High school softball teams competing right to the end
BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer
It's been a wild roller coaster ride for Brick Township's girls softball team this season.

Although first-year head coach Gerry Caci was not certain throughout the season what team would show up, it stayed in one frustrating pattern for most of last week off its most grueling stretch of the season.

"Defense was our strong point whenwe started butwe've been making mistakes at the wrong time," said Caci, whose team had jumped back into postseason contention by winning five of six games last month in a trip to Orlando, Fla. Inspiring a break to bring its record to 7-9 at the time.

Nowhere was that more painfully obvious than two weeks ago in a 6-5 loss to Toms River East, the class of the Shore Conference A South. The Green Dragons led 5-0, and Heather Figulawas pitching a no-hitter entering the final inningwhen three errors opened the floodgates. Breanna Wolska had helped stake Brick Township to its lead with a two-run single.

"She's been pitching very well and moving the ball well," said Caci as Figula also pitched superbly in eight innings in a 1-0 loss to Toms River South.

There also was a 10-5 loss to Brick Memorial two weeks ago.

But Brick Township regained some of its stature in the Ocean County Tournament and postseason hopes when it beat No. 2 seed Point Pleasant Borough, 5-1, as Figula pitched a three-hitter and Kat Kiseli lined a run-scoring double as the GreenDragons snapped a 1-1 tiewith four runs in the fifth inning. It set up a rematch last week in the second round of the county tournament with Jackson Memorial, which had just beaten Brick Township, 7-1, by holding the teamto three hits and capitalizing on seven errors.

"We can't get out of our funk," said Caci. "We play a good game, a bad game, good game, bad game."

Coming into last week with a 9-13 record, Brick Township needed to sweep three games and another one on the cutoff on Monday to make the NJSIAA Tournament. Those tournament hopes ended early lastweek in a 3-0 loss to Southern, which scored its runs in the sixth inning.

A day later, Jackson Memorial pulled out a 3-1 victory in the second round of the Ocean County Tournament as errors again took their toll. Heather Leone ripped a single that drove in Kelly Garrido, who doubled, to tie it at 1-1 in the third inning before JacksonMemorial pushed across two unearned runs an inning later. Figula threw a wild pitch that let in the first run.

With the season winding down and Brick Township looking to end on a good note for its five graduating seniors, the Green Dragons finished off theweekwith a 5-1 victory over Jackson Liberty as Joey Afflito, with two triples, andGarrido,with a triple and a single, batted in the five runs between them.