By BRIAN TORTELLA
Correspondent
On X @tortreports
MT. HOLLY — During the 40-minute bus ride Sunday morning to the Rancocas Valley Athletic Complex for the RV Elite Softball Tournament final, Kingsway Regional High’s Hannah Weismer looked out the window and saw a Taco Bell.
“In fact, don’t tell my parents this, but this was my idea,” Weismer said. “We drove by Taco Bell and I said, ‘Wow guys, we should go to Taco Bell after,’ and that’s how we got it. “Coach B’ is the best, she makes it happen.”
Dragons Assistant coach Erin Bernat got permission from Athletic Director June Cioffi for the Dragons to stop at the fast-food joint on the way home, but only under one condition: They had to win.
That was all the motivation the Dragons needed.
Kingsway shook off an early deficit, delivering a five-run second inning en route to an 8-5 triumph over host Rancocas Valley to earn a well-deserved Taco Bell trip.
Rancocas Valley took a quick 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning on RBI singles from Ava Sweet and Avery Hennessey, and led 4-2 after the second courtesy of a solo home run from Claire Gray and an RBI single from Gianna Simone.
However, it didn’t take long for Kingsway to find its groove.
With two outs in the bottom of the second, No. 9 batter Karsen Taylor singled, setting up the top of the lineup to do some real damage. Leadoff hitter Olivia Sciulli scored Taylor on a triple, Reese Whitzell and Weismer notched RBI singles, and Ava Snyder capped the inning off with a two-run home run.
Just like that the Dragons led, 7-4, and never looked back.
“It’s easy to think ‘oh we have two outs, the inning is over,’ but I never think the inning is over with this team,” Kingsway coach Jill Ward said. “One person gets on and they can spiral, and they did.
“That was a heart-attack in a softball game right there. That was a very stressful game. I’m so proud of them because they just flipped the switch and decided that wasn’t how it was going to go. They changed their game play in the second inning, and everyone stepped up. It worked out great.”
Sciulli earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player honors. The senior went 7-for-9 with three RBIs in three games against Cherokee, Cinnaminson and Rancocas Valley. She currently stands at 99 career hits. She’s hitting .585 this year, and .374 for her career with 95 runs and 47 RBIs.
“I’m so excited that we won this. We came out a little rocky, but being able to not show any emotion and just come out here and win the game is awesome,” Sciulli said. “I knew coming in here that I just had to hit. I can’t worry about how many hits I had, it’s just about coming out here and doing the best I can for the team.”
Said Ward, “(Sciulli) has been our spark-plug for four years now. She always gets it done. Even in the time where she might go through — we’ll call it a ‘micro-slump’ because it’s never that long — she’ll come out of it in the best possible time to win the game for our team. Everyone depends on her to get the game rolling.”
Weismer, who’s batting an impressive .500 this spring, finished the day 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
“That was awesome, coming out here with the team and getting the win after the few first innings that were a little iffy,” Weismer said. “We finished it out great, I was really excited.”
“I’m very excited for Taco Bell,” she chuckled.
Kingsway improved to 11-0 with the tournament sweep, further solidifying itself as the undisputed No. 1 team in South Jersey. The Dragons have been so good that the five runs given up Sunday were the most they’ve allowed in a game so far this season.
Perhaps the best part about this Kingsway team is the amount of genuine fun they have playing the sport with each other. Throughout the game, there were loud “Taco Bell” cheers in the dugout mixed in with occasional singing. When the win was nearly secured in the seventh inning, the entire dugout rapped along to NOKIA, the No. 3 song in the world on the Billboard top 100.
“It’s honestly the people,” Weismer said. “We lift each other up. We’ll have an off practice, we’ll have an off day, but we’re such good friends and teammates that we pick each other right back up and we know we’re better than however we’re doing at that moment.”
Added Ward, “the team chemistry is through the roof. These girls’ energy and support of each other is amazing. These girls are having fun playing softball, they love playing. I love high school softball, honestly. These girls are on different travel teams and going to different colleges on different levels, and they just love playing together.
“They love playing this sport. They would play it every day. They would take no days off, they would play two games a day if we could. We have days off and they’ll get together and go to the field. They just love being together.”
Click the link to watch the full postgame video: Kingsway’s trip to Taco Bell: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI9-zdgtgk3/?igsh=am1oanlod21sZWtq
