No team in Ocean County softball was more dominant in the 1989 season than Toms River East.
The Raiders had blown through their schedule with an all-star cast of players that included veterans Kathy Hawtin, Kathy Higley, Jennifer Brown, Cristy Iorio and pitcher Kim Tompkins. Then came the icing on the cake when junior third baseman Michelle Carlson joined the Raiders from Central Regional after the family had moved from Bayville to Toms River.
Trust me, she wanted to be at Central, but now she was an East Raider. With her presence, the Raiders almost felt unstoppable. The Raiders were 23-2 with the only hiccups on the season being a regular-season loss at Southern Regional in Class A South play, and a 2-0 loss to Washington Township in the NJSIAA South Jersey Group IV semifinals, a loss that center fielder Jeannine Zarrillo STILL beats herself up over since she made a costly error that allowed the runs to score.
But while East had been the top team in the county under coach Debbie Dietrich and assistant Diane Morrissey, the team that shadowed East throughout was cross-town rival Toms River South, coached by the venerable Jim Christiano and assisted by Vinnie Iacullo. The Indians were 18-6 ... but three of their losses were to Toms River East, including a gut-wrenching loss in the bottom of the seventh in the NJSIAA SJ IV quarterfinal round for which East rallied to win the game, 7-6.
South had a talented team that included senior catcher Emily Dupignac, senior center fielder Andrea Powitz and a ton of underclassmen who would be the future of the program for the next couple of years: sophomore second baseman Marti Seaman, freshman third baseman Renae Avalone and sophomore lefthanded hurler Jodi Solana, who was quickly establishing herself as the best pitcher in the county.
But Solana was yet to beat Tompkins, who was 23-2 like her team and a steadying force on the mound. She didn't have the movement or speed Solana had, but she had accuracy and she had a team behind her that made plays. Let's just say that.
It was inevitable these two teams would face one another in the county championship on Thursday, June 1, 1989, at Lakewood High School on a field more condusive to beer-league softball (over 300 feet to the outfield) than girls high school softball.
It was a warm night and I was sitting on my new perch on top of the Lakewood High softball equipment storage unit next to the home team dugout. Both teams exchanged lineups, I announced lineups for the finale and awayt we went.
This was also a contentious night for the East faithful. Until 1989, the Raiders had never won a state tournament softball game, but that changed after coming from behind to beat South. And East had never won a tournament title in its 10-year existence as a program.
Seriously. Never happened before. And East was favored to win this. The Raiders were here one other time as a favorite -- they stumbled their way to a 7-5 loss to last-seeded Lacey at Winding River Park in 1987. So in that regard, the heat was on.
Though Solana walked, she was left stranded in the top of the first. Then East pounced on Solana in the bottom of the first inning. Carlson singled. Sally Ballantyne, another Raider senior, beat out a bunt single that South wasn't prepared for. And Iorio's grounder was botched by shortstop Ellen Truskowski, allowing Carlson to score the first run of the game. With runners now on second and third, Brown lofted a sacrifice fly to right fielder Magali Lopez to make it 2-0.
That brought up Hawtin, who had not hit well in the previous two OCT games. As a natter of fact, she was 1-for-7 going into the tournament final. But with her bat, she could break out at any time. On a 2-1 pitch, Solana gave Hawtin a pitch she couldn't resist.
Next thing you know, Powitz is chasing the ball over her head in center field. Iorio scored easily and the race was on to see if Hawtin would circle the bases. By the time, Powitz caught up to the ball, Hawtin was near third base and a miraculous throw by Seaman on the cutoff was not going to happen.
An inside-the-park home run. It was 4-0 East.
Tompkins ran into trouble in the second on a couple of walks and a Lopez grounder back to Tompkins allowed Avalone to score to make it 4-1.
But East was on the prowl again in the bottom of the second. Zarrillo walked with one out and Carlson doubled her to third. After a strikeout by Ballantyne, Iorio beat out an infield single and when Seaman threw the ball away at first, Carlson followed Zarrillo to the plate to make it 6-1.
South, meanwhile, had a threat in the top of the fourth inning. The Indians needed to get back into this game and loaded the bases with one out, but cool as the other side of the pillow, Tompkins got No. 9 hitter Phyllis Mahon to pop out and Powitz to hit a comebacker to Tompkins to keep it 6-1.
This demoralized South without question. And it was going to get worse in the bottom of the fourth. Zarrillo walked to lead off, got sacrificed by Carlson to second and moved to third on a single by Ballantyne. Iorio grounded out to Truskowski, her only play was to first base, to bring in Zarrillo and make it 7-1.
Then Brown reminded people why East was really, really, really good that season. On a 2-1 pitch, she rocked a triple to the left-center field gap to score Ballantyne and it was 8-1.
South put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth inning, but Tompkins induced Seaman into another comebacker to end the inning.
It was 8-1 and East needed six more outs to secure that elusive OCT championship as daylight had switched over to nighttime. But why write this story unless there's a twist to it. And South was about to deliver one in the top of the sixth inning down seven.
Erin Morsch started the sixth with a single and Lopez walked. Nice start, but you're still down seven runs.
New left fielder Tonya Coppola struck out for the first out. But the top of the lineup was back again. Powitz fouled out to right fielder Higley for the second out, but on the play, both runners tagged up. Higley threw to third to try and get Morsch, but her throw skipped past Carlson for an error to allow Morsch to score. With Lopez coming into third, Carlson's throw was off the mark for yet another error, easily allowing Lopez to score to make it 8-3.
