Underdog Warriors Repeat as Somerset Softball Champs

Saturday's Somerset County softball final came down to the two teams that fought for the crown last year: Watchung Hills and Hillsborough. And just like in 2012, the Watchung Hills Warriors left as champions, with a 3-1 victory.

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Hillsborough drew first blood, scoring in the second inning on a line drive by Jess Santelli, sending courtesy runner Josette Spenser home.  But that would prove to be the only run the Raiders would score.

Watchung Hills would get on the board in the fourth inning when McKayla Brady's single slid up the middle, which scored courtesy runner Madison Scuderi. 

In the sixth inning, Meghan Kovac singled up the middle, and a bunt single by Deanna Gonnella moved her to second.  But Hillsborough would get a showstopper double play that left Kovac on third base with two outs. But that is when Dana Mertz ripped a double that bounced off the right-center field wall to score Kovac to give Watchung Hills a 2-1 lead.

"Pitchers always get the MVP and Abby did such a good job," said Dana Mertz, tournament MVP.  "But I am obviously super happy that I got it.  I just want to finish this year really strong in the states.  This was awesome, but I just want to keep going with the awesomeness."

Watchung Hills got an excellent performance from pitcher Abby Cline, who was the 2012 tournament MVP.  "Even though everyone says this year is bigger, I think it is the same knowing that my team could beat them," said Warrior pitcher Abby Cline. "We did really good, we deserved it."

"It is just amazing," said Cline. "This is something we worked really hard for. I think Hillsborough is a more talented team, but we just want a lot more.  We know what our talents are and we have to do other things to win."

"We worked hard and we were prepared." said Watchung Hills head coach Mike Delessandro.  "We were very confident coming in that we were ready. Even though we were heavy underdogs, every girl on this team believed we could do this. They are a really good team, but so are we. This is our 20th win. Being the underdog worked to our advantage, no pressure, no one expects us to win. We were very loose coming in here.  We executed when we needed to."