By late spring 1999, I was disillusioned.
I had come into the sports editor's position at the Ocean County Observer after working there as a correspondent and then assistant sports editor. By January 1999, I had taken over as the guy in charge of the department, the plum job you aspired to get to after 15 years. However, it was under the flag of Gannett, which had taken over from Goodson in 1998 and had us combine our efforts with our rivals of the last 100-plus years, the Asbury Park Press. So whatever it was we wrote for our publication, the exact same story would be in their publication.
I knew that was the beginning of the end of my paper and I knew it there and then, 9 1/2 years before it officially happened. We were suddenly a second-class citizen and my displeasure carried into taking the job. I had a meeting with the sports editor at the Press and he laid out what his vision for the two papers going forward was. I listened and wasn't agreeable on everything he put out there in front of me.
Let's just say I was looking for an escape route from the road to Hell. I had no problems whatsoever working with my immediate boss. It was the bosses beyond him I had issue with.
So as the 1999 spring sports season was coming to an end in Ocean County, I began to believe further and further that this was going to be it for me, the last season I was to cover in my home county for my hometown newspaper. Things were changing and they were changing for the worse. I simply had to leave.
So on Thursday, May 27, 1999, I had two county teams, Central Regional in South Jersey Group III and Jackson Memorial in South Jersey Group IV, playing for sectional championships. I chose to go down to West Deptford High School to see the iconic Central program play for its title. The Golden Eagles lost big that day. But on the way back, I heard Jackson Memorial won its first sectional title, beating Shawnee on Jessica Fiorentino's inside-the-park home run in the top of the seventh inning.
Two days later on Saturday, May 29, Jackson Memorial would win its second county tournament championship in four years by taking down Toms River East, 1-0, at Toms River High School South. It was the second time within a week, coach Al Aires' Jaguars had beaten coach Debbie Schwartz's Raiders, the first time being in the SJ IV semifinal round on that Tuesday.
The win against Shawnee meant the Jaguars earned the right to play in the NJSIAA Group IV semifinals on Tuesday, June 1, 1999 against Hunterdon Central, which was on fire, too, at 22-4. As a matter of fact, both the Jaguars and the Red Devils were 22-4 going into their matchup at Middlesex County College in Edison. There was irony in that the game was in Edison -- it was in September 1984 that the first-ever high school event I got to staff was a Sunday afternoon football game between Brick Township and East Brunswick at East Brunswick High School ... also in Middlesex County.
Somehow, I had a very strong premonition this was going to be my finale.
I knew both coaches. Obviously, for years, Aires had been head coach of the Jaguar program since 1987 and watched his program grow to this state sectional championship and two-time county winner. I also knew the opposing team's coach, too, from my years of covering high school gymnastics -- Pete Fick was the longtime head boys gymnastics coach at Hunterdon Central and I had a number of conversations over the years with him at state championship meets, some hosted by he and his school.
Since I had never been to the Middlesex County College facility, it took me awhile to figure out where it was in an era long before GPS, Google Maps and Mapquest. We had the police department in the town to rely on, though I did have a Middlesex County map booklet to locate where I was heading toward though, admittedly, it was annoying to look at the map, look at the highway and take turns doing both until I was certain I was where I was supposed to be.
I literally got to the field as the two teams were lined up on their base lines with the national anthem playing in the backdrop, me having to scribble the lineups down from the scorekeeper for the game. The game was literally starting as I finished writing the last of the lineups down in my scorebook with hard-throwing left-hander Jenny Bender finishing up her warmup pitches.
The Jaguars made Bender work in the first inning, but within 14 pitches, Bender retired Fiorentino on a groundout, Erin Leonard on a comebacker and Toni Williams on a flyout.
Unlike Bender, Jackson pitcher Dara DeVincenzo wasn't a hard-thrower, but she was crafty with what she threw and placed around the plate. The daughter of Freehold Township High softball coach John DeVincenzo, she got a foulout and struck out Bender swinging. Lori Notaro singled to right field, but was wiped out on a forceout by Kristin Cass as shortstop Williams tossed to second baseman Fiorentino to end the inning.
