The Summit High School summer softball team lost, 14-3 to Roselle Park Tuesday night. It was a 2-1 Roselle Park lead after two innings and was only a four-run game after three innings.
After Roselle Park led off the game with a single, the second batter was retired on very nice play by third basemen Jessica Rediger. She barehanded a bunted ball and threw across the diamond to beat the runner by a step. The rest of the inning saw two Roselle Park players cross the plate, but also featured a great running grab by shortstop Ali Hoesly.
Summit came to bat in the bottom of the first and produced a run within the first two batters. Hoesly led off with a single and reached third on a sacrifice bunt by Alessandra DeFonzo. With Lisa Campanelli batting, Hoesly came home on a wild pitch to cut the deficit in half.
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Summit pitcher Marissa Montero came out on fire in the top of the second, striking out three batters in a row to get the Summit team back to bat quickly. Summit did not score a run in the bottom of the second despite a hit by Marissa Jennings.
Roselle Park added four runs in the top of the third, as the first four batters of the inning all reached base. Montero had two more strikeouts in the inning.
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"(Roselle Park) caught a few breaks," said Summit Head Coach Rachel Gordon. "And a few didn't go our way when they certainly could have."
Summit's best opportunity perhaps came in the bottom of the third inning. Back-to-back singles by Hoesly and DeFonzo led off the inning, and an RBI-single by Rediger made the score 6-2. However, Summit was not able to get any more runs across despite having runners on second and third to end the inning.
Roselle Park broke the game open in the fourth, plating seven runs and taking a commanding 11-run lead in the process.
"When the team started to get down, I would have liked to see them pick each other up a little more," Gordon said. "We had our heads down a little bit."
Summit did not score in the bottom of the fourth, and relinquished one final run in the top of the fifth to enter their potential final at-bat trailing by a dozen. After the first two Summit batters got out, catcher Gabby Sulley came to bat and hit a home run to right-center field, making the score 14-3. The next Summit batter got out, though, ending the game.
"I was pleased that we kept trying," Gordon said. "We didn't give up, and it showed at the end with a big hit by (Sulley)."
Summit's next home game will be July 6, at Myrtle Field against Clark. Game time is 6 p.m. Also on that day, Summit's 10U will play against Berkeley Heights at Ashland Field at 6 p.m.
