Backup pitchers lead Jersey Shore to Carpenter Cup title

Sarah Bencivenga wasn't called on to pitch for her Toms River East softball team this past high school season. The sophomore-to-be also wasn't needed by her Jersey Shore team in the sixth annual Carpenter Cup Classic - until Tuesday.

Jersey Shore's top pitchers, Jordan Weed of Toms River East and Jen Retzer of St. John Vianney, were missing because the Carpenter Cup was extended a day because of a storm Monday night. The pair had committed to play elsewhere Tuesday, so coach Tony Voloda turned to Bencivenga and Samantha Strickland to pitch in the championship vs. Olympic Colonial.

The two combined for a one-hitter, and unbeaten Jersey Shore rallied with two sixth-inning runs en route to a 2-1 victory at FDR Park in South Philadelphia. It was Jersey Shore's second Carpenter Cup title in four years.

Bencivenga relieved Strickland in the top of the fifth inning because tournament rules limit pitchers to four innings except in an extra-inning game.

"I hadn't pitched in several months," said Bencivenga, Jersey Shore's starting shortstop, "but I knew I had a job to do."

Jersey Shore trailed, 1-0, when she came in to pitch. Keanna Ross had driven in Olympic Colonial's lone run in the second. The Jersey squad came back when Erica Falvey, a sophomore from Middletown South, looped a two-out, bases-loaded single to left field to score both of her team's runs.

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WP: Sarah Bencivenga. LP: Sarah Almasy.