Ocean City softball hits milestone with 7-1 quarterfinal win in S.J. sectional
OCEAN CITY — The 2023 Red Raider softball team did something Friday no other Ocean City High School softball team has done since the 1980s — they won their 20th game of the season.
And this after going 5-15 in 2022.
The victory came in impressive fashion at home in the South Jersey Group III quarterfinals as No. 1 seed Ocean City vanquished No. 9 Pinelands 7-1 in a dazzling display of big hits, speedy base-running, excellent fielding and lights-out pitching.
The glory in the win was spread around from freshmen in their first season to seniors in their fourth.
Freshman pitcher Jessica Mooney had 14 strikeouts, 2 RBI, a single and a double, and fellow freshman Brooke Douglas, who pitched the team to a win in the first round of the playoffs with 13 strikeouts, turned her own leaping double play to snag a line drive ball to end the game.
Sophomore Taylor Vaugh had a team-leading 3 RBI on a booming double and a sacrifice fly and fellow sophomores Sydney Catto and Carly Hennis each had a single, as did junior Anna McCabe.
Senior first baseman Gabrielle Bowen had a double and an RBI and outfielder MacKenzee “Macky” Segich scored 3 runs and had 3 hits. Segich’s final hit of the day was her 50th of the season, putting her well beyond the 39 by older sister Arianna, a 2015 graduate who used to hold the OCHS record.
Heading into the semifinals today against No. 5 Shawnee, Ocean City has a 20-8 record (11-1 in the Cape-Atlantic League National Division).
“That felt fantastic,” an exuberant Vaugh said of her 2 RBI double. “I was popping up all game and I was like, ‘This is the moment I’m going to hit it and it’s going to go,’ and the moment that I felt it I was like, ‘Let’s freakin’ go,’ and I was running.”
Vaugh said her team “really brought the energy today and when we have energy it is really hard to beat us. We’re a very close team and we work really well together.”
“This season means a lot because it’s my last one here and we have a great team,” Segich said. “I think we can really go far, so I’m really excited.”
She agreed with Vaugh.
“I think (the game) was great. We had a lot of energy, like Taylor said, and we were definitely hitting the ball and our defense was super strong.
“I would love to go farther,” noted Segich, who also leads the team in runs with 34.
Douglas was smiling broadly wearing the big gold necklace and medallion awarded to her by coach Carrie Merritt for her outstanding defensive play that short-circuited a seventh-inning rally by Pinelands. (That’s gold-colored plastic, just FYI.)
“Honestly, with the energy and excitement of the game,” she said, “it was just instinct to go up and catch the ball. I wanted to be there for my pitcher. I wanted to get that last out.”
Not only did she sky to grab the line drive, she came down and threw to second to catch the runner off second base for the final out.
“You gotta be heads-up,” Douglas said.
Douglas and Mooney have had each other’s back all season as the two pitchers for the team who play infield when they’re not on the mound.
“It has felt great. We really help each other out,” Douglas said. “It’s great to have another freshman that can throw really well.”
With a team-leading 5 home runs, the freshman said she’d like the team “to go all the way.”
Mooney said she felt “really good” about her pitching against Pinelands. “I was throwing a lot of strikes so I thought that helped a lot.” (She now has 180 strikeouts on the season.)
She believes other teams are underestimating the Red Raiders.
“A lot of people come in and think they’re going to walk all over us, so by us winning by six runs helped a lot. It shows we’re here to play and we’re not the Ocean City from last year. We’re going to win,” she said.
Mooney said switching off pitching with Douglas helps the team “because we’re both really solid so if I don’t do good I know she’s going to come out and pick me up and vice versa.”
“I’d like to win the whole thing,” she said, “and go on to win more and then have a good rest of my high school career.”
Bowen said the win was “really fun. Even though I didn’t get all my hits, I still had a really good time playing.” Bowen leads the Red Raiders with 23 RBI, so hits aren’t exactly a problem for her. She has had 6 doubles, a triple and four home runs so far.
“I’m glad it’s not my last game, at least one more,” the senior said. “This has been my best season in high school. It’s good to go out on this season. It’s been a long season and I really hope it continues. I think we can continue.”
Coach Merritt, aside from being pleased with her team, also was happy about the game’s 2 p.m. start. The field is right behind Ocean City Primary School, where she works, and the little kids who were still in school could be heard yelling from the adjacent playground.
“What a cool setting,” she said with the kids, parents and starting Memorial Day weekend.
“I have to say I feel way better about today than our first-round game. We came back after prom weekend, which is probably both a parent’s and coach’s worst nightmare — prom week. We came back a little lethargic, but we held onto that game against Highland.”
The girls won 5-3. They were up 5-0, but Highland (4-15) scored 3 runs in the seventh.
“Today we were us,” she said. “We were silly, we were focused, we were energized. That’s really what I appreciate about this team. When we come in with energy, we play. These kids, they love this sport so why should they be miserable? It’s fun to see that, to see the hits fall, to see the clutch defensive plays and another strong pitching performance by Mooney.”
The coach also noted the way her two pitchers back each other up.
“Who made that clutch play for Mooney at the end? Douglas,” she said. “I love that freshman duo.”
“I feel if that ball had dropped (into the outfield), even though we had a 7-1 cushion, that could have opened things and caused a little panic. That was key and a little exclamation point to end the game.”
Merritt is proud of her young team.
“It’s exciting for the future. Playing some of those early season losses — the Kingsways, the Haddon Heights — and I’ve said this to you before, it showed us this idea of what could be down the road.
“They’re coming together so well right now and I hope they keep that energy up because after a 5-15 season last year we have nothing to lose. We might as well just go for it.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
