Mater Dei almost pulls off upset in county softball tourney
Seraphs lose to state power RBC, 1-0
BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer
Nobody expected theMater Dei High School softball team to be playing for a Monmouth County Tournament championship on Saturday, except perhaps for Seraph head coach Jeanne Dickinson and her confident group of players.

Above: Mater Dei High School pitcher Sara Cline goes through her windup prior to delivering a pitch during her team's May 10 game against Red Bank Catholic during the Monmouth County Softball Tournament championship game at Wall Township High School. Below: Mater Dei's Jessie Sobko looks at a pitch during the game, which Red Bank Catholic won, 1-0.

Once they got there, few people expected the Seraphs to beat the state's second ranked team from Red Bank Catholic, and its star pitcher Brittany O'Donnell.

As it turned out,Mater Dei did not beat RBC on Saturday night in the championship game in Wall Township, losing a brilliant 1-0 affair when RBC sophomore infielder Holly Klodin blooped a single down the right-field line to scoreAlana Dimaso in the bottom of the ninth inning.

However, what Mater Dei accomplished on Saturday night was nearly as big as a win would have been. The Seraphs proved to everyone that despite having a small program (which consists of a whopping 24 girls) in what is one of the Shore Conference's smallest schools (fewer than 400 kids in the entire school), the 2008 Mater Dei High School softball team can play with anyone in the state.

PHOTOS BY FRANK GALIPO

RBC entered the game as hot as a team could be, having recently upset the state's top-ranked team from Toms River East and its shutdown pitcher, Lyndsey Pe- Queen, 5-0. The Caseys, and especially the Notre Dame-bound O'Donnell, have been getting better with each passing week this spring, and were certainly poised to claim their second MCT title in three years.

Mater Dei, meanwhile, has quietly rolled through the regular season, as Dickinson's crew has been one of the more impressive teams from day one this spring, led by senior Sara Cline, who went toe-totoe with O'Donnell on Saturday after firing a perfect game in a win over Henry Hudson earlier in the week.Mater Dei had just one loss coming in (to rival Shore Regional) and defeated Wall, which was ranked No. 2 in the state at the time, in the MCT semifinals to advance to their first final in school history.

Despite their success, the Seraphs knew they would need to play a perfect game to beat RBC, and they very nearly did. Mater Dei threatened in the top of the third, with two runners on with two outs, but O'Donnell got DanielleMurphy with a change-up (one of her 16 strikeouts on the day) to end the threat. Murphy came back later in the sixth to single and end O'Donnell's bid for a third consecutive no-hitter.

Mater Dei also had a runner reach second base in the seventh, but O'Donnell again pitched out of trouble, and held the Seraphs in check the rest of the game.

Cline was brilliant as well, allowing just five hits while striking out seven. She was not quite as dominant as O'Donnell, but just as effective through eight innings.

Klodin's game-winning hit appeared to be a foul ball off the bat, but landed just inside the foul line, ending what had been a classic pitchers' duel and an as-good-asadvertised MCT final.

Now in her 27th season as head coach at Mater Dei, Dickinson has always maintained a solid, winning program at the Middletown school. This year, however, she has her team playing at the highest of levels, and with two more tournaments looming on the horizon, Mater Dei is very much a threat to emerge with a championship in either one.

The Seraphs are likely to be one of the top seeds in the Non-Public South B bracket for the NJSIAAstate tournament, as will Shore Conference rival Monsignor Donovan (13-3), and should also be a high seed in the Shore Conference Tournament.

One thing is for certain- regardless of where they are seeded, nobody in either tournament will be taking Mater Dei lightly from here on out.

Teams prepare for tourney time

Local softball and baseball teams will be kicking into postseason mode over the next week in preparation for the upcoming NJSIAA state and Shore Conference tournaments.

Locally, there were a slew of teams in both sports that earned berths over the weekend, with the NJSIAA cutoff being at the end of the day Friday, and the SCT deadline passing on Monday.

Among the local softball teams heading to the state tournament areMater Dei (17- 2), St. John Vianney (10-5), Matawan (12- 6), Middletown South (12-6), Middletown North (12-6) and Raritan (10-7). Firstround games for public schools will be played on or before May 20, with the nonpublic games to be played on or beforeMay 22. The public sectional finals are set for May 29, with the nonpublic finals scheduled for June 3. The state finals are set for June 7 at Toms River East and North.

The same six local softball teams will also play in the SCT, which was to be seeded Monday night, and will begin this week. The semifinals are scheduled for May 31, with the finals to follow on June 4.

There are also a handful of local baseball teams that will be chasing down tournament titles in the next few weeks.

The local squads that qualified for the state tournament are Matawan (10-6), Raritan (9-9), Keyport (9-8), St. John Vianney (9-7) and Christian BrothersAcademy (13-6). The state baseball tournament will also get under way next week.

While Matawan, Keyport, SJV and CBA are all SCT-bound as well, Raritan faced the prospect of playing a must-win game onMonday against a very good Colts Neck team, weather permitting. However, Raritan has been one of the Shore' s hotter teams in recent weeks, going 5-1 down the stretch to qualify for the state tourney, and possibly the SCT.