate and trying to solve her at the plate was perhaps a project for opposing team pitchers.
What’s really cool is that she is taking the game of softball to the collegiate level and she will be teammates once again with Shannon Brogan at Moravian College. I wish #23 the best and know she will only get better as the years with collegiate softball will be the best ones to come.
#24- Lauren Donah (Senior)
Lauren Donah was someone who would make opposing pitchers and work into a deep count and would draw walks or some really big base hits to get the team going at the plate whenever a spark was needed. She was a great dugout presence and always cheering on her teammates whenever energy was needed in the dugout towards a rally or a big moment of a game where Johnson would rally.
On April 17 against Scotch Plains-Fanwood, she went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs, contributing to the 20-6 onslaught the Crusaders displayed. Four days later, she took part in a big top of the third inning at the Cedar Grove Tournament. This included a big two-run double that gave Johnson a 2-1 lead at the time. They would win 7-4 and would go on to sweep the Cedar Grove Tournament meetings to improve their winning streak to seven games.
She saw most of her time in the outfield, particularly in left field where she did well on defense, running down the fly balls to get some big outs for the team when they were needed. There were a handful of games where she really provided a spark for her team at the plate, especially the Governor Livingston game, where I am sure everyone had it marked down on the calendar with the conference and revenge from the county finals loss the previous season that everyone hoped to wipe out in this game.
In that 9-5 win, Donah went 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the top of the first inning, the third of three straight hits that gave Johnson a 2-0 lead in the visitor half of the inning. Along with that, Lauren singled in the top of the fifth inning and scored on a single from Sydney Tropeano that made it a 7-1 lead for Johnson.
Having known her parents since my days as the Johnson Varsity Softball manager, I knew a lot of softball pictures, videos and conversations would come about, especially since she was part of a core that included a group of seniors who were on the sectional championship team two years ago. She was a great kid who always did the little things needed to help carry the team to victories. She followed well in the footsteps of her older sister Stephanie, a 2015 Johnson graduate.
I also remember the hustle she put in the May 8 Senior Day game against Elizabeth, beating out a wild ground ball to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the clutch hit coming with two outs and setting the stage with what was to come later on in the game, with the walk-off, two-run home run from Victoria Zatko capping off a ten-inning, marathon win.
In a 9-7 win in eight innings on May 10, Donah knocked in the go-ahead two runs that capped off a wild win for the Crusaders.
She also provided a clutch two-run single in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Semifinals, she doubled to left field, delivering the knockout punch to Bordentown, giving Johnson a 7-1 lead that secured a trip to the sectional final.
Although at times, I had to text questions over after games, she was always willing to give an interview and was great watching her play. Sending out the game pictures, the videos, or just talking about future games, it was all great being around a great group of players who led the game in every way they could.
I also remember talking to her grandfather a little bit about baseball after the Senior Day game. It’s this part of the writing that I love, meeting new people along the way. I wish #24 the best in her future and all other endeavors that may come her way.
#32- Megan Tinger (Sophomore)
Megan Tinger was the starting catcher and worked well with the pitch selection and helping both Nicole Cassano and Nicole Pecoraro work through the innings where it looked like innings could get tough with the baserunners reaching and needing the right pitches to limit damage to get the game to the offense.
She was a great batter at the plate, working the counts and delivering the big hits whenever the team needed the spark. In the home opener against Cranford, she knocked in the go-ahead run with a double, giving Johnson a 3-2 lead, en route to a 4-2 win that gave them momentum with the bounce-back week they had.
On April 21, against DePaul in the Cedar Grove Tournament, she went 2-for-3 with five RBIs. Among those hits included a two-run single and a huge three-run home run that narrowly cleared the fence and proved to be huge with DePaul storming back, but Nicole Pecoraro getting the final outs to secure the win.
In the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 Quarterfinals against South Plainfield, Megan secured the win for Johnson with a towering grand slam with the game 3-1 Johnson, securing the 7-1 win and a trip to the semifinals round of the state tournament, which I managed to get with pictures since my video camera glitched beforehand and thus prevented my chance to add another home run video to my total of the year, but a great hit from her.
