There are a million different words that could be used to describe the Steinert softball team’s 2023 state championship victory. If they were to be condensed into one word, it would be “surreal.”
“That’s just the way it felt,” coach Jenn Melker said. “It was like an out-of-body experience.”
That’s not surprising.
It’s extremely hard to win a state title; and even tougher to win it when losing the heart and soul of the team early in the championship game.
That’s exactly what happened in the top of the second inning. With Steinert holding a 3-0 lead against Morris Knolls, pitcher Izzy Bonacci was at bat. She fouled a ball off on a check swing and immediately fell to the ground, injured. For the next 25 minutes, as the players in both dugouts and the fans at Kean University awaited the ambulance’s arrival, it was as if time stood still.
At home plate, Melker never left Bonacci’s side.
“She was helping me get through the pain I was dealing with,” the hurler said. “Without her, I honestly don’t think I would have been able to get off that field.”
What was most impressive during that time is that Bonacci remained the ultimate team player.
“I think it was a lot for her at that one moment,” Melker said. “She’s very big on putting the team on her shoulders. Instead of just focusing on the fact she was injured, she moreso was concerned about the girls, and she asked about them multiple times.
“We had to focus on keeping her breathing and staying calm. That speaks volumes for the type of person she is. She’s down, she’s injured, and all she could ask about is her teammates, and that she was sorry. It was heart wrenching.”
Bonacci explained her thought process.
“I was afraid I was letting my team down, and wanted to make sure they were OK,” she said. “They are truly my best friends. I wanted to make sure Melker would speak to the girls for me. I have always wanted to help people, which is kind of my mindset for everything.”
Bonacci had suffered a freak injury, dislocating her kneecap while fouling off a pitch. She also tore a ligament in her knee that will require surgery to repair.
But in that moment, all her teammates really knew was that their star pitcher had gone down. Assistant coaches Michelle Walsh, Gerri “Bear” Leone, Sam Dice and AJ Auletta were trying to normalize things in the dugout.
“They tried to get our minds off it,” senior Makenna Spak said. “Obviously, they didn’t want us to look at Izzy and see the pain she was going through. They just wanted us to keep our heads up, make sure we were still in the game and had our heart in it to win it.”
Once play resumed, the Spartans proved their hearts were in the right place.
Melker called on Katie Simonka to pitch the biggest six innings of her life, and the sophomore delivered. Simonka allowed three hits, three walks and two runs (one earned) while striking out three as Steinert went on to a 3-2 victory.
“I was thinking all I could do was try my best,” Simonka said. “Knowing I had an amazing defense behind me, I just needed to get the ball over the plate.”
And yet she went 2-0 to the first batter before coming back to get her.
“At first I was definitely a little nervous, because it’s a very stressful situation,” the hurler said. “But I knew the team could do it, and I had to pull through.”
Her effort drew cheers from Overlook Hospital in Summit.
“Katie is so incredibly talented,” Bonacci said. “To step up in that moment and win it for our team, there are no words to describe how proud I am of her. She is a one of a kind pitcher and our team is so lucky to have a player like her.”
Simonka pitched the Spartans to a fourth state title, and first in Melker’s five seasons as head coach. It made up for the 6-4 loss to Roxbury in last year’s state final.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Simonka said. “Especially to be able to do that for Izzy, knowing how hard she worked to get us to this point the last two years.”
“Just unbelievable,” Spak said. “Obviously we didn’t have the best season to start off. But with all the work we put in, it’s just crazy to win it. It’s not even (winning) that matters, it’s the friendships you make along the way. Meeting the new people, the freshmen coming in, coming together to win it.”
Spak was right about the slow start. Steinert was a pedestrian 3-2 five games into the season, and was not hitting the ball. “The coach kind of told us we had to get our act together,” senior Abigail Mazur said. “Instead of just thinking home runs, home runs, home runs, we got little hits at a time. We don’t have to put up 10 runs in one inning. Just maybe two, three is enough to do the job. If we keep doing that each inning we know there will be a good outcome.”
Melker was insistent that things would turn around. Her gospel to the team was “next.” Always be thinking about what to do next rather than what just happened.
“We knew as a coaching staff they all had the ability to be in these big moments,” the coach said. “We said from the jump, with the record we had, with what everybody was writing or posting about us, that we could prove the people that trusted us right. That’s always been our mindset. It’s never been about ‘Let’s prove them wrong.’ It’s about, ‘Hey there’s a lot of people that believe in us. The coaching staff. The players. Let’s just prove them right.’”
And they did just that. After losing to Watchung Hills to fall to 8-4 on Apr. 26, the Spartans won 13 of their final 14 and finished with eight straight wins to end up 21-5.
