Bonacci locked in as Spartans win
HAMILTON >> If, for some strange reason, there were any questions whether Isabella Bonacci was ready for the state tournament, she answered them in the first inning.
And the second. And the third. And the fifth.
Bonacci started the game by striking out the first 10 batters she faced, and ended it with a two-run double that gave fourth-seeded Steinert an 11-1 five-inning walk-off win over 13th-seeded Freehold Boro in a NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III firstround softball game.
The senior fired a onehitter with one walk and 12 strikeouts one year after throwing a seven-inning, one-hitter with 13 Ks against Freehold in the CJ III quarterfinals.
Is it something about the Colonials?
“I think it’s honestly the tournament,” said Bonacci, who now has five state games with double-figure strikeouts. “When it comes down to out-of-conference play and we get to start the state run, I really enjoy playing these games. I think we bring the energy, we just want to control the game. These games really are important to us so I want to throw my best.”
Bonacci entered with 104 Ks in 71.2 innings and was unhittable with seven swinging strikeouts and three caught looking before a pop-out ended the string.
“I think everything was really working today, pitching-wise,” The Trentonian’s reigning CVC Player of the Year said. “My bullpen was really good and I just felt a lot of energy. I was ready to come out for this game.
“I was mixing it up. I like to control the game. I have a good catcher, Addison (Hassan) that I can trust. She knows what I want to throw and I think mixing it up really helped today.”
Ceara O’Neal, who collected her 100th career hit in the fifth inning, enjoyed watching the show from her third base spot.
“It was really cool, that’s probably the best I’ve seen her throw,” O’Neal said.
Offensively, Steinert (165) used the age-old adage of “put the bat on the ball and good things will happen.” The Spartans capitalized on three straight thirdinning errors, capped by Bonacci’s dropped fly ball that plated two runs.
In the fourth, Abigail Mazur reached on an error and she and Paige Schultz both scored on Mia Pope’s dropped fly ball. Bianca Walsh’s RBI single made it 5-0.
Put the bat on the ball. “We work really hard on just shortening our swings and making sure we can put the barrel on the ball,” O’Neal said. “Good things happen when you put the barrel on the ball.”
Bonacci had one hiccup in the fourth when Juliet Fogel drove one over the leftfield fence to make it 5-1. She followed with a walk but got her 12th K on what would be her final batter.
The Spartans took advantage of another error for three more unearned runs in the fifth to end it on the mercy rule. Abigail Mazur had a two-run double, Mia Pope had an RBI double and Bonacci ended with a liner into left center for the final two runs. Her hit followed O’Neal’s 100th.
“I was coming off being really pumped after Ceara’s hit,” Bonacci said. “I just wanted to come up and put the ball in play, try and end it for my team and get on to the next game.”
As for O’Neal, she cherished the moment of her milestone.
“It means a lot to me,” the senior said after her average actually dropped one point to .522 by going 2-for4. “It’s something I’ve always wanted and I’ve always worked for. I’m really happy. I kind of knew I was around (100) but I didn’t know it was this close. I didn’t know it was gonna happen.”
What will happen next is Steinert will continue its quest for a second CJ III championship by hosting the Allentown-Red Bank Regional winner Friday. It has been an interesting season thus far for the Spartans, whose offense sputtered during the early part of the campaign but has plated 95 runs in Steinert’s last six wins.
They have won eight of nine, with the lone setback coming to Robbinsville in the Mercer County Tournament semifinals.
“We’ve really built from those losses,” Bonacci said. “We’re moving on, (coach Jen) Melker really drills into us moving on, the next atbat, the next pitch, the next play, the next game. We just want to show what we have. We have a lot of good players, we have a lot of freshmen that have a lot of talent and we just want to showcase that.”
Asked about Steinert’s possible second-round foe, Bonacci said “Either team, we’ll go into it with the same mindset. We have a lot of respect for Allentown. It will be a good game either way.”
And if Bonacci is as ready as she was against the Colonials, look out.