She has a great rest of her career awaiting her and have no doubt she will do well!
General Season Thoughts:
I always look forward to the start of baseball/softball season, with the beautiful weather, sunny skies and no days of having to bundle up for work (Well, maybe the first few weeks of April, but that was about it). This group of Johnson softball players looked like a group that could go far, although I hadn’t been sure what to expect. I kept thinking with the setup of the conference, along with what programs lost to graduation, that Westfield was going to be the team to beat in the conference and stuck to that prediction.
Fast forward the clock to about March, with basketball season winding down, I knew everything was real, with softball season rolling around, although I feel like there were more indoor practices than outdoor practices and scrimmages. The weather was crazy, but the calendar said softball season was here.
A couple of questions that I had in my head as the season rolled around consisted of these:
1.) Who was going to fill the void at shortstop?
2.) Who were going to be the standout players as the season rolled along with a different-look lineup?
3.) How would the county/conference shape out?
Those questions were answered as the season rolled along. Seeing Victoria Zatko at shortstop was cool to see, giving her a chance at a different position and she did some great things on defense at shortstop as the season rolled along. Seeing Bailey Rosenmeier take the field for the first time since her freshman year was refreshing to see, since she lost her sophomore season to a major knee injury, but she worked hard, got back on the basketball court and only got even better with softball season starting.
Here We Go: Start to the Softball Season
While Johnson was kept off the softball field with the weather taking its toll on the softball field, seeing Westfield and Cranford lose some of the early conference games gave me the feel that the girls could possibly have a chance at adding a conference to the program’s history. Their first game against Cranford allowed Johnson to set the tone and they did run into a little bit of trouble earlier on. They trailed 2-0, but put together timely hits and drove in the runs when they needed to.
That victory got Johnson to .500 with a 2-2 record and what happened the next day had everyone surprised, the game against Immaculata. They were not a winles team coming in, as they are in a loaded conference which can always checker a team’s record and make the numbers not match with the effort and talent of a softball team. It was this game where I said to myself, “This team is NOT a first/second/third inning team. They are a fourth/fifth/sixth, maybe seventh inning team.” Sweeping the Cedar Grove Tournament was another indicator that this team would continue fighting until the final outs were recorded.
The winning streak ended with a 6-5 loss to Westfield, a game where quite frankly, Westfield was ripping the cover off the ball a lot early on, which sometimes, you could be doing all the right things, but some things just aren’t ment to be, but the 5-0 deficit would vanish and the fight within the Johnson Crusaders would be on display as the later innings came around for Johnson.
Taking advantage of a few errors and a series of hits being strung together, they got the tying and winning runs on second and third base before a game-ending groundout ended the winning streak at seven games and a chance at a rebound game on Thursday, with a home-and-home series between Johnson and Westfield. A 5-2 win got them back on track, but the next game that came around was a dose of adversity Johnson would need to overcome.
Adversity in the County Tournament:
I knew Summit would usually be a school that has athletes on each of their teams, sometimes one to give you a good fight and could strike in the major moments of a game and try and get that jump needed to win a game. This one went through quickly, but neither team was majorly hitting, causing missed chances to haunt Johnson. The confusing top of the seventh inning sorta just added a fog to the loss, where Summit prevailed over Johnson 1-0. That was a game that in general, had me thinking to myself that this was a game they were going to have that could pain to see down the road, but one to bring the team closer together and give it another go with the conference and the state tournament on the horizon.
With the county sight over, Johnson had an opportunity to establish themselves as a legit softball force despite the hiccup against Summit. I am pretty positive that everyone had May 1 circled on the calendar, the day of the first game against Governor Livingston, a rivalry that I feel is the best among the Union County sports and this one was a good game played by both teams.
