NJ Heist Has Eventful Finish
In Winning Colorado Sparkler

It took immense endurance, persistence and - ultimately – a very timely and unusual triple play as NJ Heist’s Gold 18U team won the Triple Crown Colorado Sparkler Mount Elbert championship during the recent 4th of July holiday week at the Christopher Fields in Westminster, Colo.

 

NJ Heist, which finished 11-1 in the 6-day tourney, had to win five straight elimination games, starting on Saturday night (July 5) while surviving a game that didn’t end until 8 p.m. due to a lightning delay, and then come right back out at 6:45 Sunday morning (July 6) to prepare for games at 8 and 10 a.m., noon and then 2 p.m. in the very pivotal championship contest vs. the Washington Ladyhawks where a very memorable finish ensued.

 

Holding a 5-4 lead with runners on first and second base, NJ Heist pitcher Jules Piano of Hanover Park caught a bunt, fired to Amelia Flood who was covering first base to double up that baserunner before the alert infielder from Oak Knoll then made a perfect throw toward second base where center fielder Bella Cefola of Mount Olive sprinted in to take the throw and record the out there for the triple play and emphatic end to a miraculous victory.

 

“Winning a championship with a triple play is just amazing and it was one of the weirdest endings to a game that I could ever fathom as a coach,” said Sergio Rodriguez, NJ Heist’s longtime president and field general. “You go into that situation with runners on first and second and no one out of course knowing that a bunt is coming.

 

“We had (Cedar Grove’s) Gia Fernandez anticipating a possible play at third, and then the bunt came off hard as we expected it would, Jules fields it in the air at her shoestrings, immediately throws to first and Amelia, who was covering the base, then makes a perfect, on-the-money throw toward second base where Bella had sprinted in from 25 yards from center field to catch the ball and record the third out in just an incredible sequence.

 

“I’ve been coaching for 30 years in high school and in travel ball, first with (NJ) Pride and with the Heist since we started in 2006, and I think that I’ve seen only one other triple play in my entire career and that also happened when were in Colorado, either 2011 or 2012.

 

“We’ve won a title in Colorado four times in the past 20 years and this overall title twice, and this one was as special a championship as we’ve ever had!

 

“Every kid who played helped carry us to win a game during a challenging week where everyone had to adjust to the altitude, endure 90-degree temperatures, and just keep grinding in order to win one big game after another, emerging out of the loser’s bracket and then win five straight elimination games - including four in a row on Sunday without any real break.

 

“It was such an amazing week and I am so proud of our girls’ efforts in making this championship happen!”   

 

One of the key aspects of NJ Heist’s Colorado Gold 18U Triple Crown Sparkler Mount Elbert championship run was the strong work in the circle of its young pitchers, rising sophomore Maggie Quinn of Governor Livingston and rising junior Piano, who combined with contributions form Montville graduate Daniella Biggio (The College of New Jersey bound) to get the job done over and over again in filling all the innings over the course of one very busy week of softball.

 

The trio of Heist hurlers were nurtured and inspired along the way by pitching coach Diana Schraer, the former Paramus all-stater and William Paterson University D3 All-American, who did an outstanding job working in all three girls in the varying situations that developed during an innings-a-plenty week.

 

Quinn had six starts, Piano four and Biggio two during the hectic 12-games-in-6 days stretch. Quinn closed Game 1 on Sunday then started Game 2 and Game 4 where she left with a 5-4 lead. Piano pitched in all four games on Sunday including her superb relief outing in working three scoreless innings to close things out capped by the miraculous triple play.  

 

“It’s very reassuring that I can rest my head on the pillow for the next two years knowing that I have both Maggie and Juliana pitching for us at the Gold level,” said Rodriguez. “After we lost a veteran pitcher in Charlotte Tuhy of Madison, who is busy getting ready for her freshman season of Division I college basketball at American University, I knew that we had to rely on our young pitchers, and they hit the ground running.

 

“And, despite being 15- and 16-years olds in a very pressure-packed, national-level setting, they performed very well and Diana managed them beautifully!”

 

Offensively, there were many standouts for a deep NJ Heist roster, and 10 of the 12 different girls who started hit home runs during the week. Although she did not homer, Cedar Grove’s Ava Oeckel (Manhattan College bound) had an outstanding offensive week as one of the leading hitters for the team over the six games.

 

An all-state catcher for the 3-time Group 1 state champion Panthers, Oeckel played both second base and in left field for NJ Heist and is one of nine graduating seniors on NJ Heist’s 18U Gold team, also including also her Cedar Grove teammate, shortstop-3B Fernandez (St. John’s University-bound), Biggio (TCNJ), Cefola (UConn), Morris Catholic’s Marielle Balonze (2B-OF, Felician), Passaic Valley’s Kacey Depasquale (C-OF, Stevens), Paramus Catholic’s Gianna Presutto (C-1B, Rowan), Ramapo’s Leeann Downey (3B-SS, Iona) and Immaculate Heart’s Katelyn Mikros (OF, Middlebury).

 

Along with Quinn and Piano other high school underclassmen on the 18U Gold team include Hanover Park talented rising senior shortstop-third baseman Grace Waldrum, the versatile C-OF-1B-3B Sabrina Casola and middle infielder Flood.

 

“They had quite the busy stretch in Colorado, coming off the International Challenge, which is another big tournament Triple Crown has out there, and then our girls went out and won the Colorado Sparkler in such dramatic fashion, to cap a successful trip” said Rodriguez. “It’s a great group of girls who combined all their talents to get the job done in dramatic style and with very clutch performances!”

 

NOTES- Also assisting in the coaching department for NJ Heist’s 18U squad are former IHA standout Gianna DiMeglio, who is a sophomore second baseman at Siena, and Julia Yukniewicz, a Chatham High School teacher who played at Scranton…Schraer is currently the pitching coach for Kathy Hill at Willy P in the rigorous D3 New Jersey Athletic Conference…NJ Heist has the Nightmare Classic, Friday-Sunday, July 11-13, in Westhampton, N.J. followed by the Northeast Challenge, July 17-19, in Ewing N.J. and closing out the busy summer season in New England’s Finest annual tourney, July 24-27 in Plainville, Mass…NJ Heist’s 18 U Elite Jack team finished a solid 4-2-1 in the Colorado Sparkler where the 16U Futures team was a respectable 4-4-1…Hanover Park’s Waldrum, one of North Jersey’s top returning infielders next spring, already had a D1 college offer from Albany and then picked up two more offers in Colorado from both Long Island University and Sacred Heart.