Heights Heat 12U Softball Wins Championship
Submitted by Carolyn Sayre
The Heights Heat 12U softball team lived up to their team’s name on Sunday, May 22. The team battled through a double-header in 90-plus degree weather in South Plainfield to take home the 12U Spring Parkway League title.
After receiving a bye in the first round of the playoff, the Heat 12U went straight to the semi-finals. They started their afternoon by defeating Summit in a pitcher’s duel by a score of 3-1. The Heat clawed their runs out through aggressive base running and a strong approach at the plate. In the bottom of the first inning, Leah Dasti stole home to tie the game at one. Then, Emily Sorge walked with the bases loaded in the second inning to give the Heat a lead they would not relinquish. On the rubber, the team’s ace Aly Sayre allowed no hits over her five innings pitched, striking out 16 and walking just one in the game.
The Heat then jumped out to a big lead in the finals against the Brooklyn Angels by sending 11 batters up to the plate and scoring six runs in the top of the first inning. Hits by Dasti, Nora Ramos, Sayre, Lucia Xhelo and Sydney Naim all drove in runs. Allie Nelson also roped a double to the outfield to extend the lead. The score remained 6-0 until the top of the fifth inning when Jane Geddis sailed a fly ball into the outfield for a double, scoring Sorge, who had reached on a bunt single to start the inning.
It was all the offense the girls would need, as Sayre threw her second no-hitter of the day, keeping the Brooklyn batters at bay with 18 strikeouts over her seven-inning complete game shutout. And when they did put the ball into play, the Heat defense shined. Sayre and Nelson both had running catches to snag pop-ups, but the play of game belonged to Dasti in center field, who tracked down a hard-hit line drive to send the Berkeley Heights faithful into a frenzy during the bottom of the third inning. Ramos was a rock behind the plate the whole afternoon, catching all but one inning in the final and working seamlessly with Sayre to tie up opposing hitters.
The team featured Catarina Araujo, Samantha Chew, Leah Dasti, Victoria Dyachenko, Ava Garcia, Amanda Geddis, Jane Geddis, Sydney Naim, Allison Nelson, Alexa Pradhan, Nora Ramos, Aly Sayre, Leah Shehady, Emily Sorge and Lucia Xhelo. The team was led by coaches Dina Xhelo, Bret Sayre, Chris Geddis and Ed Sorge. Congrats to the 12U spring champions, the Heights Heat!
