St. Anthony's softball captures third consecutive CHSAA state championship

Talent is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the St. Anthony’s softball team.

But it’s the team’s grit that often gets overlooked.

Trailing by two runs in the sixth inning of the state CHSAA championship game, the Friars played small ball and scratched away for four runs in their 4-2 win over St. Joseph Sea on Tuesday at Hofstra.

It’s the Friars’ third straight state title.

“We have a ton of talent, but people think the wins come easy,” assistant coach Steve Steponaitis said. “These girls put in a lot of work behind the scenes that people don’t know about.”

The rally started when Sarah Bielski reached on an error and advanced to second base before scoring on a single up the middle by Jackie Morra. Then the chaos ensued.

Valentina Iula hit a groundball to third base, but the throw to second went into rightfield, allowing Morra to beat the late throw to third. When Iula advanced to second and St. Joseph Sea tried throwing her out, Morra made a dash for home to tie the score at 2.

“There are some plays where you have to take your chances and that was one of those plays,” Morra said. “We needed to take a chance and I knew I could make it.”

In the following at-bat, Casey Steinert’s speed forced an errant throw to first, allowing Iula’s courtesy runner, Daniella Davis, to score the go-ahead run. Juli Murillo poked a single to right-centerfield to score the final run.

St. Anthony’s faced a similar situation in its 5-2 semifinal win over Nardin Academy earlier in the day. The Friars trailed 2-1 before putting together a four-run rally in the sixth. It started when Bella Cruz walked and stole second base.

Later, when Cruz was on third and Nardin tried to catch Morra stealing second, Cruz crossed home to tie the score.

“When the long ball isn’t working, you almost have to start playing small ball because it puts pressure on the defense,” Cruz said. “After that walk and steal, they mishandled a few balls and that’s what got our rally going.”

Steinert drove in Morra for the go-ahead run and Ava Vandernoth hit a two-run single to cap the scoring.

Mila Fiordalisi struck out seven and allowed no runs to earn the win. She earned the save in the title game, relieving Lia Fong, who allowed one earned run in six innings.

St. Anthony’s finishes the season 24-3, with just three seniors graduating.

“We have a really big class of 2024,” said Cruz, a junior. “It’s amazing that we get to experience this together.”