Brookdale women regain Region crown National championships are next for softball team BY TIM MORRIS Staff Writer The first thing Bo Scannapieco wanted to know when he got off the bus was which way the wind was blowing. Scannapieco was bringing one of his most prolific Brookdale Community College offenses to the Region XIX softball tournament played at Cape May Court House last weekend, and he knew his hitters' effectiveness would depend on Mother Nature. "The wind blew in the whole tournament," Scannapieco reported. "I knew a lot of runs wouldn't be scored." True enough, runs were at a premium. Brookdale managed to score just eight runs in three games, but they were enough to win the Region tournament for the 12th time in the last 13 years. With pitching and defense taking on added importance, the Blues had the opportunity to show that they were not a one-dimensional team. Amy Bankos and the defense stepped up when it counted the most as Brookdale swept through the tournament undefeated. Bankos (MonsignorDonovan)worked 18 scoreless innings, winning all three games and earning Most Valuable Player honors. In Sunday's final, she threwa three-hitter at Camden as Brookdale prevailed 1-0. Booy Erbig (Brick) led off the fifth inning with a triple, and with runs so precious, Scannapieco put Samantha Rooney (Monmouth Regional) in as a pinch runner. The Blues had won their first game on a sacrifice fly, and Scannapieco wanted speed on the base paths. He didn't need it, as Samantha Wagner (Manalapan) smacked a single through the middle to score the game's only run. Bankos had helped rescue Brookdale in the tourney opener Saturday against Sussex. She entered the game in the third with Brookdale already down 2- 0. She would hold Sussex at two runs for the rest of the game and Brookdale would claw its way back. The Blues would win it, 3-2, on a sac fly by Sky Rubel (Ocean Township) in the bottom of the seventh. Brookdale played Camden in the winners' bracket on Saturday and Bankos shut them down on five hits in a 4-0 win. Brookdale now waited to see which team came out of the losers' bracket, and it was Camden. The two starters in the final were a complete contrast. There was the 5-2 Bankos against the hard-throwing 6-foot Ashley Jimenez, who had shut out No. 2 seed Glouceser, 3-0, in the losers' bracket final. The two aces matched zeroes until Erbig's triple opened the door for the game's only run in the fifth. "Amy just shut the door," said Scannapieco. "They [Camden] are a real aggressive team and she was hitting the corners. They were hitting into a lot of ground-outs." Scannapieco had nursed Bankos throughout the season, limiting her innings so that when he needed her to pitch two games in a day, she would be fresh. "I knew Amy would be a top pitcher," noted Scannapieco. "I limited her innings because I wanted her for the end of the season." Brookdale's defense was equally up to the challenge last weekend, committing just one error in the three games. Scannapieco was far from disappointed in his offense. The Blues only struck out four times in the three games, indicating that they were swinging the bats well. Erbig had four hits including a double and a single. Ally Melia (Toms River), Danielle Smith (Neptune), and Rubel all contributed with timely hits. They are the sophomores, like Bankos, who didn't want to be the first class in a dozen years to graduated without having gone to the national championships. Brookdale had won 11 straight region crowns before the streak was snapped last year. The sophomores put that behind them by regaining the title Sunday. Scannapieco added that he could appreciate this year's title and a little bit more than the last few. "I got so accustomed to it [the national tournament], I began to think, Am I ever going again?" he said. The answer was yes. A familiar face is back at the national tournament. The National Junior College Athletic Association National Championships are May 15-17 in Rochester, Minn. Brookdale will take a 33-19 record into the tournament. It's not the gaudiest in school history, but as Scannapieco noted, "we're where we want to be." With a 22-5 record over the last 27 games, the Blues are playing their best ball of the season. Scannapieco, who has won two national titles at Brookdale, believes his team will be a contender in Rochester. "We have a lot of talent up and down," he said.