REPEAT PERFORMANCE

Pagano dominates as St. Joe takes second staight Hammonton Tournament title

THG/Dan Russoman
St. Joseph players pose with the trophy they won as champions of the Hammonton Invitational Softball Tournament for the second consecutive season. St. Joe topped Bordentown 1-0 in the final game.

by Dan Russoman, Gazette Staff Writer 

HAMMONTON—Riding the dominating right arm of junior pitcher Nicole Pagano, St. Joseph High School’s softball team brought home its second straight Hammonton Invitational Tournament championship last weekend, recording two dramatic 1-0 victories.
St. Joe topped both New Egypt in the semifinals and Bordentown in the championship game with runs in its final at bat, as Pagano stifled both opponents by tossing a no-hitter and a perfect game, collecting 40 strikeouts in the two games.
“It’s tough to beat a pitcher like that. She has pretty much every pitch there is, and she has extreme control,” Bordentown coach Michele Brennan said after her team was shut down by Pagano for nine innings.
Pagano dominated from the start, striking out the first 11 batters she faced and finishing with 22 in the game. She did not allow a baserunner, and because of the international tie-break rule which begins every inning after the seventh with a runner at second base, faced less than the minimum number of hitters in the game.
For her effort in the tournament, in which she won four games, Pagano allowed just three hits, one unearned run, walked five and struck out 71 of the 90 batters she faced.
“Gina (DeAnnuntis, St. Joe’s catcher) and I just tried to move the pitches around so it would be harder for them to get a piece of the ball,” Pagano said.
“To be able to win twice in-a-row is amazing. There are so many good teams here. It’s a tough tournament, and to come out on top is really great.”
Squaring off against two of the top pitchers in the region, Pagano and St. Joe came out on top in both games.
The Wildcats began the day by knocking off New Egypt 1-0, scoring the winning run on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh inning.
DeAnnuntis led off the seventh with a single and stole second before Morgan Earling’s single advanced her to third base.
New Egypt’s Abbey Houston then walked Arianna Donzuso, but the final pitch went past catcher Kaci Hopkins, and DeAnnuntis slid past Houston’s tag for the winning run.
That set up a meeting with Bordentown, which reached the finals the same way St. Joe did, scoring on a passed ball in the bottom of the 10th to down Williamstown 1-0.
Pitching would continue to dominate in the championship game, as Pagano and Bordentown’s Hillary Allen quieted their opponents’ bats for much of the game.
St. Joe narrowly missed opportunities to score in both the third and sixth innings, as Allen twice pitched out of trouble to keep the game scoreless.
In the third, Giana Cavallo singled and Janey Higgins walked to start the inning for the Wildcats. Following a strikeout, St. Joe loaded the bases when Melissa Humphreys singled. But Allen struck out the next two Wildcats to end the inning.
St. Joe threatened again in the sixth, as DeAnnuntis singled with two outs and Earling followed with a hit to put runners on first and second. But once again, Allen came through, getting a strikeout to end the frame.
Scoreless through seven, the game moved to the tie-breaker, where Bordentown’s eighth inning ended quickly when Allen was thrown out at third trying to steal, and Pagano fanned the first two hitters to retire the side.
In St. Joseph’s eighth, Nicole Odell began at second base and reached third on Humphreys’ sacrifice bunt. But she was stranded as Allen recorded a strikeout before retiring Pagano on a pop up to end the inning.
In the ninth, Bordentown bunted runner Cheyenne Sylvester to third base, but Pagano struck out the next batter, before Kaitlyn Messina popped up to DeAnnuntis to end the inning.
St. Joseph opened its half of the ninth with courtesy runner Ashley Romeo at second base. After Allen struck out DeAnnuntis, Earling ripped a single into left field, and Romeo beat the relay throw home for the winning run.
“I just wanted to wait for my pitch and get her in,” Earling said.
“I don’t really know what she (Allen) threw me. It was my pitch and I just swung. It feels really great,” she said.
Although they entered the tournament as the defending champion, many felt the Wildcats would have a hard time repeating.
“This is what we were striving for. To do the unordinary and accomplish what nobody else has accomplished. We’re working for big things for this program,” St. Joe coach Candi Dean said.
“This is an accomplishment, and I’m really proud of these girls. They work hard every day. It’s exhilarating. I’m excited because I know how much they wanted this. I could see it in their eyes. They weren’t going to let this get away.”
As for her ace, Pagano, Dean hopes she will get the recognition she deserves.
“She’s an amazing pitcher and I hope people realize that. She’s going to do big things and great things and she really deserves this,” Dean said.
Earlier in the week, Pagano and St. Joe topped Bridgeton 24-0 in a game that marked a milestone for DeAnnuntis, whose eight runs batted in made her St. Joseph’s all-time leading run producer.
“Gina does such a great job at the plate and catching. She’s a big reason why we’ve been so successful,” Dean said.