The sophomore third baseman had two hits and three RBIs in the fifth in the Greyhounds’ win over Moorestown.
MANSFIELD — Hannah Alexander had an amazing night, just in one inning.
Northern Burlington’s sophomore third baseman hit an RBI double and a two-run homer to highlight an 11-run fifth inning, as the Greyhounds surged past Moorestown on the way to a 12-4 win and a berth in the Burlington County Scholastic League Tournament semifinal round.
Moorestown built a 4-1 lead with Britni Fiore’s two-run double in the fourth inning, then a bases-loaded walk by Julianna LaRusso and a sacrifice fly by Claire Falcon in the fifth.
But Northern answered, and answered some more, in the fifth inning. Haylei Archer and Alexander hit back-to-back doubles to start it off.
“I knew she was throwing outside,” Alexander said. “But I like inside pitches, and she gave it to me and I just took advantage of it. I took it into the left-center gap.”
Cameron Cassidy drew a one-out walk, and with two outs, Alexa Blue launched a two-run double to left field. Madison Sisz followed with an RBI triple and scored on the second of Megan Berg’s three hits. Julia Mayernik singled and came around to score with Berg as Archer reached on an error.
That brought Alexander back to the plate.
“I haven’t been hitting well,” she said. “And coach Wolverton has been working with me. I was looking for something I could drive into the gap and bring in some runs. I knew that it gone. I hit it so hard, and it was right on the barrell, and I just knew that it was so powerful.”
Jess Peter followed with her first home run of the season.
“Jess has also been struggling,” Alexander said. “We’ve been working hard together, and we were definitely due for this.”
Nicole Bondoc’s leadoff single in the fourth was the Greyhounds’ first hit of the night. She scored on a wild pitch before Berg could deliver their second. For some reason, though, it all came together in the fifth.
“The offensive struggles early were not part of the plan,” Northern Burlington coach Brian Wolverton said. “But it was good to see Jess Peter finally start swinging the bat a little bit, and Hannah Alexander staying hot. The bats are starting to come around.”
While Northern was coming around, the Quakers (4-6, 1-4) seemed to fade. Three errors led to four unearned runs in Northern’s big inning. It was particularly galling because they had handled some hard-hit balls so well in the early innings.
The Greyhounds’ 11-spot was the biggest inning against Moorestown since Rancocas Valley put up 11 against Erin Cantwell on May 20, 1997.
“We haven’t yet put seven innings together,” Moorestown coach Bill Mulvihill said. “When we do, we’re going to be able to play with anybody. But you can’t give them an extra out in an inning. To give five extra outs? Or four extra outs? They make you pay. That’s why they’re the No. 1 team. You can never take a second off when you play Northern Burlington. They look at every little thing that you’re doing and they capitalize on everything.”
This game itself was a perfect example.
“As coaches, we set three goals at the beginning of the season,” Wolverton said. “The first was to win the league, the second was to win this tournament and the third was to win the state title. So it’s right up there.”
The Greyhounds (14-2, 5-1) actually moved toward two of those goals with this win. The game counted both as a BCSL Tournament game and a Liberty Division contest, so Northern’s win, coupled with Rancocas Valley’s loss to New Egypt, put them on track for at least a share of the title.
Northern will host Bordentown Friday.
“We came in with a plan as a team,” Wolverton said. “Haylei was going to pitch three innings, Gonzo (Amanda Gonzalez) was going to come in, knowing we had a game tomorrow and Haylei was going to pitch that whole game. We have a lot of games next week, and Haylei hadn’t thrown in a while. So that part went absolutely to plan.”
Archer faced 10 batters and struck out nine. Gonzalez struggled early but finished strong; after Falcon’s sac fly in the fifth, she allowed just one more hit, a leadoff single in the seventh.
