Diving catch ends Gloucester Catholic rout

Centerfielder Shayla Giosia made a game-ending play Thursday that defines what Gloucester Catholic softball is all about.

With two outs and no one on base, West Deptford's Jade Blair walloped a fly ball toward the center-field fence when a galloping Giosia dived for the ball and caught it with her outstretched glove to end the nonleague game.

Gloucester Catholic won, 10-3, for its seventh straight victory. The Rams improved to 12-4, and West Deptford dropped to 9-7.

"I know that Jade Blair is a good hitter so I played back a little," Giosia said. "If I had to dive, I had to dive, and that's what I had to do. It [the ball] was right in the tip of my glove and I made sure my hand was up so I wouldn't come down hard and drop it."

That kind of hustle has benefitted the Rams since their last loss, a 3-0 defeat against Vineland in the Hammonton tournament on April 30. Tweaking the lineup a bit also has helped, coach Tom Sullivan said.

The Rams, who took a 6-1 lead in the first inning, pounded West Deptford for 11 hits - four for extra bases - and stole nine bases.

"It shows that we're out here to win; we're here to come at you," catcher Olivia Lawrence said about Giosia's play.

Named to The Inquirer's all-South Jersey first team last season, Lawrence hammered a two-run homer over the right-field fence in the first inning to give the Rams a 3-1 lead.

"They came out twice as strong as they would have come out against any other team," West Deptford pitcher Marissa Lindquist said. "We beat them last year, and they didn't expect it."

Lindquist, a sophomore, added that the Eagles weren't prepared for the first-inning onslaught, but conceded that Gloucester Catholic is a good-hitting team, no matter what a pitcher throws at it.

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Danielle McKeown scored from third base on a passed ball. Held to six hits by sophomore Abby Merryman, the Eagles scored twice more in the fourth when Lindquist doubled in Blair and Summer Wenzel lifted a sacrifice fly to score Lindquist, cutting the lead to 6-3.

The Rams made the score 9-3 in the bottom of the fourth and added another run in the fifth.

West Deptford   1002000 - 373

Gloucester Catholic   600310x - 10113

WP: Abby Merryman. LP: Marissa Lindquist. 2B: WD-Lindquist; GC-Caitlyn Eltzholtz, Brianna Roderiguez, Shayla Giosia. HR: GC-Olivia Lawrence.