GLHS Softball Bounces Back, Defeats Scotch Plains-Fanwood 11-0

Following a disappointing, 1-0 loss to Linden on Wednesday, the Governor Livingston softball team looked at Thursday afternoon’s game against Scotch Plains-Fanwood as an opportunity to bounce back from coming out on the losing end of a pitcher’s duel.

“Dani (Todaro) had a very good game yesterday. She pitched well enough to win,” said Highlanders’ head coach Rick Iacono. “When we get shutout, you have to say something for Linden’s pitching.”

The Highlanders will certainly take Thursday’s game as a sign of improvement.

A day after the Highlanders had trouble for coming up with timely hits against the Tigers, they struck early and often against the Pirates. The Highlanders scored all eleven of their runs in the first inning and never looked back, getting a shut-out pitching performance from Jordan Robbins to help them capture a five-inning, 11-0 victory.

“We were pretty disappointed, I think, in getting beat yesterday, and I had a feeling that we would bounce back,” said Iacono.

Added Robbins, “We had a bad loss yesterday, so we went into this game wanting to win and hit.”

The offensive charge was led for the Highlanders by Mackenzie Liss. Liss, who plays third base for the Highlanders, went 4-for-4 with an RBI and was just a home run short of the cycle.

Paige Murphy, Stephanie Cataldo, Samantha Frungillo, and Kelly Goense also generated plenty of offense for Governor Livingston (8-2), finishing with 2 RBI apiece.

The run support helped Robbins, a sophomore, settle down and continue her solid performance on the mound.

“It gives me a lot of confidence,” said Robbins of the run support. “If I mess up, I’ll have a lot of runs (behind me) and a lot of assurance that we’ll be OK.”

It was a step in the right direction for the Highlanders, who Coach Iacono expects will continue to improve as the weather gets warmer.

“I still think we’re improving. I think defensively we’re still pretty good, and our pitching looks better than it did earlier in the year,” said Iacono. “It’s very hard to judge when you don’t get warm weather. This is not a sport played in bad conditions. As the weather gets better and as we work our way into May, I hope we keep improving.”

The Highlanders will see a challenge over the weekend when they travel to the Pequannock Tournament on Saturday.

Coach Iacono hopes, win or lose, that the tournament serves as a learning experience for his team.

“We’ll be tested on Saturday at the Pequannock tournament, and the reason we’re going to Pequannock and the reason we’re going to Millburn (for another tournament) is to play better competition,” said Iacono.