July 4, 2024
WESTMINSTER, Colo. — Most teams at the Triple Crown 18U Sparkler tournament need five, six or seven innings to pull out a victory over the talented competition that the event often brings. NJ Pride Gold needed just two to take down Team TFS National in an 11-2 masterclass at Hyland Hills Sports Complex on Wednesday morning.
Julia Fox was a wrecking ball in the batter's box.
The second baseman ended her day with four RBI, including three off of a home run in the second inning. She led all batters through that scoring initiative, but outfielder Jennifer Park didn’t trail too far behind with a home run and three RBI of her own.
“It just shows how much we can work together and how many runs we can score,” Fox said. (As) a team that's from New Jersey, nobody really expects that much from us, so we have to come out strong. Usually down south is where they’re known for softball and stuff like that. New Jersey is known for other sports.”
The Pride called up a 15-year-old from within their program, Natalia Marecki,to shut Team TFS down from the circle. She threw all six innings, giving up just four hits and two runs while striking out six batters.
The Pride got the party started in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead early thanks to consecutive RBI sacrifice flies from Julia Fox and Harper Nix. Team TFS, however, was waiting in the wings to light up the Pride's defense.
Team TFS earned its first run through a series of base hits in the top of the second, and Taylor Dean Adams did the honors herself with a hard RBI hit into right field. The squad tied the contest up in the next at-bat, thanks to a botched throw to second from Pride catcher Nix to bring Portlynn Stacey home. NJ Pride ended the inning moments later with a double play, and Nix later caught two runners from behind the plate.
“ Coach (Rob) Deitch gave me the opportunity to come out here and play with these girls. This team's amazing,” Marecki said. “I love having an opportunity to play up. Harper's a great catcher. She was calling the game. I was just working on hitting my spots. Obviously, the defense was great.”
Their response in the bottom of the second was swift and deadly.
Park began the scoring clinic with an RBI sac fly, then Grace Slack and Jessica Fox added to Team TFS' defensive pain with back-to-back RBI singles. Julia Fox delivered the knockout blow with a three-run moonshot over the left field fence to give the Pride a comfortable 8-2 cushion heading into the third.
The two squads maintained that status quo through the next three frames until Natalie Carovillano sacrificed herself to bring Julia Fox home one last time. Park piled on with a two-run homer to end the game in the bottom of the sixth.
The victory avenged an earlier loss to Lady Dynamite Black, who defeated the Pride with a 6-2 showing. They’ll return to action on Thursday at Tepper Fields against Wicked 307-Dorr at 2 p.m.
“It starts with pitching, consistency in the circle,” Deitch said. “We made a lot of very good defensive plays. We played team defense. On offense, we just kept pulling on each other. It was great to see them hit, walk and patience with the bat, coming through with a plan at the bat and executing.”