They hit the ball well, giving themselves a chance to win. It was refreshing to see players who had been in early slumps in the season rebound and start a new run of their own. They snapped an eight-game winning streak the Highlanders had entering the contest and saw three-hit games from Hannah Brogan and Mackenzie Purcell. Lauren Donah also had a great game at the plate and the postgame interviews showed how much this game meant to the girls after what happened in the 2017 Union County Tournament Finals.
Governor Livingston made it to the 2018 Union County Tournament Semifinals, but were ousted by Westfield 6-4, marking this as the first time since 2009 the Highlanders were not going to be competing for a county championship, adding to the unpredictable spring season for Union County Softball. Roselle Park, understandably, very deserving of the top seed, beat Westfield 2-0 to win the county championship.
The next week for Johnson featured games against Metuchen, Elizabeth, Monroe Township and Governor Livingston, some tune-ups for the girls with the state tournament seedings pretty much set and the attention all focused on the conference and trying to maintain a high seed. The Senior Day game on May 8 against Elizabeth lived up to the occasion.
With not much action early on, Johnson led Elizabeth 1-0 before the Minutemen pushed across the game-tying run and took the 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth inning. Johnson was down to their last out with the tying run at third base and to the plate stepped Lauren Donah with a chance to break through on a day where she and her four fellow senior teammates were honored for their hard work and dedication to the Johnson softball program.
She hit a chopper that bounced in the infield and with that great hustle, she beat out the play and tied the game at 2-2. It was pretty cool sending this out, capturing the moments on video instead of using my camera to take photos, this was the type of moment that needed to be captured on video instead of pictures.
Once again, Elizabeth grabbed the lead and took a 3-2 lead in the top of the tenth inning and looked to leave a dent in the conference race. Victoria Zatko stepped up and with one swing of the bat, she turned what could’ve been a painful loss into a joyful day to cap off the Senior Day ceremony.
They went in three straight extra innings games, beating Monroe Township 9-7 in eight innings and coming up short in a 9-7 loss to Governor Livingston that lasted 11 innings, but Johnson in full control of their own destiny with one more conference game against Cranford, with a chance to take home the conference title. From Bailey Rosenmeier’s game-tying single, to Nicole Cassano’s solo home run and Hannah Brogan’s two-run double, a 1-0 deficit turned into a Crusaders 4-1 lead and they were off and flying.
A two-run single from Jen Tinger put the icing on the cake and secured the second conference championship won outright by Johnson in the past three seasons and the regular season, as short as it might have been, was over. The lone regular season Johnson played after that was at Chatham, a game where Nicole Cassano stood four outs away from perfection before allowing a base hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, which I always believed, was a testament of how she goes about her work on the mound against opposing teams.
NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 2 State Tournament: Win Or Go Home
The schedules were all out of sorts with constant rain, teams not being able to go at it until Monday, May 21. Third-seeded Johnson faced off against 14-seeded Carteret, a team that was without their number one pitcher due to an injury suffered earlier on in the season. Earlier on, it was getting out of hand and I hadn’t been sure of what was going to happen as the game rolled along.
Carteret took a 3-0 lead through the first three innings of action, with nothing going Johnson’s way and the weird bounces on the hits all coming through within that duration of the game. They were able to chip away with one run on a single from Sydney Tropeano, but still trailed. I wasn’t ready to see it end and hoped one big inning awaited for them. Carteret wasn’t going away either, as they continued to produce loud outs and ripped the cover off the ball, even if they were outs.
Then came the bottom of the fifth inning, where I stand by my statement of the type of team Johnson was throughout the entire season. Jen Tinger and Mackenzie Purcell opened up the inning with back-to-back singles and it sort of set the stage. Nicole Cassano helped out her own cause at the plate with an RBI single, scoring Tinger to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Victoria Zatko, the team’s leading hitter gave Johnson the 4-3 lead with a two-run double, smacking the ball deep into the outfield, suddenly turning the first few innings into the past, with still no outs in the inning and more coming. Zatko stole home to make it 5-3. It was a lineup game overall, with Hannah Brogan and Bailey Rosenmeier knocking in a run each, making the score 7-3 Johnson. An error led to the last one of the inning, but Carteret, who is not a 14-seed at all, still would not go away.
