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Sports

Pioneers' Softball Team Defeats Roselle Catholic in County Tournament

New Providence shut out the Lions, 8-0, in first round of Union County Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

The New Providence girls' varsity softball team is proof that all it takes to create a win is the spark of a hot bat, even if that spark is typically delayed.

“It usually takes us an inning to start it going and the first inning is usually like, ‘eh’ and we always have one bad inning,” said Pioneers' catcher Michelle Ciarrocca. “But this game, I think the whole game was about contact and we were ready.”

On Saturday afternoon at the Allen W. Roberts School fields, Ciarrocca led her team of hot bats to an 8-0 victory over the Roselle Catholic Lions in first round of the Union County Tournament.

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Pioneers' head coach Kelly Villa sought to temper expectations after the early UCT win.

“They are not used to a slow pitcher so I knew it would take us an inning to get used to her,” Villa said. “But I don’t want the team to go off on this and think that we are ready to go. I have to keep them down and tell them that we have to keep working.”

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With the overcast sky threatening showers and wind kicking up dust, it wasn't an ideal day for hitting. But the Pioneers bashed the ball like they were taking batting practice, rocking Roselle Catholic pitcher Christina Daugenti for 14 hits, including a triple and three doubles.

After a sluggish first inning where they drilled out a run, Pioneers' bats exploded for five runs in the second inning on Ciarrocca’s triple to left.  Support came from key singles by Amber Riley, , Alexandra Esposito and Christina Coppolino. The team added another run in the fourth and two in the fifth.

It also didn’t hurt that Squeri, the Pioneers' starting pitcher, produced a well-pitched game, holding the Lions to just four hits while turning in several sparkling defensive plays.

“I don’t think I have ever gotten the ball hit to me that many times in a game,” Squeri said. “We knew that they were a good hitting team, but we were ready though."

Villa said that although the team lost 1-0 in the preliminaries to highly ranked Caldwell last Monday, it pushed the team to raise its game to a higher level. After a well-fought battle, the loss occurred at the end of the game with a Caldwell sendoff home run.  

“We came out playing Caldwell knowing they were a really good team and we ended up losing, 1-0,” said Ciarrocca. “That told me that this team has what it takes. If we keep playing like this, I definitely think we can make it to the finals.”

For her part, Villa, who has led the team to an 11-4 record in the regular season, said there is still work to be done.

“I am not (yet) satisfied,” Villa said. “This year we are talking about the little things that will get us to the next level. This was a stepping stone, but we still have some kinks that we have to work out to be ready for the next game."

The next UCT game is scheduled for Friday and will be based on the outcome of tournament play this weekend.

“We’ll take it one game at a time,” Squeri said. “Any team we face from here will be really good. If we keep playing well, we have a good shot of making it to the final. Everyone needs to relax.”

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