MIDDLETOWN NORTH ADVANCES TO SEMIFINALS IN SHORE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT

By Mike Ready 

 

MIIDDLETOWN – Lions ace Malori Bell hurled a complete game, one-hit shutout – her 19th shutout of the season – to lead third-seeded Middletown North to a 7-0 victory over No. 11 seed Marlboro, securing a spot in next Wednesday’s Shore Conference Tournament semifinals against Donovan Catholic – ranked No. 2 in the state.  

 

Middletown North (23-5) is ranked tenth in the latest NJ.com Top 20. 

 

Bell was working on a no-hitter through 6 2/3 innings until the Mustangs’ Madison Rallis grounded a clean single up the middle to break up Bell’s no-hit bid. 

 

The hard-throwing righty combined a rising fast ball and an in-and-out curve to stymie the Marlboro lineup, setting down the first 11 batters she faced before hitting Jody Thomas with a pitch with two outs in the top of the fourth. The only other base runner she allowed was a leadoff walk to Alyson Levito in the top of the sixth while finishing with 11 strikeouts, giving her 341 Ks in 184 innings pitched this season.

 

“Malori’s thrown 184 of our 185 innings this season with two perfect games, a no-hitter and a bunch of one hitters,” said Lions head coach Chris Hoffmann. “If anyone can do that, it’s her, not a lot of pitchers in the state could. But she doesn’t care about that stuff. If you ask her how many strikeouts she had she would say we have 23 wins and wouldn’t say anything about the strikeouts. That’s the type of kid she is.” 

 

The 2018 first-team All-State selection and Fairleigh Dickerson University commit also helped her cause at the plate blasting her second home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth with a shot that easily cleared the fence in left field. 

 

“I’ve been struggling a little at the plate so hitting that will hopefully help me bounce back,” said Bell, who let out a little yelp as she rounded first base. “I definitely felt like I got all of it and that got me a little excited.”

 

Middletown North jumped out to an early 2-0 lead scoring two runs in the bottom of the first. Senior second baseman Cara McNulty started the rally grounding a single up the middle and scored all the way from first when senior first baseman Ashley Kofsky drilled an RBI double into the right-centerfield gap. 

 

Junior shortstop Mia Botti then brought Kofsky home with a line drive run-scoring single into left field giving the Lions a 2-0 lead. 

 

The Lions tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second loading the bases with two outs for Kofsky who promptly lined a two-run single into centerfield to go up, 4-0. 

 

“Pitching with the lead, especially in the first inning is great,” said Bell. “I can pitch relaxed and not worry as much about them scoring.” 

 

In the fourth inning, McNulty laced a two-out double to over the head of the right fielder and came around to score on Kofsky’s line-drive RBI single into centerfield pushing the lead to 5-0. 

 

After losing her no-hitter in the sixth, Bell retired the next four batters she faced, including closing out the game in dominant fashion with consecutive strike outs. 

 

“Malori’s an amazing teammate,” said Kofsky. “She’s always out here working her hardest and we’re always behind her working our hardest to win for her. When we give her the lead we feel we have the game in control.” 

 

Kofsky, batting cleanup, was perfect at the plate going 4-for-4 with four RBI, a double and a run scored, while McNulty, the No. 2 batter, also went 4-for-4 adding a double and three runs scored. 

 

“Ashley’s been great all year, she has over 30 hits now,” said Hoffman. “She’s been awesome at first base and is kind of a quite kid that nobody talks about and Cara’s been doing it all year for us. I think she has 50 hits now this year which is insane.”

 

McNulty leads the team with a .567 batting average along with two home runs, two triples, eight doubles, 27 RBI and 28 runs scored, while Kofsky is hitting .325 with one home run, seven doubles, 15 runs scored and a team-leading 28 RBI. 

 

The Lions’ one-through-four in the batting order, including No. 3 hitter Adrianna Cerbo and Bell at the top of the lineup, are all seniors and the major run producers on the team that represent their own version of ‘Murders’ Row.’

 

“As seniors we have a lot of experience and we want it really bad,” said Bell. “We just want to keep our season going and our hearts are in it.” 

 

“It’s pretty big because we all have a lot of power,” said Kofsky of the Lions’ top four in the batting order. “And then the rest of the lineup I believe in all of them too; they all can hit with power so it’s a non-stop, on-going lineup for our team.” 

 

Kofsky mentioned Botti, Ava Turner, Lilly Rchichi and Alyssa Sigler as underclassmen who have really stepped up this season, while Hoffman singled out his fifth starting senior Jacey Tammaro as someone who’s getting hot at just the right time. 

 

“Jacey Tammaro, who bats eighth, has come on for us in the last three or four games,” said Hoffman. “I talked to them yesterday and pointed out that after 28 games, all five (seniors) of you are now playing well at the same time and there’s not a better time of year to do that than now.” 

 

Before centering their attention on the SCT semifinals, the third-seeded Lions must first focus on Thursday’s NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III semifinal game with second-seeded Northern Burlington, who they lost to, 3-2, earlier this season and are ranked 15th in the state. 

 

“We just want to keep going, tomorrow’s the biggest game of the year,” said Hoffman referring to Thursday’s game with Northern Burlington. “We lost to them, 3-2, the first time in a rainy, windy game earlier this year so I think someone’s going to win tomorrow, 1-0, or 2-1. It’s going to be a good game. The last four teams left standing in our Group are ranked in the top 15 in the state so that’s cool and someone’s going to come out on top – hopefully its’ us.” 

 

UPDATE: Thursday’s game with Northern Burlington was suspended due to lightning with Northern Burlington at bat in the bottom of the fourth with one out and a runner on first and the Lions leading, 1-0. The game resumed Friday at that exact point of the game, and the Lions held on to the 1-0 lead for their 24th win of the season as Bell picked up her 20th shutout of the season. Kofsky had the game-winning RBI. The Lions will now face the winner of No. 1 seed Burlington Township versus fourth-seeded Steinert on Tuesday for the CJG III title. The Lions are looking to make it two straight sectional championships.