Jersey Shore softball team wins Carpenter's Cup title
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Score one for the Shore.Anyone who has been watching Shore Conference softball over the last few years knows the overall talent in the area has improved dramatically. The area's best has proven it can play with the state's best come state tournament time, and one recent graduate, Freehold Borough's Ashley Forsyth, held the state record for career strikeouts.

This summer, a team of underclassmen (juniors with a few sophomores) participated in the Carpenter's Cup, a competition of all-star teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, and proved by winning the championship that the Shore is home to a high level of play.

The girls, playing as the Jersey Shore, were a perfect 5-0 and beat defending champion Lehigh Valley, 6-5, in the final played in FDR Park in Philadelphia.

"We did a big thing; we're really proud," said Nicole Wisniewski of Colts Neck, the winning pitching in the Cup final. "Everything went so well for us.

"Our team just stayed together and we didn't fall apart at any time," she added. "Everyone picked everyone up."

The Jersey Shore team was coached by Tony Vodola and Aado Kommendant. Wisniewski said that Vodola told the girls they were representing their schools and the Jersey Shore and to play hard.

"I knew from playing with some of the girls on travel teams and against them that we have a really strong conference," noted Wisniewski. "We were a strong team from the start. We hit well from the first game and scored a lot of runs. The girls were great on defense making the plays."

Because there was a limit on the innings that pitchers could work per game in the tournament, Vodola had Sara Cline (Mater Dei) and Wisniewski both starting and relieving. In the final, Wisniewski threw four shutout innings to help the team rally from an early 4-1 deficit to win it 6-5.

Catching was a big part of the defensive effort and was very critical to the pitching success as well, according to Wisniewski. Kiersten Burke (Wall) and Sarah Leder (Colts Neck) both worked well with the Jersey Shore pitchers.

The tournament was double-elimination and the Jersey Shore squad had already beaten Lehigh Valley once (in the winners' bracket final). Although they had the cushion of being able to afford the loss, Wisniewski pointed out that the girls were in no mood to play a second game in the heat on the day of the final (June 28).

"It was so hot, we said that we had to win this game," she remarked.

Which, is just what they did. Gina Falcone (Monmouth Regional) platted the tying and go-ahead runs in the fourth on a two-RBI single in the fourth.

The offense was very balanced. Brittani Seeman (Rumson-Fair Haven), Kate Kuzma (Colts Neck) and Ally Roma (Shore Regional) each had RBI hits for the champions.

This is the third year that the Jersey Shore has taken part in the Carpenter's Cup, and the 2007 squad has the distinction of being the first one to ever win it. The best record previously was 3-2.

The Jersey Shore team had just one day of practice prior to the start of the three-day tournament and that was following tryouts. As a result, the girls went to the Cup competition not knowing what to expect. That all changed after the first day when they went 3-0 and went straight to the winners' bracket final.

"After the first two games, we were really going for it," Wisniewski said. "We worked so well together."

The players who made up the 2007 Jersey Shore Carpenter Cup team were: Wisniewski (pitcher), Burke (catcher), Falcone (outfield/pitcher), Seeman (infield), Roma (outfield/infield), Kuzma (outfield), Cline (pitcher), Leder (catcher), Sam Dexter (Southern Regional/first base), Vicki D'Anduona (Lacey/outfield), Samantha Mayer (Neptune/infield/outfield), Kelsey Higgins (Wall/infield), Danielle Murphy (Mater Dei/outfield/infield), Tess Gagliano (Mater Dei/infield), Alyssa D'Francisca (infield) and Kate Morrissey (Lacey/pitcher).