Softball: Secaucus HS takes Hudson County Crown

Jessie Gohde and her Secaucus teammates were still on the field celebrating a county championship. But even in the midst of posing pictures with the trophy, the Patriots hurler still had trouble letting the reality of what had happened just minutes earlier truly sink in yet.

“I’m still in shock, it’s crazy,” said Gohde. “We were the sixth seed and we made it this far. It’s just crazy, I don’t know what to say.”

After experiencing a roller-coaster of emotions in the late innings – from squandering a sixth inning lead, to overcoming a two-run deficit in the seventh to force extra-innings, sixth-seeded Secaucus emerged from it all with a 5-4 victory over top-seeded Bayonne, in eight innings, to win the Hudson County Tournament on Saturday at the Thomas M. Gerrity Athletic Complex in Jersey City.

Alyssa Perez broke the tie with a two-out double in the top of the eighth, scoring Hailey Mojica and giving Secaucus (14-9) its first county title since 2013.

“I was determined in my head that I had to get a hit,” said Perez, adding that she had to atone for a misplay in that sixth inning, which saw Bayonne score three runs. “Even if it was a single, it’d get Hailey home. I knew I had to do it, I put my mind to it.

“I was very determined. I convinced myself that it was just the ball and me and it was batting practice. Otherwise, I would have psyched myself out and struck out.”

Bayonne (21-6) took advantage of three defensive miscues to score three times in that bottom of the sixth, which saw Gabriella Diaz tie the game with a single, then score from second on Adrianna Morrone‘s bunt single for the go-ahead run. Morrone then scored on a throwing error.

Diaz had retired 18 of 19 batters in a row when Caroline Andriani reach on an error with two outs in the top of the seventh. Grace Angulo singled and Destiny Guzman walked to load the bases. A fly ball to the outfield seemed to end Secaucus’ comeback hopes, but it bounced out of the fielder’s glove, allowing Andriani and Angulo to score and tie the game.

“A lot of us got down, but our coaches and our subs were on the bench helping us to stay positive and stay together,” said Mojica, a four-year starter. “At the end of the day, the coach said that we are a family and we need to finish like a family.”

Mojica drew a one-out walk, then two outs later scored from first on Perez’s double. From there, Gohde, who kept the Bees’ dangerous lineup off balanced the entire day, put the game away.

After the leadoff hitter was thrown out trying to stretch a single to a double, Gohde got a grounder to second and a pop out to third to give her team a championship few saw possible just a few minutes earlier.

“We are a family. We have each others’ backs,” said Secaucus head coach Cory Roesing. “We’re going to mess up at times, we’re going to say the wrong things at times, we’re going to do the wrong things at times, but we don’t shut down on each other. Instead, when some girl makes a mistake, that means you try harder to make sure that it doesn’t hurt us in the end. They never gave up, they fought til the end for their family and I couldn’t be prouder.”

Secaucus struck for three-straight singles in the first inning, the last by Perez to make it 1-0. Gabby Samarelli broke from third on a pickoff attempt to make it 2-0.

Diaz, who struck out nine, cut the Secaucus lead in half when she scored on an Angelina Pellegrino double in the bottom of the second.

Gohde, who escaped a first and second jam in the bottom of the third and retired nine in a row, struck out three, allowing just one earned run on seven hits and a walk. Diaz allowed two earned runs on six hits and two walks for Bayonne.