The second inning was a different story for the Jaguars. Kelly Czubak singled to center field to lead off. This brought up Shannon Baldwin. On an 0-1 pitch, Baldwin hit a slow roller that got past Bender and headed for second baseman Crystal Epright. She fielded the ball, but things got complicated -- Epright was a left-handed second baseman and a right-handed second baseman could have flipped the ball easily to shortstop Katie Jenkins to get Czubak. But having to twist even the slightest bit to make the play at second took a few valuable milliseconds and Czubak beat the play to second.
The Jaguars had two on with no one out. And after Cheryl Fossati walked on four pitches, the bases were loaded and a run, maybe two coming across in this major point of the game was all but inevitable. However, the bottom of the Jaguars' lineup was coming up and Bender was about to change the Jaguars' hopes. She caught No. 7 hitter Tara Bailey looking on strikes for the first out. Then she wiped out DeVincenzo swinging on the same 1-2 count. This left it to Casey Bartolf. But on a 1-0 pitch, Bartolf grounded out to Epright, who made the play to first with ease.
Fick clapped and cheered the girls back to their dugout. Aires jogged back dismayed by the lost opportunity.
DeVincenzo had a 1-2-3 bottom of the second. Then the Jaguars had another potential threat in the third. Fiorentino led off with a walk. Leonard grounded out to first baseman Dayna Egan, but on the play, Fiorentino moved into scoring position at second. Bender got Williams to fly out to right fielder Annie O'Keeffe for the second out, setting up the most important moment of the game.
On a 2-1 count, Aires had Fiorentino stealing with Czubak at the plate. Notaro's throw to third base bounced past shortstop Jenkins covering the bag with third baseman Nicole Gacos playing up. The ball skipped into left field and it looked like Fiorentino was on her way to the plate.
But with Jenkins arriving the same time as the ball being thrown toward third and Fiorentino arriving at the base, things got messy. Fiorentino tripped over Jenkins' feet after sliding in to third and she stumbled to the ground. Left fielder Cass retrieved the ball quickly and got the ball back to the infield. Fiorentino was forced to hold at third and Aires was a tad bit upset that no interference was called on the play.
Was the play interference? I say it was close. Everything happened in such a flash -- and both were trying to do something after the ball got by Jenkins. By the letter of the rule, it probably should have been ruled interference and Fiorentino should have been allowed to continue home with the run automatically. Turns out it was a huge play for a few pitches later, Czubak grounded out to Egan.
Another opportunity wasted.
In the bottom of the third, Allison Pricer beat out an infield single and was sacrificed to second, but a flyout by Epright and a comebacker by Bender ended that threat.
The fourth inning saw Jackson Memorial strand Fossati at first after a one-out walk. The bottom of the fourth got a bit contentious when Cass doubled to left field with one out. Gacos walked, but DeVincenzo struck out Egan for the second time and O'Keeffe forced out Gacos as Williams tossed to Fiorentino to end the inning.
The fifth went by quickly as Bender set the Jaguars down in order and Pricer's leadoff single in the fifth was wasted by a strikeout by Sarno and a popout and lineout by Epright and Bender, in order, both going to Williams ended the inning.
With two outs in the sixth, Baldwin walked and moved to second on a wild pitch, another possible threat for the Jaguars. But just like she did all afternoon, Bender was able to bear down in the circle and got Fossati on a comebacker. In the bottom of the inning, Cass reached on an infield single and got to second on a sacrifice, but Egan flied out to right fielder Fossati to end the frame.
The game was flying fast, but the more the zeros got put up on the scoreboard, the less time I had to beat the ridiculous 11 p.m. deadline that our newspaper neighbors to the north slapped on us almost immediately after the company made the sale official on July 7, 1998. I had over an hour to get back to work, write my story, then layout my pages on a system I still had trouble understanding since the company took us off our reliable systems we worked on for years that May 17 ... just another reason to want to check out of what I slowly started calling Club Clusterf*ck.
