UCT finals

The WHS softball team fell 8-1 to the Governor Livingston Highlanders on May 21 at Kean University, taking second place in the Union County Tournament.

Senior Co-Captain Nicole Schmieder said : “It was so much fun to be the underdog. Nobody expected us to be there, and despite losing, it was a great feeling.”

Even though WHS was the seventh seed and GL was the first, the WHS defense started off strong by getting GL’s first three batters out.

However, in the top of the fourth inning, GL drove a ball into deep center field, batting in a run and giving them a 1-0 lead. This gave GL all the momentum it needed. An overthrow on a  pick-off attempt to first base allowed two GL runners to score, and an RBI double from GL allowed the Highlanders to close the fifth inning with a 4-0 lead.

The sixth inning started off smoothly when junior shortstop Taylor Barber fielded the ball off a bunt and threw to freshman second baseman Cali Chambliss, who tagged the GL runner attempting to make it to third.  However, the GL offense bounced back, scoring four more runs in the inning.

Despite being down by eight runs, WHS refused to give up. In the bottom of the sixth, Chambliss gave WHS its first scoring opportunity when she hit a double. Sophomore Sarah Seitz and freshman Julia Criscuolo followed with base hits to load the bases, and senior Co- Captain Emma Crossland capitalized on the opportunity by scoring Chambliss with a sacrifice fly.

Crossland said: “We really struggled with today’s game. We had hits here and there but we really weren’t able to string them together to score the runners on base. The top of our line-up is so strong and we were able to execute some great hits and score a runner, but it just wasn’t enough to compete with GL’s flawless performance.”

WHS played solid defense for the remainder of the game and prevented GL from scoring. The final score was 8-1, giving GL the UCT title.

Head coach Caitlin MacDonald said: “We played well on Saturday. We didn’t lose the game on physical or mental errors; we lost because GL proved they were the better team. They outplayed us. I’m proud of the way we played and we’ll see what we can do against them next year.”