N. Brunswick softball finally gets first win of season
Raiders defeat North Plainfield to put their record at 1-3
BY GEORGE ALBANO Staff Writer
Tgirls softball team still doesn't have a home field it can call its own, but the Raiders are more than willing to travel anywhere to pick up a win.

That was the case recently when NBHS defeatedNorth Plainfield 5-2 for its firstwin of the season after an 0-3 start.

Of course, that game was played at North Plainfield High School, since securing a home field has been an ongoing problem for North Brunswick.

"We still haven't stepped foot on Community Park," veteran coach Sarah Diller said this week of the new softball field that was built but is not ready for use yet. "There's a rumor going around that we might get on the field soon, but we only have two home games left."

So when Diller and the Raiders had a chance to add another road game to their schedule, they jumped on it, even though it meant getting on a bus and traveling to North Plainfield on very short notice.

"The game was added at the last minute - actually, on the day of the game," Diller pointed out. "I got a call from one of my former assistants, who now coaches at North Plainfield. They were supposed to play someone else and they had the field and umpires. But when the other team had to cancel, they called us and asked if we wanted to come over and play.We were just going to have practice that day, so I said yes. Then we went out and got our first win, which was nice."

North Brunswick has Michelle Petrocola to thank for that, since the talented sophomore not only pitched the Raiders to the victory but also collected three hits to pace the offense. Nicole Gibbons, one of several freshmen on the team, also "had a big game" at the plate, according to Diller.

The unexpected win seemed to spark the Raiders, who routed South Brunswick 11-0 the next day behind another solid pitching performance by Petrocola. She may have been even better last week in a game against JFK High School in which North Brunswick lost a 1-0 heartbreaker.

"We played fantastic," Diller said about what might have been the Raiders' best game of the season. "JFK is a very strong team, but we were right there with them the whole game. JFK had only one hit off Michelle and we had only one hit off their pitcher. Unfortunately, the girl that got their only hit ended up scoring and we could not get a run across.

"But Michelle just pitched a great game. For a sophomore, she has really stepped up big-time. I can't say enough about her."

In fact, despite starting the week with a 2-6 record, the Raiders have been competitive in most of their games. Even in a 7-0 loss against a good Sayreville team last Friday, North Brunswick showed some promising signs.

"They scored all seven of their runs in the fourth inning," Diller noted. "Other than that, we played them even. But we really shot ourselves in the foot. We had opportunities, but we didn't get it done."

With still more than half the season to go, however, the North Brunswick coach is looking for her young team to continue to improve.

"We've had a couple of wins, but we're still struggling a little," she said. "We still have some people out sick or injured. We just want to show steady improvement and try to turn some of these close games we lose into close games we win.

"We have a very good pitcherwho should keep us inmost games.We just have to try to pull everything else together."

Dillermay even stay close to a phone just in case another coach calls looking for a game.