LINWOOD – Last week, Mainland Regional High School faced some of the top teams and pitchers in South Jersey softball.
Perennial power Egg Harbor Township High School visited Mainland on April 18 and defeated the Mustangs 15-3.
Junior Leiloni Deleon-Carney found some success against Eagles star pitcher Madison Dollard. In her first at-bat, she hit a strong leadoff double to left field. Later in the second inning, she scored off a sacrifice fly ball from Alyssa Cartagena.
She was not finished yet as she hit another double off Dollard in her second at-bat. Pitcher Bella D’Agostino hit an RBI single to bring home Deleon-Carney for her second run of the game.
Mainland’s third run of the game was brought in by senior Denver Obermeyer, who reached third base and gave Bella Barretta the green light to head home.
But Egg Harbor Township’s offense came out on top thanks to aggressive base running and consistency at the plate.
Two days later, the Mustangs hosted St. Joseph High School and got off to a fast start, putting St. Joseph pitcher Ava Fisher in a jam early.
Barretta and Layla Mesik got on base in the first inning along with Deleon-Carney, who walked to set up a bases-loaded situation for a rookie Mustang.
Freshman Carly Cavacini took full advantage of the scoring opportunity and launched a triple that cleared the bases to put Mainland up 3-1 after the first inning. It was only her second hit of the young season and was met with cheers from the home fans and the dugout.
“We know that we can hit the ball against these girls,” Mainland head coach Brian Smith said, “but we aren’t getting the big hit consistently. Here and there we get it like with Carly today and Leiloni against Egg Harbor, but we aren’t getting it consistently and are leaving runners on base.”
The Mustangs would go on to lose the game to St. Joseph 11-3 after staying within striking distance for most of the contest.
D’Agostino and the Mainland defense kept the opposing offense contained through the first 5.2 innings of the game as Mainland trailed 5-3.
St. Joseph slowly took the lead back after Mainland went up 3-1 but broke through the defense in the top of the sixth.
Mainland got the first two batters out and needed one more for a clean inning to maintain a manageable two-run deficit.
Fisher hit an RBI single to break the game open for St. Joseph and start a scoring run. Later in the inning, the offense got the bases loaded again and Kylie Tomlin brought home another two players with a single, which extended the St. Joseph lead to 9-3. It was a back-breaking inning for Mainland that saw four runs scored with two outs.
“One of the things we aren’t doing is playing clean softball,” Smith said. “We are making a few errors and must clean up defensively some of these issues. That’s what we talked about having that heart and drive to pick up your pitcher and make plays.”
The Mustangs will continue their tough schedule as they hit the road for another meeting versus St. Joseph on Wednesday, April 24. Both teams are going to be very familiar with each other, only playing four days apart. Mainland will need to put together a complete game to get a better result in the second round.
The road trip continues for the team as they head to Millville High School on April 26. Mainland defeated Millville in the first game of the season at home 4-2. Game time is 4 p.m.
Finally, the Mustangs will wake up bright and early the next day on April 27 and travel to Williamstown High School. The first pitch is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
– STORY by WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
