EWING TWP. — In addition to Rylee Michalak’s pitching, one of the big things that makes the 20-1 Notre Dame softball team so tough to beat is the way it can get offensive production from everyone in its lineup.
Sure enough, it was No. 8 batter Bianca Pesce belting a double and triple on Saturday to help Notre Dame beat Steinert, 4-2, in the first of the Mercer County Tournament semifinals at Armstrong Park.
With the victory, a Notre Dame team ranked No. 1 in the area by The Trentonian advanced to the MCT championship game on Wednesday night. Its opponent will be top-seeded Robbinsville after it beat Hun, 1-0, in the other semifinal.
Notre Dame is the defending MCT champion and came out strong to take a 3-0 lead through three innings.
The first run came in the bottom of the second when Madalena Creo singled and Pesce blasted a triple to center field that hit the bottom of the fence.
The Irish’s two runs in the third were largely about Steinert ace Katie Simonka losing control by walking two batters and allowing runners to advance on wild pitches.
Kalyn Rosica got one of the runs home in that inning with a pretty bunt single and Cara Mazzucco lofted a sac fly after Steinert brought Ellie Miller into the to replace Simonka in the circle.
“It is really big when you get an early lead against a team like that,” said Miller. It takes the pressure off. For me to have a game like that (two extra-base hits) feels so good. It felt great to be able to help the team.”
There’s a reason defending state champion Steinert is one of the best teams in New Jersey and it’s called pride. As such, it came as no surprise when the Spartans (16-3) battled right back with two runs in the fourth.
This uprising against Michalak started with a walk to lead-off batter Mia Pope at the top of the lineup and and a bunt single by Brooke DeWitt. From there, Steinert scored on an RBI single by Miller and a sac fly off the bat of Addison Hassan.
The rally ended there, however, as MIchalak finished with a four-hitter and six strikeouts, which is a low total by her lofty standards.
“I absolutely get so pumped every time we play them,” said Michalak, who is a resident of the Steinert portion of the Hamilton school district. “It got interesting in the middle of the game today and I’m so glad we were able to finish the job. It was a really exciting game.”
A game with only one error and some spectacular plays in the field. These included a diving catch by Pope at shortstop.
The fact it didn’t become even more nerve wracking at the end for Notre Dame was because it was able to add a huge insurance run in the sixth on the second of two singles by Alayna Giampolo.
“We knew they were going to hit, but we also knew Rylee could carry us through,” said Pesce.
Steinert (16-3) 000 200 0 – 2 4 0
Notre Dame (20-1) 012 001 x – 4 6 1
WP-Michalak. LP-Simonka. 2B-Pesce (S). 3B-Pesce
