ND clips North; Robbinsville’s Manto gets 100th hit
LAWRENCEVILLE » Depending on how you look at it, this was either a matter of strong pitching or just the continuation of two softball teams that lately have had trouble scoring runs.
Whatever was going on, the result was a 1-0 victory for Notre Dame over West Windsor North on Wednesday afternoon in a quick game that barely lasted 90 minutes.
Alexis Staniec was the winner with a four-hitter and 11 strikeouts. Considering she had only 20 strikeouts in her first four starts, that was a definite upgrade for the Irish senior.
Senior McKenna Carpenter took the loss and yielded just five hits while striking out three. One of those hits, however, proved to be everything as Jordan Wacker accounted for all the scoring with a towering home run over the center field fence in the second inning.
The victory lifted Notre Dame to 6-2 after splitting two games at the Mt. St. Dominic showcase Saturday. West Windsor North (4-2), meanwhile, has now dropped two in a row.
Although there was little in the way of scoring, that’s not to say there wasn’t much action.
Notre Dame, for instance, loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but was turned away on a couple of nice fielding plays.
The first came when Knights third baseman Dillanie Sumanthiran charged in and was able to flip the ball to catcher Emily Garron for a force at the plate.
The second came with two outs when sophomore shortstop Julia Baber made an excellent running catch in foul territory down the left field line to leave the bases loaded.
In between, Notre Dame initially appeared to have taken a 2-0 lead on a bloop in the infield before the umpires eventually got the call right by ruling runner’s interference.
The great escape seemed to settle down Carpenter, who pretty much cruised home from there by allowing just two baseunners and no hits over the next three innings.
West Windsor North had its only legitimate opportunity to break through against Staniec when a hard single to center by Baber, a bunt single by Amanda Musmanno and a fielder’s choice in which the Irish failed to get an out loaded the bases with one out in the fifth.
It all came to naught when Staniec roared back with a strikeout and a grounder to Hailee Jantorno at shortstop to end the threat.
“We had some looks,” said West Windsor North coach Jason Petrone in reference to the fact his team took several strike threes. “Who knows what the strike zone is, but the umpire was consistent with the low strike zone and you have to protect the plate.
“You also have to execute. We work on that stuff, but we couldn’t get a bunt down (with the bases loaded in the fifth).”
It won’t get any easier for North to break out of its hitting woes on Thursday when it goes to Steinert. This is a rematch of a Central Jersey game last year that Steinert won, 3-2, in eight innings en route to an appearance in the state final. WW-PN (4-2) 0000000—041 Notre Dame (6-2) 010 000 x — 1 5 0 WP-Staniec. LP-Carpenter. HR-Wacker. RBIs: Wacker.