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UNION TOWNSHIP (Union) – The Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School softball team surprised, even, itself last season when it went to the Union County Tournament final as the No. 8 seed, coming within a seventh-inning walkoff homer of calming the championship, falling to No. 2 Dayton.
Fast-forward 12 months and it was the second-seeded Raiders who came in as a favorite over an eighth-seeded upstart, and after tasting what it was like to walk off the Kean University field in defeat last spring, experienced SPF knew it had what it took to claim its first county title in 48 years.
Junior shortstop Emily Roof’s two-run homer in the third inning was her second in this game in as many seasons, this one snapping a tie and proving to be the game winner, and sophomore Maddie Bogart turned in a standout effort starting in the circle and Scotch Plains-Fanwood won its first UCT crown since 1977, topping Summit 4-2 Tuesday evening at Kean.
“We came last year, we battled, we lost,” Roof said. “So, this time we were coming hard and we had to win. All of the players we have are the same from last year, we didn’t take any new ones. So, we are all experienced on this field and knew how we had to play, so we were all ready.”
The win capped a long road back for a program that had struggled mightily for nearly a decade and a half, going from 2007 through 2021 without a winning season. The Raiders finally broke through in 2022, progressing to the county final last year, before picking up the statement win Tuesday over a team they had lost to during the regular season.
“I love this program. I’ve been in it for a long time,” said coach Matt Giannacio, who was a longtime assistant before taking over the helm a game into the 2023 campaign. “There were some things that needed to be done and the culture has changed, as you can see how these girls fight every single day for each other. We’re a really tight-knit family.”
That family overcame a proverbial shot to the face in the first inning, and one, quite literally, in the sixth inning.
Summit ace Charlotte Yarnall clubbed a two-run homer in the top of the first inning, and considering some of the teams the sophomore had held in check this season, it could have easily been all the Hilltoppers would need.
But nobody told Scotch Plains-Fanwood, which tied the game in the bottom of the second inning on an error and a two-out RBI single from Natalie DiFabrizio, before the Raiders took the lead for good the following frame.
Bogart singled to right field with one out, bringing up Roof, who had struck out in her first at-bat, but had proven she was capable of the big hit in this game after homering in the top of the seventh in last season’s final to tie the game. Roof swung at the first pitch she saw, sending a long, towering two-run homer to left field and SPF had the 4-2 lead it would hold the rest of the evening.
“After striking out my first at-bat, my goal was to just make contact with the ball,” Roof said. “I just swung as hard as I can and it just went. My first at-bat I saw what she had, so I knew what to lay off of, so when I saw that first pitch, it was right there, so I swung.”
“That’s what big-time players do,” Giannacio said. “They come up in big spots and they get big hits. That kid has the potential to play at the next level, if she wants to, and we keep trying to urge her to do so, because everybody in here would love to watch her play five more years of softball.”
Bogart, meanwhile, was proving her coach’s confidence in giving her the start when he had two other pitchers to choose from. After giving up the blast in the first, the sophomore cruised through the second and third innings, before pulling a Houdini act in the fourth, escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam by ringing up a pair of strikeouts and then inducing a groundout.
In the sixth, though, things took a scary turn, as Chloe Jacobson hit an absolute smash back up the middle that struck Bogart in the upper-right part of her mask. The pitcher seemed none the worse for wear for a moment, but then stumbled and went to the ground as coaches and trainers rushed to her aid. After a few minutes as the crowd watched in stunned silence, she was helped to her feet and walked off the field under her own power. She even joined the postgame celebration, although she looked a big wobbly and had to be helped, though that did nothing to quell her celebratory excitement.
“The first thing she said when she came to on the ground is, ‘Is my face ok?’” Giannacio said. “(She) is one tough kid. Inside and outside. I ran a sophomore out there today and she really gave us everything she had.”
“When she got hit in the face it was very, very scary, so, obviously, we wanted to finish it and win it for her,” Roof said.
And win it they did, as Olivia DiSalvo came on to pitch the rest of the game, getting two strikeouts to end the sixth inning and then sidestepping a leadoff double by Caroline Putnam in the seventh to close it out.
DiSalvo, along with Roof and Bogart, make up one of the state’s deepest pitching staffs, with their coach knowing any of the three could get it done on a given day. Bogart allowed two runs on six hits and a walk, striking out six over 5 1/3 innings for the win.
“I have the utmost confidence in three kids,” Giannacio said. “I’m sure there are a lot of coaches in New Jersey who wish they had the pitching staff we have, and Summit’s isn’t too shabby, either. That team over there is one hell of a team. They fight and have good players all over the field.”
BOX SCORE
SUMMIT (17-7) 020-000-0 – 2-7-2
SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (17-6) 022-000-x – 4-5-0
WP: Bogart. LP: Yarnall. SV: DiSalvo
2B: Sum—H. Jacobson, Putnam. HR: Sum—Yarnall; SPF–Roof.
Staff writer Simeon Pincus has been covering NJ sports since 1997, and has been on the softball beat since 1999. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter/X @SimeonPincus
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