Raiders Softball Delivers 14-4 Victory Over Ridge

The 2010 season is getting brighter for the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High softball team.

The Lady Raiders split a pair of games at the Cougar Classic Tournament in Cranford Saturday, losing to the host team 4-3 before rolling to an impressive 14-4 victory over Ridge in the second game.

"I think we actually played really well," said first game SP-F pitcher Amanda White. "I'm proud of everyone. Our fielding was really good. We hit all our cutoffs. The outfielders did a really good job. Me and Courtney Zyla, our catcher, did a really good job of hitting our spots and we need to work on that throughout the season, throwing in different pitches. But overall I think we played really well."

First-Year Head Coach Jess Hulnik echoed that sentiment, noting that while she thinks it was a great game, the team has much better playing ahead.

"I think our best is yet to come," she said.

Ridge held a 3-2 lead before the Raiders struck for 11 runs in the fourth inning. That was all SP-F would need as they improved to 2-1 on the season.

"We're a young team, we only have six seniors," White said. "Some of the starters are freshmen. We have team unity. We bond really well, and I think that helps us in close situations because we all trust each other and I trust everyone on the team. And I hope they trust me. There's team chemistry that we have and I think we play really well together."

Freshman Christie Monroy had a big day, with three hits against Cranford and two more versus Ridge.

"She's hitting the ball real well," said coach Hulnik. "She doesn't strike out. She's a great two-strike hitter, and that's important. You put the ball in play, anything can happen, and that's one of the things we're trying to get across to all the kids."  

Taylor Sabaleo is also making her presence felt.

"She's another real strong kid," Hulnik said. "She did an excellent job for us at short. I think defensively we handled ourselves very well today. We had a lot of good sharp hits at us. We were able to pick up on line drives and groundballs, picking up where we were supposed to be most of the time today and that's always a good thing."

And while the team may have lost the first game, the coach said she was very impressed with the effort of pitcher Amanda White.

"I thought Amanda did a great job," Hulnik said. "It was the first time she's gone seven innings all year. We were trying to hold her back in her scrimmages and mix it up a little bit. She stayed strong, hit most of her spots. She made the adjustments she needed to make."