By Al Muskewitz
WEST WINDSOR, N.J. – The Salem Community College softball team gave one of the best teams in the region all it could handle two days in a row and it took a sixth-inning rally for it to finally turn the relentless Mighty Oaks away.
Mercer Community College fired the last salvo in a back-and-forth game, scoring two runs in the sixth inning Saturday to hand Salem a 10-8 loss in the Region XIX semifinals Saturday that brought an end to a record-setting season for the Mighty Oaks.
The Mighty Oaks shut out Mercer in the opening game of the tournament and held leads of 1-0, 4-3 and 8-5 in the fifth Saturday. But the Vikings, the eventual tournament runner-ups, answered every time before taking the lead for good in the sixth.
"They did everything that we asked," Salem coach Angel Rodriguez said. "They came into a week where they were the true underdogs and they battled. (It was) definitely an upgrade from earlier in the season that showed how much work we put in and that hard work paid off this weekend. It didn't come out our way – that's softball – but they did everything we could ask."
The Oaks' first three batters of the game all singled with Courtney Hoggard giving them a 1-0 lead. In the third inning Vaye Savage doubled home a run and two more scored on Callie Rozak's liner that hit hard off the pitcher's upper body, was fielded in the infield and then thrown into foul territory.
They took their 8-5 lead in the fifth on a pair of two-run homers by Savage and Rozak. It was Rozak's third homer in three tournament games. Rozak, Savage, Karyn Trice, Ella Hayes and Haylee Pickrell all had two hits for Salem.
Mercer tied it with three in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer by Maya Patel and a throwing error trying to complete a potential inning-ending bases-loaded double play.
The Vikings scored their two go-ahead runs on an RBI double by Cierra Acevedo that fell squarely on the right-field foul line and a sacrifice fly by Patel after both hitters fouled off a pair of 0-2 pitches from Morgan Mecham.
"We knew it was going to be a battle," Rodriguez said. "We played our best yesterday and they were going to be hungry coming out and wanting to make a difference. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. We just had to take it one pitch at a time and they matched it. That's softball, right? They did what they had to do and we had to keep trying what we had to do."
There were expectedly tears and hugs in the Mighty Oaks' post-game huddle, but there also was a lot of pride in what the team showed this season in its second year back on the field and in the tournament.
The Mighty Oaks had a 30-win season, opened their new home at Pennsville's Watson Field with a 14-game winning streak, went 18-2 at home, had a 19-game overall winning streak and won its first playoff game in school history.
"The biggest thing was how well we came together as a team," sophomore centerfielder Karyn Trice said. "Coming from everywhere around the country, around the world, and coming together as one and being there for each other, that's a huge part of this game."
"We can only go up here," Rodriguez said. "It's going to make it harder for those coming in to live up to the expectations, but I think it's going to be very good. It set the bar high and we're going to try to do it every year."
