Mount Rides Stacevicz’ Pitching
To Impressive Win In ECT Final
By Steve Tober
For sidelinechatter.com

NEWARK- There weren’t going to be any upsets or disappointments for Mount St. Dominic, regardless of the pressure involved in being the top seed in the 31 st Essex County Softball Tournament.

A year after being surprised by West Essex, 2-0, in the ECT final, the Mount put on an impressive performance in Saturday night’s championship game, riding the now familiar, dominant pitching of veteran Amanda Stacevicz and an opportunistic lineup en route to a 7-0 victory over Cedar Grove for its third ECT title and first since 2003 before an enthusiastic crowd of 450 at Ivy Hill Park.

Stacevicz, who had a sixth inning double and scored two runs, was the difference per usual in the circle, limiting the third-seeded Panthers to just one hit while walking one and striking out 11.

On the season now, the Delaware-bound senior (19-4) has 244 strikeouts in 144 innings, but, most importantly, she has finally copped the one title, other than an overall Non-Public A state crown, that she has sought for four years.

“We were able to carry over the momentum from last week (12-0, 5- inning semifinal win over Nutley) and it was a real team effort,” she said. “The Essex County title was one thing this group hasn’t gotten before, even though we’ve won the North state title the last few years, and we always want to win our conference (Northern Hills, Skyline), but winning this championship has special meaning, no doubt about it!”

The Mount (21-4) took advantage of fielding miscues by a young Cedar Grove team (18-9), which committed five errors, including three in the third inning when the Lady Lions sent 10 girls to the plate and scored four runs to break the game open.

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