Squan Beats Spartans 7-2

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Ocean Township junior center fielder Jillian Scotto (15) makes an over the shoulder catch just one step away from the fence. She also had a solo homerun in the 7-2 loss to Manasquan.

Monday afternoon the lady Spartans of Ocean Township High School hosted the Big Blue Warriors of Manasquan in a Shore Conference B North softball divisional contest. Big Blue won the game 7-2 and improved to 8-6 on the season, while Ocean dropped to 2-10.

Top of the first inning had Danni Forrester, junior at Manasquan, hit the first of her game high three home runs. That was the only run that scored until the top of the fourth inning with Manasquan adding one more taking a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the inning.

Ocean had a great bottom of the fourth. They scored one run and then Jillian Scotto, junior, smacked a deep shot over the centerfield fence for a solo homer. That was her first varsity home run as a Spartan. Going into the fifth inning the game was deadlocked at 2 each.

Unfortunately, those would be the only two runs to cross the plate for the Spartans. Manasquan added two additional runs in the fifth, sixth innings and one in the top of the seventh. Big Blue Warriors actually had bases loaded with no outs, and Ocean held.

Manasquan out hit Ocean 12-5 and the Big Blue Warriors had one error in the victory. In the circle for Manasquan was Lindsay Fuller who struck out six Spartans. Forrester had a great game as she had four runs, was 3-for-4 at the plate with three home runs, and had three RBIs.

Taking the loss for Ocean was Emma Fitterer who had 11 strikeouts in seven innings, and at the plate, she went 2-for-3 with one run. Scotto had just one hit, and it was that monster homer. When she was out in centerfield, she made an over the shoulder catch just one step away from the fence stopping a big scoring drive by Manasquan.

Cassandra Foley, junior catcher for Ocean, also had one hit in the loss, but it was a big double. It was her 12^th career double. She also has seven career home runs for Ocean.

In the B North division, St. John Vianney is on top with a 13-1 overall record and undefeated at 9-0 in division games. Manasquan is in second position followed by Matawan, Freehold Borough, Ocean Township, Red Bank Regional, Neptune and Ranney is listed in last place.

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