BY MIKE WHITE
Staff Writer

DOVER TOWNSHIP - High school softball coaches prepare their teams in the spring and offseason to be ready to play in the big games.

That usually means getting them ready to put forth their best effort when the state tournament rolls around.

The New Egypt High School softball team looked near perfect in both the semifinal and championship games last week, as the Warriors met little resistance in winning their first-ever NJSIAA Group I crown.

"We worked ex-tremely hard in the preseason to reach this point," New Egypt coach Carolyn Eckhardt said. "The hard work paid off."

New Egypt looked unbeatable as it shut out Salem in the semifinal, 11-0, then coasted to a surprisingly easy 8-0 romp over Belvidere last Saturday to win the state championship.

"It's been a great season, and this was terrific way for us to end it," Eckhardt said. "We talked about playing as well as we could as a team at the start of the season. Of course, every team wants to do well in the state tournament. But we just took each game as it came. This squad has a lot of talent and depth, and worked extremely hard to achieve this. I'm very proud of their efforts."

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff At left, New Egypt's Kaci Hopkins makes a putout during the Warriors' NJSIAAGroup I championship win over Belvidere on Saturday in Toms River. Above, Sara Messinger celebrates with her teammates after hitting her second home run of the game, while below, pitcher Abbey Houston fires the ball to the plate. Last year, New Egypt lost in the semifinals of the state tournament. It was a disappointing setback, but obviously Eckhardt's team learned from the experience and sealed the first state title in the programs five-year history this past week.

"We've had some very good teams the past few years," Eckhardt said. "But I guess this was the time it was supposed to happen."

In the championship game, New Egypt's offense struck early and often to build a comfortable lead for freshman starter Abbey Houston, who finished the game with 11 strikeouts. The Warriors scored two runs in the first inning, added another in the second, and two more in the third to hold a commanding 5-0 cushion.

In the first, Shannon Houston, Abbey's older sister, led off with a single and eventually scored on Lindsay's Rajeski's bunt single. The Warriors added another run in that frame to go ahead, 2-0.

New Egypt moved runners, stole bases and added timely hitting through the next two innings to forge ahead, 5-0.

That allowed Abbey Houston to go out and throw strikes, and let the defense play behind her. And that is what they did.

"Building that five-run lead was instrumental in Abbey finding a comfort level," Eckhardt said. "It's much easier to go out and pitch when you have a lead. She was relaxed and hitting her spots. Of course, like it has all season, the defense played well behind her. This was a total team effort."

Doing the little things well offensively gave New Egypt the early lead, and then senior Sara Messinger added a pair of home runs to top things off.

"It just seems like everything clicked for us this day at the plate," Eckhardt said. "We moved runners and stole bases. We bunted. We hit the long ball. There isn't anything else I could have asked the kids for."

In the semifinals against Salem, it was more of the same. The Warriors scored in each of the first four innings to build an insurmountable lead. Houston tossed a no-hitter in the game shortened to five innings.

"She had good stuff," Eckhardt said. "They had a terrible time handling whatever she was throwing at them. We expected that game to be a bit more challenging than it was. But, it was their first time in that position, and maybe a bit of inexperience got to them."

New Egypt finishes the season with a 21-5 mark. However, the Warriors lose six seniors and four starters off this championship team. Gone next year are Shannon Houston, Messinger, Rajeski, Jesse Quatrone, Brittany Kennedy and Kelly Casey.

"They've been great through the last four years," Eckhardt said. "It's been a lot of fun, and I'm certainly going to miss them."