They cut the lead to 8-6 and threatened further, but Cassano extinguished the threat and took the game to the bottom of the sixth inning, where she responded with one swing of the bat. Her solo home run to deep center field made it 9-6. An RBI double from Megan Tinger was the icing on the cake, a 10-6 win and advancing to the next round of the state tournament.
Six days later, which I am thankful for the rain, would be the next game with Johnson hosting sixth-seeded South Plainfield, the defending NJSIAA Group 3 State Champions from a year ago where they reached the Tournament of Champions Quarterfinal Round, with an interesting game on the horizon. I was thankful for the rain pushing back the games because I cannot stand bouncing between two games on one day, which I did last year.
Nicole Cassano mowed right through the South Plainfield lineup and with the exception of a few walks, kept them off the scoreboard as big-time hitting came about for Johnson. Hannah Brogan drove home two runs with a triple to set the tone in the bottom of the second inning, which gave momentum in favor of the home team. Cassano added to the offensive effort early on with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it 3-0 and everything going along smoothly for Johnson until they ran into a little adversity in the top of the fifth inning.
South Plainfield got the first two batters on base with no outs and the potential tying run at the plate. The next batters both made outs and there was a chance for Cassano to work through the inning with no earned runs, but South Plainfield got one back to make it a 3-1 game.
The game was still close until the bottom of the sixth inning. Jen Tinger led off with a walk and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. They intentionally walked Cassano and Lauren Donah singled, with Megan Tinger coming up. She produced the big blow, a grand slam to deep left field, with Johnson winning 7-1, securing their third straight trip to Bordentown, leaving myself and everyone else excited with another day of softball to watch.
I always loved to go on long car rides and this was another trip to Bordentown. This was Round 3, with the teams splitting the semifinals round the past two seasons. Bordentown’s starting pitcher tossed a no-hitter against Metuchen, so I knew this was going to be a tough one to crack, but the girls made it all happen themselves.
Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, Nicole Cassano laced a one-out single and Lauren Donah worked a seven-pitch at-bat for a walk. Megan Tinger picked up right where she left off Wednesday, with a deep double to right field, scoring two and giving Johnson a 2-1 lead through four innings.
The top of the fifth inning would be the one where the Crusaders gave themselves the cushion and insurance needed to plow through. A span of six batters is all it took to give Johnson five runs in the inning, all after the first out of the inning was recorded, where they knocked Bordentown sophomore starting pitcher Annabella Prispia from the game.
Victoria Zatko and Lauren Donah both knocked in two runs with a single each as the lead became 7-1. It started to sort of settle in a bit that the girls were going to be in a sectional final.
Despite surrendering two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Johnson finished off Bordentown 7-3 and punched their ticket to their second sectional final appearance in the past three seasons.
Final Out of Johnson’s 7-3 Win Over Bordentown
That journey took us all to Robbinsville, one of the true powerhouse softball programs and a place where Johnson teams in the past had battled, but came up short. In this game, it appeared like this would turn into a pitcher’s duel with the way Nicole Cassano was throwing, along with their starting pitcher. However, the girls fell behind 2-0, before trimming the deficit to 2-1, providing hope for a potential comeback, which was not to be.
Robbinsville prevailed 5-1, closing the door on the 2018 season, with Johnson finishing with a 19-6 record, but a 10-2 stretch that got them the high seed that they did.
I felt bad seeing the girls to have the looks that they did on their faces., knowing that this group would not play any more games in a Crusader uniform. I told every one of the senior players and I am sure they were told the same thing to keep their heads high, as they have the 2016 season and all those championships and accolades, along with everything else they achieved. If I was one to say they would be playing for a sectional championship after a rough bump in the road in the county tournament, I would’ve said it was a long shot.
In general, I felt like the 2018 season was a great one for the coaches, the seniors and the underclassmen players. I will miss covering this group, but they all achieved great things and now the baton gets handed on to the juniors to take control of the program heading into next season!
