LANOKA HARBOR – The beautiful thing about sports is you play the game for a reason. Because one look at the Ocean County Tournament softball bracket would not tell you anything about how it went.
A lot went right for Lacey Lions in the Ocean County Tournament, where they earned the number five seed. It started in the first round, where they defeated No. 12 Central Regional, 8-5, and beat fourth-seeded Toms River East, 4-1, in the second round.
But top-seeded Brick Township lost by one run to eighth-seeded Toms River South in the second round, making the road to the title a bit easier for Lacey.
“It was a pretty wide-open tournament this year,” said Lacey head coach Thomas Faulkner. “A couple of the top teams did not participate this year. The top two seeds got knocked off early this year, so it left us with a pretty good opportunity to advance, which we did.”
A 2-0 victory over Toms River South in the semifinal set up a championship matchup against the No. 10 seed in Brick Memorial, who defeated second-seeded Manchester and third-seeded Jackson Liberty to get there. Lacey won, 6-2.
Lacey also did not have to worry about Donovan Catholic, who is the top team in the state and did not participate in the tournament this year.
Alyssa Costello is Lacey’s top offensive player, leading the team in hits (36), RBI (23), and runs scored (35). She is second on the team with a .493 average and four home runs, and is only a freshman. She also led the team offensively in the title game, going 3-for-4 and scoring three runs.
“Alyssa is our leadoff hitter and she can bat, slap and hit for power,” Faulkner said. “It’s awesome to have a person like that who can do a lot of different things leading off. She’s our center fielder, but she’s been filling in at shortstop the last couple of games and has been doing really well there.”
Costello had to fill in at shortstop for Caitlin Hughes, who got injured sliding into second base. But Hughes has been a huge part of the team.
“Catie has been one of our leaders and was having an excellent season until her injury,” Faulkner said. “She’s second on the team with 32 hits and had 20 RBI. With her out of the lineup, the other girls have been picking up for her and have been doing a fine job. But we would love to have Catie back, that’s for sure.”
Their staff ace is Erika Holowka, who is 14-4 on the season and has struck out 159 batters over 110 innings. She sat behind Chelsea Howard the last few years, who was a four-year varsity starter and is now playing at Binghamton University, and is thriving this season.
“She’s been our outstanding pitcher this year and she got the MVP in the title game with 11 strikeouts and drove in a run offensively,” Faulkner said. “She’s a very good pitcher as far as control goes and her velocity has really picked up this year as we’ve been playing. Erika could have pitched at a couple of other schools the last couple years but she was patient. She was loyal to the program and she waited for her time and she’s done a fantastic job. We’re so proud of her for hanging in there with Chelsea in front of her the last couple years.”
Chelsea’s sister, Kailee, is the team’s sophomore catcher. She leads the team with six home runs and also has 20 RBI.
With only three seniors graduating after this season, the future for this program certainly looks bright.
“We’re very excited about the next few years because of the talent that’s coming up,” Faulkner said. “We have five juniors and several sophomores in starting roles because they are very talented players and our middle school team is doing very well, too. Things are looking pretty bright for the next couple of years.”
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