West Windsor’s 12-year-old softball all-star team repeated as Division 12 champions and as Section 3 champions. It now moves on to the state tournament in Cape May to try to defend last year’s state championship title, with hopes of playing its way into the Little League Softball world series.
West Windsor hoisted the Division 12 trophy for girls’ U12 softball for the fourth straight year. Three members of this year’s team were part of last year’s state champion team: Elizabeth Mendez, Christine Niciforo, and Taylor Phelan. Said Head Coach Hector Mendez: “We know it’s going to be tough competition. We’re gearing up for it.”
The players got a day off on Monday, but practiced every day until the trip to Cape May, where the four-team state tournament begins on Friday, July 21. Two other teams have clinched a spot in the double-elimination tournament. Lodi will represent section 1, and the section 2 winner is Pequannock, which defeated WW to win the state tournament at the 10-year-old level two years ago, and which lost to WW in the championship game of last year’s 12-year-old state tournament.
The team seemed to breeze through the sectional tournament with four straight wins. “The competition was nowhere near what we faced in the district tournament,” said Mendez. “There are so many good teams in Mercer County. Usually whoever wins District 12 goes on to win Section 3.”
This year’s team won its Division 12 championship in more dramatic fashion than its predecessors had won it in the past. It had gone undefeated though the tournament before losing to Washington Township on Sunday, July 9. The loss forced a deciding game between the teams on the following night, which WW won, 2-0, behind a dominating pitching performance by Kaitlin Perrine.
Perrine helped her cause with a lead-off single in the third inning. Sarah Bush took her place as a pinch runner and reached third after a sacrifice bunt and a groundout. Phelan then hit a two-out triple to drive in the runner and scored on an errant pickoff throw by the catcher.
In the first game of the Section 3 tournament West Windsor defeated Lincroft, 7-1. In the fourth inning, Christine Niciforo walked to lead off and advanced to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch with Jeanine Asay at the plate. Asay drew another walk, and noticed the Lincroft pitcher walking slowly back to the mound. Asay rounded first and headed to second base, drawing a throw to second base. Niciforo darted home on the throw, and was called safe at the plate.
The girls defeated Brick 14-1 in its second game of the sectional tournament. When King hit a grand slam home run in the first inning, “the game was over after that,” said Mendez.
In the final game of the Section 3 tournament West Windsor was tied 3-3 with Lincroft in the fourth before the team had a four-run rally started by Emily Weinberg, who singled before being driven in by a Phelan double. Niciforo sent Phelan home, and catcher Brianna King also added an RBI, to make the final score 10-3.
