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HAMMONTON—Early in St. Joseph Academy’s South Jersey Non-Public semifinal game on May 31, ace pitcher Ava Fisher grabbed catcher Riley Hunter and headed down to the bullpen.
Something didn’t feel right and Fisher, an All-State pitcher, wanted to work on a few things.
“I think it was the second inning that I went out to the bullpen. My changeup was not working at all. So, I went and I grabbed my catcher. I was up in three batters, and I was like, we need to go throw my changeup. So, I dragged her down there and I said, ‘okay, well, you need to catch.’ And she was like, I’m tired. And I was like, I know, me too. But, we got to throw the changeup,” Fisher said.
That short bullpen session worked, as Fisher used her changeup often, striking out 15 Gloucester Catholic batters while not allowing a hit in a 6-0 shutout win.
“They’re always a great team. I think we’ve played them in the playoffs the last three years and I know a lot of the girls from playing travel, but we had really good energy today. We really picked it up and I guess that was the fifth inning, we had a great inning, we were on fire. We just carried that into the field,” Fisher said.
Leading 3-0, St. Joseph broke the game open in the fifth, scoring three more runs to seal the win.
The key hit in that rally was Fisher’s solo home run, a line drive rocket to center field.
Earlier in the game, Fisher drove in a run on a flyout to center on a pitch she got underneath.
“Yeah, I wanted that one. I had to make a few adjustments [at the plate] and later on I hit it well,” she said.
The home run was followed by a homer from Abby Willis on a fly ball to center that looked to be caught by Gloucester Catholic’s Gabby Scirotto, who fell over the fence and lost the ball for a home run.
Hunter then doubled and pinch runner Genevieve Muhaw scored on an RBI single from Giselle Pescatore.
Earlier in the game, St. Joe missed chances to build a big lead, leaving the bases loaded twice in the first three innings. Fisher had an RBI in the first and in the second and error gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, Angelina Bill’s RBI double put the Wildcats up 3-0.
“We didn’t have a great game at the plate,” St. Joseph coach Les Olson said.
“We were pulling off the ball and swinging at some bad pitches. We have to be better if we want to win next week [in the championship game],” he said.
The Wildcats scored enough runs to beat Gloucester Catholic, but the day belonged to Fisher, who was able to fine tune her changeup, mix it with a few other pitches and send her team to the finals.
“I threw my rise ball a lot today and the fastball. They were working and then I found my changeup,” Fisher said.
Earlier in the week, Fisher went three innings and Lelani Muniz pitched two as St. Joe topped Wildwood Catholic 16-2 in a quarterfinal win.
Fisher homered and drove in two in the victory, while Alaina Dorsey, Bill and Madyson Longwith also had two RBIs each.
St. Joseph faced Holy Spirit on June 3 in the South Jersey Non-Public B championship game.
That game ended too late for this edition. The winner will play for the state championship on June 6 at Kean University.
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