Included in the run was their eighth straight trip to the Central Jersey Group III finals. Steinert won its second straight sectional crown by taking a 4-1 win over the same Robbinsville team that beat it two times earlier in the season.
“Oh my God, it’s awesome doing it the second time in a row,” Mazur said after the game. “I knew we were gonna come in and we were ready for revenge. We wanted to beat them.”
Steinert reached the sectional final with a tense, 4-2 win at top-seeded Colts Neck, in which senior Ceara O’Neal had a three-run homer and all three RBIs. O’Neal added a hit and RBI in the win over Robbinsville.
“Ceara is the powerhouse of our team,” Bonacci said after she scattered seven hits against the Ravens. “She brings everything to practice. She gives 110 percent effort every time she steps onto the field for practice or a game. I know she has my back.”
After defeating the Ravens, Steinert visited Shawnee for the Group III semifinal and, after a four-run lead slipped away, the Spartans scored nine runs after a 30-minute lightning delay for a 13-4 victory. Bonacci had four hits and four RBI, Addison Hassan had three RBI and Simonka not only had two hits and two RBI but also pitched 2.1 innings when Bonacci ran into some mild issues.
“That definitely helped,” she said of the Shawnee stint preparing her for the title game. “But I worked really hard this whole time. The coaches have given me a lot of opportunity to work hard and be prepared for this to happen.”
The sophomore was not the only one to step up in the final. Spak, Hassan and freshman Mia Pope delivered RBIs, while freshman Bianca Walsh had three hits.
It was a nice feeling for Spak, who had 22 RBI this year but hit below .300 (at .295) for the first time in her career.
“Obviously, it felt great,” she said. “I think I really needed it at some point. My teammates had my back leading up to the game and I just wanted to help them out any way I could.”
Pope and Walsh, the team’s middle infielders, were outstanding as the one-two hitters in the lineup. Pope hit .500 with 32 runs scored and 17 RBI, while Walsh hit .488 with 27 RBI and a team-high 39 runs and 12 doubles.
“They did not play like freshmen,” Melker said. “They don’t let the big moment get to them. They stay mentally focused and play softball like they’ve done since their childhood.”
The seniors had high praise for the 9th-graders.
“They’ve helped out so much,” Spak said. “I have so much love and respect for them. They were honestly amazing. A great addition to the team.”
The seniors weren’t too shabby either. They included O’Neal (.540, 5 HR, 8 doubles, 40 RBI, 35 runs), Bonacci (.333, 7 doubles, 27 RBI; 1.59 ERA, 144 strikeouts), Paige Schultz (.278, 11 RBI), Mazur (.270, 14 RBI, 15 runs) and Spak (.295, 22 RBI, 27 runs).
Also contributing were sophomores Gina DiMeglio (12 runs, 10 RBI), Simonka (.273, 19 RBI, 12 runs, 1.03 ERA) and Hassan (.357, 17 RBI), who was stellar defensively behind the plate, particularly in the state final. Junior Riley Mikolajczak hit .281 with 11 walks and 11 runs, and freshman Brooke DeWitt had just 12 at-bats but scored 13 runs as a courtesy runner.
It was a group with extremely strong chemistry, and every player on the roster acknowledged Bonacci as the leader. Which is why, after the celebration at Kean, the bus went directly to the hospital so that Izzy could be in a photo with the trophy.
“It was a great moment,” Spak said. “At first, we thought it was gonna be just Melker because they dropped her off first by herself. But when they said we could all go, we sprinted out of that bus as fast as we could, running down a hill just to get to her.”
It was a moment Bonacci will never forget.
“Oh God, it was so emotional,” she said. “At first it was just Melker carrying the trophy to me. After she hugged me, they all came running out of nowhere. I was honestly speechless. To win the title and then to come see me; it just shows how amazing this group of girls is.”
It’s a group that gave Steinert its first state crown since 2018, and there we have been several near misses since then. Melker knows all about the pressures of being Steinert softball.
“It’s definitely a weight off the back,” she said. “It’s consuming as a program to play and be held to such a standard and always have that target on your back. As soon as that last out comes and you know it’s over, the celebration is so relieving.”
And in this case, so surreal. But also so exhilarating.
For more photos, visit Amanda Ruch’s website.
Makenna Spak makes contact for a key run-scoring single against Cedar Knolls in Steinert's 3-2 CJ Group III victory at Kean University, June 10, 2023. (Photo by Amanda Ruch/amandaruchphotos.smugmug.com.),
Steinert pitcher Izzy Bonacci in action prior to her injury against Cedar Knolls on June 10, 2023 at Kean University in the Central Jersey Group III state championship softball game. (Photo by Amanda Ruch/amandaruchphotography.smugmug.com.),