Meanwhile, Bender was still going strong. She got two groundouts and a strikeout of the bottom three hitters in the Jaguars' lineup in the top of the seventh. Not to be outdone, though, DeVincenzo got a popout, flyout and strikeout of the bottom of the Red Devils' lineup to send the game to extra innings as the sun was sinking a little further and I was looking at my watch a little more with each passing half-inning. Good thing this game started at 3 p.m. instead of 4 p.m.
With one out in the top of the eighth, Leonard sharply singled to left field. After Williams grounded out to move Leonard to second, Czubak won an eight-pitch at-bat by walking, putting runners on first and second. But Bender found the little extra and fouled out to Gacos to end the last big threat the Jaguars had.
Onto the bottom of the eighth. Epright led off. She hit a grounder to third baseman Bailey, who bobbled the grounder for an error. It would turn out to be the only error of the game, but it set the tone for what was to happen next. Bender singled to right field to move Epright to second base. Notaro put down a perfect sacrifice bunt that DeVincenzo fielded and threw on to first baseman Michelle Goldych for the out.
With the open base at first and the game on the verge of ending, Aires instructed DeVincenzo to throw four wide ones to intentionally walk Cass, who had singled and doubled. That brought up Gacos, who was 0-for-1 with a walk and sacrifice. Aires had his middle infielders move in as well as his outfielders. Gacos didn't waste time -- on the first pitch, she hit a low line drive that right fielder Fossati came charging in for.
The ball bounced in front of Fossati, but that was just the start of things getting entertaining. Having to wait for the ball to fall in, Epright took off for the plate. Fossati was able to get the ball and make a throw to Leonard at the plate. For a moment, it looked as if Fossati and Leonard had gotten Epright for a forceout.
The home plate umpire made the "safe" call instead. And once again, Aires came charging out from his position and argued the call at the plate, asking for help. But it was to no avail.
Hunterdon Central 1, Jackson Memorial 0. Just like that, it was over. The careers of Fossati, utility player Erica Meyer and Leonard, the best athlete in Ocean County, came to an end. I can still remember asking Leonard if she thought they had gotten Epright at the plate on the bang-bang play.
"I knew I had my foot on the plate, but the umpire said (Epright) had got in," she said.
In this pitcher's duel, Bender was wildly effectively with five walks and five strikeouts. She allowed just the hits to Czubak and Leonard. DeVincenzo scattered seven hits in allowing the one unearned run, walked just the one batter intentionally in the eighth and struck out five.
Both pitchers had done their job. It came down to who would take advantage of the other team's gift. It was the error by Bailey that eventually led to that one run in the eighth inning.
I left the college, found my way back to Route 9 and ended up getting back to work by 6:45 p.m., writing my story for our paper first, then for the Press, and then laying out my section. On Friday, July 30, 1999, I flew down to Key West, interviewed with my former Observer editor in chief, Steve Sosinski, and a day later, I took the job as sports editor at the Key West Citizen. I worked my final day at the Observer on Sunday, August 15, 1999, glad that the end came of a short, six-and-a-half-month stint as sports editor ... the plum job that turned out to be nothing more than rotten fruit.
Four days later after that game at Middlesex County College, Hunterdon Central would beat hard-throwing pitcher Michele Walker and Paramus High in the state 4A championship at Toms River East for Fick's first state title as the program's head coach. He eventually stepped down after the 2012 season, winning 741 games in his career.
Aires remained head coach with the Jaguars until 2006 when he finished a 20-year career to become Jackson Memorial athletic director, and then an administrator at another Jackson-based school.
I won't forget that '99 Jackson Memorial and players like DeVincenzo, Williams, Fiorentino, Fossati and especially Leonard, who would say of her time as a four-year varsity member of the team and move on to Caldwell. She said, "I'll always remember the togetherness and how we won as a team and that it's not one or two people that carried the team."
Yeah, 22-5 wasn't bad. To this day, I believe the Jaguars would have figured out a way to get to Walker and Paramus and win the state title. But like so many other times I watched before or after that 1-0 loss, I was left with "What if?"
That Jackson Memorial-Hunterdon Central game would be the last high school game of any sport I would cover for the Observer.
Turns out it was a heck of a way to end my career in covering high school sports there .. even if it was a loss for the team I covered.
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