Stellar defense helps Bound Brook capture first softball sectional title since 1999
ROSELLE PARK ― Tonight, the Bound Brook High School softball team is going to party like it’s 1999.
The Crusaders defense made some huge plays in massive spots Friday, June 6, led by senior second baseman Kate Cunha. The second-seeded Bound Brook captured its first sectional title since the ’99 campaign, edging top-seeded Roselle Park, 2-1.
Junior ace Isabella Marusiak was also great, limiting the Panthers to just a run on seven hits, walking three and striking out nine.
While the Bound Brook defense showed off, it was Roselle Park’s defense that gave the Crusaders both its runs. And while the newly crowned sectional champs not only played error-free ball, it turned in its most sparkling plays when it mattered most.
“Bella gives it her all, she always does, so we do everything in our power to help her, and today we did that best job we could,” said Cunha, whose team had beaten Roselle Park 3-1 in a regular-season game on May 20. “They can barely touch Bella ― she’s amazing ― but when they can, we have her back.”
“They’re a great team and they do not give up and I knew I would have to rely on my defense, as I have all season,” said Marusiak, whose team will visit South 1 champ Audubon in the state semifinals Tuesday, June 10. “I knew they would come up big for me.”
Bound Brook’s first couple of sparklers came in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Crusaders entered the frame clinging to a 2-0 lead, before Madelyn Hemenway singled with one out and Mariah Ortega followed with a double, giving Roselle Park second and third with one away.
Maddie Wilkes followed with a grounder to shortstop Rachael Gurczeski, who allowed the run to score, faking a throw to first that drew the runner off second base and into a rundown, with her eventually scrambling back to second on a questionable safe call.
But the play kept the would-be tying run on second, and that proved crucial when the next hitter popped a bunt to catcher Ava DeDousis for the second out. Bound Brook had a chance to get out of it without further damage, but the lead looked like it was about to disappear when Mia Botello sent a sinking line drive to right field.
Senior right fielder Eunice Zumbardo came streaking in, and it looked she was about to make a dive for the ball, but she thought better of it at the last second. The ball hit the ground, but Zumbardo stayed with it, reaching down to make an all-or-nothing scoop of the short hop. She then tossed it to Cunha, who turned and fired a strike to DeDousis at the plate, nailing the would-be tying run.
“I was going to try and catch it in the air, but I realized I wasn’t going to, so kind of just hoped for the best that it went into my glove,” Zumbardo said. “Thankfully, it did so we were able to get the out.”
“I saw the girl rounding third, and all I could think was I had to get her out,” Cunha added. “That was the tying run right there, and in this type of game you have to do everything possible (to limit the opponent).”
Cunha had another chance to show off her glove work to end the game. Marusiak got a pop out and a strikeout to start the bottom of the seventh inning, before Maddie Harms sent a sinking liner toward the middle of the diamond. Cunha took two steps toward second and then made a headlong dive, snagging the ball before it hit the ground to secure the program’s first championship in 26 years.
“Nothing can beat that feeling, the fire in your stomach when I saw that ball coming toward me,” Cunha said. “I wanted it more than anything, and I got it.”
While Bound Brook’s defense had its pitcher’s back, Roselle Park’s did not, wasting an outstanding effort by Brooke Gallo, who allowed two unearned runs on two hits, walked four and struck out 10.
While the Crusaders defense was a big difference, so was its base-running, as Bound Brook got on the board in the fourth inning. Gurczeski singled to center with one out, advancing to second when the ball was misplayed in center field, and she then stole third. Marusiak then walked, and when the throw back to the pitcher got loose, the speedy Gurczeski immediately streaked home to make it 1-0.
It was center fielder Lili Caprara’s turn to use her base-running smarts to cash in on some poor Roselle Park defense in the sixth inning, giving Bound Brook an all-important insurance run. The freshman came up with one out and sent a drive to short right field. The ball fell in for a double as the right fielder and second baseman collided, and when the ball was eventually picked up and thrown toward second base, it sailed high, allowing Caprara to round the bag and head toward third. She was then awarded home plate when the ball went out of play.
“We’ve come a long way. We’ve worked really hard to get to where we are,” Zumbardo said. “The beginning of the season was tough, but we’re right where we’re supposed to be.”
That beginning of the season saw Bound Brook’s most promising team in years start 2-9 as they moved from the Group 1-laden Mountain Division of the Skyland Conference up into the much more competitive Valley. But it was just that gauntlet, longtime Bound Brook coach Shannon DeLuca said, that might have had the biggest impact for a team that has gone 15-2 since its start, which included a magical run to the Somerset County Tournament semifinals as the No. 12 seed.
“I think the first half of the season was a growing experience,” said DeLuca, a Bound Brook alum who was an assistant coach on the 1999 championship team. “We had moved up in the conference and were playing better teams ― Gill (St. Bernard’s), Ridge, Del Val (Delaware Valley) ― and I think it made us a better team, because we played better teams. In the end, that helped us get here.”
“It’s just so crazy. We started the season 2-9 and we’re 17-11 now,” Marusiak said. “This was definitely one of our goals in the preseason, and we saw how far we went in counties, and we knew states was next and this was the goal.”
BOX SCORE
BOUND BROOK (17-11)
ROSELLE PARK (18-8)
WP: I.Marusiak (12-7). LP: Gallo (18-8).
2B: BB— Caprara; RP— Ortega . SB: BB— Gurczeski; RP-- Calas
Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997, and has been on the softball beat since 1999. He can be reached at CourierSoftball@aol.com . Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Stellar defense helps Bound Brook capture first softball sectional title since 1999
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