By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
X @GDsullysays
OCEAN CITY — Mainland Regional senior pitcher Bella D’Agostino said she doesn’t plan to play softball in college, so every time she puts on her uniform during the state playoffs it could mean the end of an outstanding career with the Mustangs.
D’Agostino and her fellow Mustangs seniors weren’t quite ready to hang up their spikes just yet on Tuesday afternoon, as they traveled over the 9th Street bridge and pulled off a surprising upset of second-seeded Ocean City in the South Jersey Group 3 quarterfinals. Mainland, the No. 10 seed, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth, promptly gave it up in the bottom of the inning, then rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to get out of town with a 5-2 victory.
Mainland will actually host a semifinal, as No. 11 Cherry Hill West advanced with an 11-1 win over No. 14 Clearview. The other semifinal on Thursday features top-seeded Moorestown against No. 4 Delsea Regional.
D’Agostino was outstanding inside the circle. She notched career strikeout No. 500 in the first inning and finished the game with 13 while allowing just three hits and two runs.
“It’s a huge accomplishment,” said D’Agostino, who now has 512 strikeouts in 430 career innings. “I definitely did not think I was going to get to that, but it was great to achieve that today.”
“Bella is my favorite person. We’ve been best friends and have been playing on the same team since we were 7 years old,” said senior third baseman Denver Obermeyer. “It would have been really heartbreaking for this to be our last game together, but I know I can put my trust in her 100 percent of the time. Getting 500 strikeouts is outstanding. She struck out the side about three times today. It was her goal this season to reach 500 strikeouts. She got her 400th earlier this season and that’s an incredible accomplishment. She knew it was going to be hard to get 100 more after that, but I knew she could.”
“She’s a four-year starter for us, she got her 500th career strikeout in the first inning, and there could have been a letdown after that, but she didn’t. She had 13 strikeouts,” said Mainland coach Brian Smith. “It was a little bit of a slow start coming off the holiday weekend with the rain. There was a little rust, but she shook it off after the first inning and really pitched tremendously well today.”
The game was a pitchers’ duel between D’Agostino and Ocean City sophomore Brooke Douglas for five innings before the teams combined to score seven runs in the final two frames. Mainland (10-12, 5-7 Cape-Atlantic American) scored first, on an error in the top of the sixth, but the Red Raiders (17-10, 11-2 CAL National) came right back with two in the bottom of the inning to take a 2-1 lead. Both runs scored on a two-run bloop double down the right-field line by Carlee Hiddeman. D’Agostino, however, limited the damage by getting a strikeout to end the inning, stranding runners at second and third.
That was big, as Mainland faced just a one-run deficit heading into the top of the seventh.
Senior outfielder Bella Barretta started things off with a single to right and Ocean City elected to intentionally walk Obermeyer, Mainland’s star hitter. She’s hitting nearly .500 with nine home runs, 21 runs scored and 21 RBIs, and the Raiders walked her three times, including twice intentionally. That put the go-ahead run on base, and Mainland made Ocean City pay for that decision two batters later, when Leiloni DeLeon-Carney roped a two-run single to center, giving the Mustangs a 3-2 lead.
Later in the inning, freshman Carly Cavacini blooped a two-run double to right-center, pushing the lead to 5-2. D’Agostino allowed a 1-out walk in the bottom of the seventh before sealing the win with a flyout and a lineout.
“It’s been incredibly frustrating, getting walked all season. But in this game it was their mistake because they put the go-ahead run on base and that worked out in our favor,” said Obermeyer. “I’m extremely grateful to have teammates like Leiloni (DeLeon-Carney), Bella Scittina, Bella D’Agostino behind me because I know they put the pressure on. When I get walked in those situations I know they are there for us. It’s frustrating (when I get intentionally walked) but it’s a great feeling when I score because it kind of punishes the other team. They can be scared of me, but my teammates have my back and are there for me.”
“Give Ocean City a lot of credit, they are a tremendous team and they battled until the end. They weren’t giving up on anything,” Smith said. “But we came out in the top of the seventh and Bella Barretta bloops a single, gets the bat on the ball. Denver takes the walk, and that at point it was just believing that we still had enough game left (to come back). This team is working hard and they are believing.”
(Coming back in the seventh) was a tough task and very nerve-wracking — I know my heart was beating pretty fast — but we just said, ‘don’t give up.’ (Losing the lead) didn’t shut us down because we knew it was only one run,” D’Agostino added. “We were trying to just keep our heads up because the minute you put your head down, the minute you let your guard down is when everything goes away. We had a lot of energy this game and a lot of togetherness. Our team has really come together fully and I think that’s what has us playing so well the last few games. We just had to keep our heads in it and play together, and go out with a bang.”
At one point this season, Mainland was a disappointing 5-12, but since then the Stangs have ripped off five straight wins, limiting opponents to two runs or less in all five games. Coach Smith said the turning point in the season came earlier this month, when the Stangs went on the road and beat perennial Group 4 state power Egg Harbor Township.
“We had a huge win at EHT (on May 8), beating them 4-3, and that was the evidence we needed that we could beat anybody. That’s the attitude we had — that if we can beat EHT, which at the time was No. 13 in the state, we can beat anybody in New Jersey. That’s the attitude we took and tried to keep reinforcing that. Just keep working, win the day, get one percent better each day — all those mantras. We had to believe that we actually could accomplish what we want to,” he said. “We worked hard and stayed the course all season long. We took our lumps. The CAL American division is brutal. There were three teams that were in the Top 20 in the state at various times of the year with EHT, St. Joe and Vineland, plus you add in Millville, Hammonton and Cedar Creek — it’s a brutal schedule that play in the regular season. We took our lumps, but we kept telling them, ‘believe in yourselves.’ We have some seniors who have been there, and we have some young girls who needed to come along. We had to develop and find the right pieces to the puzzle. They stayed the course.”
Now, having come this far, the Stangs believe they have a realistic shot at winning a sectional championship, and that’s their focus going forward.
“We’ve been working all season. We knew this team had potential,” Obermeyer said. “In our minds we were the dark horse. We might be the No. 10 seed, but we have a lot to bring to the table.”
“I think this win really proves how our team has united and is playing for each other. These last couple of games have proven that we can play as a team — and what happens when we do,” D’Agostino said. “I’m very excited. I’m not much of an emotional person, but this is exciting. We couldn’t have gotten this far without the improvement of the whole team, and we’re just really grateful to be where we are. I’m not really processing anything right now. Worst case scenario, our season was over. I didn’t know what that was going to feel like and I was just waiting to see, because I feel things in the moment. We’re hoping now to win that sectional championship.”
WHAT’S NEXT: No. 10 Mainland hosts No. 11 Cherry Hill West on Thursday in the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals, time TBD. Ocean City’s season is complete.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
