Win Some, Lose Some, and Shore lost this one

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Shore Regional sophomore power hitter Ayden Kampf has had 56 at bats this season and has 50 hits. She also leads the Blue Devils in home runs with five this season.

As the old saying goes, “win some and lose some” well, the Blue Devils softball team of Shore Regional High School lost this one. They hosted New Egypt High School on Saturday afternoon, May 3, and took a thumping as they were beaten 15-4.

It was a non-divisional game as the Warriors of New Egypt play in the B South division of the Shore Conference and the Blue Devils are in the C North. Shore entered the game at 11-5 overall and have looked extremely well rounded this season. Their bats have been active, their pitching strong and great play in the field.

However, Saturday afternoon the Blue devils played what appeared to be their sloppiest game of the season. “Some days the ball just doesn’t bounce your way, and today was one of those days,” said David Porta, head coach at Shore. The first inning was scoreless, then the Warriors scored five in the top of the second. “New Egypt is consistently one of the best group 1 schools in the state and we try to get them on our schedule each year to gauge where we are at as a team.”

The Warriors added another three runs in the top of the third and took an 8-0 lead into the bottom of that inning. Shore settled into the game and was able to get three runs of their own and going into the fourth inning were down 8-3. The fourth was scoreless, then New Egypt put their foot on the pedal and added another seven runs. NJSIAA rules say after five innings if a team has a 10 run or better lead, the game is official. New Egypt had a 15-4 lead after six innings, so the seventh inning was not needed.

“Both teams hit the ball pretty well. The difference today was on defense. We dropped some routine balls, while they made amazing plays,” said Porta. One of the Shore players came very close to smacking her first homerun. “Morgan Shaftel was so close to getting her first career home run, only to be robbed by New Egypt’s centerfielder who literally dove over the center field fence making the catch.”

Even with the loss, Shore Regional is still in a good position at 12-5. “This is the most wins we have had in over 15 years, with many more games to go,” added Porta. The coach anticipates qualifying for the Shore Conference Tournament, and if they do, it will be the first time since the 2007-2008 season.

In the loss, Olivia DeDonce, Angela Christopher and Ayden Kampf each had two hits. Shaftel, despite having the home run robbed, was explosive as she had two hits and knocked in two runs. If Shore beats Henry Hudson and Rumson-Fair Haven for a second time this season, they will be playing against Manalapan for a share of the C North divisional championship. “Shore has not won a divisional title since 2008. We also made it to the finals of the Gold Division for the Monmouth County Tournament this season and have the state tournament coming up,” Porta said.

The Blue Devils have five regular season games left. They play away at Henry Hudson on May 7, at Barnegat on May 8, at Manalapan on May 12, and then host Rumson-Fair Haven on May 14, and host Trinity Hall on May 21.

“We have an amazing cheering section each game. Our parents are awesome and I know the coaches and players appreciate their enthusiasm. We have our own version of Fireman Ed from the New York Jet games, and our superfan also happens to be named Eddie. We really try to feed off his passion and excitement each game,” Porta said.

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