OK, that should be all the damage, right?
Think again.
Solana used her speed to beat out an infield hit, bringing up Dupignac. It was 1-0 when Tompkins delivered her pitch in the strike zone. Dupignac made contact. The last thing I remember was watching Tompkins put her glove up to her face to protect herself from a line drive that could have broken body parts. Everyone was safe and timeout was called as Dietrich, Morrissey and her teammates came to Tompkins, who was on the ground.
The East senior was the only pitch the Raiders had other than Carlson, but she threw as many innings that season as I did, and I didn't raise my hand in hopes of participating. You can almost hear a pin drop as all the attention was now in that East circle as a dazed Tonpkins was finally recovering from what happened -- or almost sadly happened if she had not protected herself.
It was faint, but you can almost hear Carlson tell Tompkins, "Get up because if you can't pitch, I have to pitch." Somewhere in there, Tompkins cracked a smile. This team seemed to know when to pick each other up when it was needed.
Tompkins got up to a loud ovation from both sides. She threw some pitches and she was fine.
South, however, wasn't done picking on East's ace. On an 0-2 pitch, Truskowski, who grew up a soccer player, leveled a triple to the right-center field gap to score both Solana and Dupignac and it was 8-5. Avalone singled in Truskowski to cut the lead to 8-6. Then Seaman singled and Morsch walked and the bases were loaded.
How could this change so quickly? A base hit and we're tied ... in one inning! But Lopez hit a flyball to right field that Hawtin eased over toward the line to make the catch and keep it at 8-6 with three outs to go.
But like the fifth inning, East went quietly in the sixth. Now the Raiders had to hold it down for that first-ever tournament title in program history.
However, Coppola walked to begin the seventh and bring the top of the South order up again. Powitz, who had an 0-for-5 night, hit a comebacker to Tompkins, who threw to Brown for the first out as Coppola moved to second base. Solana singled to center and Zarrillo kept Coppola from scoring, but as the ball went into Hawtin, Solana wisely moved up to second base.
The tying run was at second base and it was now up to Dupignac again. She hit a flyball to Zarrillo, who made the catch, but Christiano put the stop sign up on the not-so-fast Coppola to keep runners on second and third.
The game now was left in the hands of Truskowski. On a 1-1 pitch, Truskowski made contact and got the ball just out of the reach of Iorio's glove hand into center field. Coppola scored and Christiano was not hesitating in sending home Solana to tie the game at 8-8.
What seemed assured almost an hour earlier had turned into a 50-50 contest. East got out of the inning. Because they were the top seed, now the Raiders had a chance to get the run to win the 1989 OCT championship. But South was confident and Solana, who had six strikeouts, was getting stronger as the game played on.
The Raiders needed a good start. That started with Hawtin. She worked the count to 3-2 against Solana before drawing a walk. Christine Grice popped out to Seaman for the first out. Then Dietrich made the call of the game: She had Hawtin steal second against her catching opposite number Dupignac. Hawtin slid in with the steal of second base.
Higley singled to left field, but Hawtin got held up at third base, putting runners on the corners. Well any force of Higley got wiped out when she took second base.
Left-handed hitting Cheryl Stump was the batter. Another of some talented East seniors, Stump had big hits in wins that week already against Middletown South and Lacey in the Shore Conference Tournament. Now she had a chance to be a hero ... again.
Stump worked the count to 3-2. On the next pitch, she made contact. It was a high chopper to a fairly tall Seaman at second base. Seaman had to adjust to the bounce, but got it and threw to home to try and nail Hawtin.
She didn't. Hawtin slid into home plate safely and East players came out of their side of the field to mob Hawtin as the Raiders had escaped with a 9-8 win over a South team that kept getting closer and closer to beating the Raiders, but just couldn't pull it off.
Tournament director and Lakewood High softball coach Dave McKelvey had set up with the plaques and trophies to be handed out. This was the first year that awards were going to top fielder, top hitter, the OCT Most Valuable Pitcher and the Most Valuable Player, I had the first three awards figured out. The only award I didn't have was the Most Valuable Player.
So before I went on the PA to announce the award winners and give out the first- and second-place trophies, I called over coach Dietrich (now Debbie Schwartz) and asked her who she thought was the MVP. She told me ... we went forward.
After Tompkins was announced as the Most Valuable Pitcher -- an honor she deserved considering an hour earlier, there was concern of her continuing in the circle or not after the Dupignac line drive. Then I said this.
"Finally, the Most Valuable Player of the 1989 OCT. At the plate, she was only 2-for-9 in the tournament, but it was her home run in the four-run first inning who set the tone and it was her steal of second in the seventh inning that allowed her to eventually come home with the winning run. The Most Valuable Player for the OCT is No. 36, Kathy Hawtin!"
She grabbed the award from McKelvey and her teammates once again mobbed her. I finally got down from my perch and interviewed Christiano, Hawtin and Dietrich, who was more than happy to get that first championship for the program.
But that wasn't the finish for East. While South's season came to an end, East would go on to throttle Wall Township in the SCT semifinal round, 8-3, then wipe out Red Bank Catholic, 10-0, to win the SCT and finish a 26-2 season.
To get there, though, the Raiders had to pass this test on that first day of June when the Indians gave the Raiders everything they had that night, especially in the last two innings, but East perservered and won.
And would win a lot more in the decades ahead.
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