By Bob Badders - Senior Writer PHILADELPHIA -- The thing about a double-elimination tournament is that there is room for error and time to learn some lessons. Jersey Shore's Carpenter Cup softball team learned a few on Tuesday.
After a rousing debut in which it defeated Olympic/Colonial from South Jersey, 12-2, and pounded out an astounding 22 hits, Jersey Shore was brought back to earth by Tri-Cape, also from South Jersey, with an 8-3 loss at Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park in the shadows of the Philadelphia Professional Sports Complex.
Jersey Shore, which is the defending champion, now has to defend its title from the loser's bracket and will play again on Wednesday at 3 p.m.
"We played great in the first game and in the second game we just got hammered," said Jersey Shore head coach Tony Vodola. "What we have to do now is roll up our sleeves and put our noses to the grindstone."
"I think in the second game we started to get unsure if we were the same team we were in the first game," said St. John Vianney sophomore Kasey Bulman, who had a tremendous two games in which she went 5-for-8 with two RBI at the plate and pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief. "It's all about confidence. We are one of the better teams here for sure, we just have to play clean and get timely hits. If we play our 'A' game no one is going to beat us."
The 12-2 win over Olympic Colonial certainly looked like Jersey Shore's 'A' game. Both teams scored in the first inning before the defending champs took off with four runs in the second. Manasquan's Lindsay Morrow walked with one out, Ocean's Lauren Ernst singled and Wall's Vanessa Flores reached on an error to score Morrow. Starting pitcher Chelsea Gallo followed with a two-run triple to left-center field for a 4-1 lead. Toms River East's Alyssa Paul then stroked an RBI single to left to push the lead to 5-1.
Olympic/Colonial got a run back in the third on an RBI single by Katie Madden, but Jersey Shore continued to add insurance runs. In the fourth, Red Bank Catholic's Marie Flego legged out an RBI infield single that scored Mater Dei's Danielle Murphy, who reached on a bunt single. In the sixth, Middletown North's Amanda Svenson led off with a single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Shore Regional's Tiffany Thorne, who was 2-for-3 with two RBI after entering in the fifth inning.
Sitting comfortably with a 7-2 lead, Jersey Shore added five more runs in the top of the seventh inning to really blow things open. Red Bank's Taylor Snyder, who also pitched three hitless innings of relief, reached on an infield single with one out. Flego and Svenson then hit back-to-back singles to load the bases for Shore Regional's Tracy Stern, who roped a two-run double for a 9-2 lead. Bulman was up next and singled for her fourth hit of the day to bring home Svenson. Thorne grounded out to shortstop to bring home her teammate Stern before Wall's Kelsey Higgins singled to complete the monster five-run inning.
"That was a really good way to start," Stern said. "We came into the second game with a lot of confidence."
That confidence, however, couldn't produce the same results against Delsea's Allison Pfrommer, St. Joseph-Hammonton's Nicole Pagano and the rest of the Tri-Cape all-stars. In the top of the first, Tri-Cape got the first two runners on before Pagano, arguably the top pitcher in the state with the likes of Red Bank Catholic's Brittany O'Donnell, ripped a two-run single to left field. Gallo was able to strand Pagano at third with three straight outs, but the Middletown North sophomore would last only a third of an inning more as the first five opposing hitters reached in the second inning as they pushed the lead to 3-0. Hammonton sophomore Jess Combs plated the run with an RBI double. Bulman came in to relieve Gallo and promptly got two huge strikeouts after allowing an infield single to cut the rally short.
Jersey Shore left five runners on base in the first three innings and didn't score again until the seventh inning, ironically against Pagano, as Pfrommer had them off balance during her three innings of work. In between, Tri-Cape added five more runs while getting a total of 13 hits to remain in the winner's bracket and force Jersey Shore into a must-win situation for the rest of the tournament.
"We're kind of angry after this one," Stern said. "The coaches were telling us after the game that if we play them again it will be a different outcome. We just have to come back (on Wednesday) ready to play."
"We let them get comfortable too quick," Bulman said. "We didn't come out as good, but our heart came out at the end when we scored those two runs. If we played like that from the beginning it would have been a totally different game."
So will a loss end up benefiting Jersey Shore? Vodola thinks the team has learned its lesson.
"We sat too long and let them set the tone," he said. "We dug ourselves too deep a hole and it's hard play catch-up against a good team. Knowing that and seeing that perspective, I think we will be a different team on Wednesday."
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