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Jersey Shore’s Isabelle Engel threw a one-hit gem shutout vs. Raiders

By Chris Masse 6 min read

JERSEY SHORE--Isabelle Engel has played three high school softball games. And she already has beaten two defending District 4 champions who lost two combined games a year ago.

A day after stifling 2021 District 4 Class AAAA champion Danville, Engel painted a pitching masterpiece with her left arm Tuesday, throwing a one-hitter and helping Jersey Shore blank defending District 4 Class A champion, 2-0. The freshman took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, struck out four and threw an economical 78 pitches while letting just one runner reach second base.

Talk about a strong opening act.

"It's been interesting. I try my hardest to beat them but I just take it pitch by pitch," Engel said. "My expectations were that I wanted to win. I just take it by pitch and take it by inning. It's been very fun. I wouldn't change it."

Who would?

Jersey Shore is 3-0 and Engel and Katelyn Stover have surrendered just two runs and five hits in three games. Engel threw a four-hitter against Danville in Monday's 3-2 win and coach Chris Lorson decided shortly before yesterday's game he would ride the momentum and throw his freshman again. Sophomore Jocelyn McCracken earned the win a year ago when Jersey Shore handed Montgomery its lone regular-season loss, highlighting this team's pitching depth.

Whoever is in the circle, Jersey Shore is confident and Engel repeatedly rewarded that confidence, retiring the first nine batters she faced and opening with 6 1/3 no-hit innings. The Bulldogs scored two two-out unearned runs in the second inning and that was all the support Engel needed as she relied on her defense, pounded the strike zone, moved the ball well and kept Montgomery off-balance.

"She is throwing the ball well and she's strong and she has a strong head on her," Lorson said. "She stays focused. She's a great kid."

Working with former Williamsport state champion Heidi Russell each day has given Jersey Shore pitchers a boost and Engel appeared locked in from the first inning, retiring the first nine batters she faced. After Faith Persing walked in the fourth inning, Engel retired the next eight batters and did not encounter trouble into the seventh inning. Once there, she showed veteran poise.

Brynn McRae ripped Montgomery's lone hit, a one-out single into left field before Jenna Waring followed by reaching on an error. The tying runs on base, Engel stayed calm and ended the game on just four pitches. First she induced a flyout to left fielder Jamyson Stellfox before clinching the game by getting a popout to second baseman Grace Russell.

"I was thinking don't worry about the runners; just focus on the batter and get an out. It's a good experience," Engel said. (My defense) helps me. If I had a different defense I would be a little bit scared, but I'm good with the defense I have."

As exciting as the win was for Jersey Shore, the loss was equally frustrating for Montgomery. After going 22-2 last season and reaching the Class A state quarterfinals, Montgomery has high expectations, but it struggled throughout its opening game. A costly error brought in both Jersey Shore runs in the second inning and the bats never came alive.

So effective was Engel that McRae's single represented just the second time a Montgomery player hit the ball out of the infield. The Red Raiders did not strike out after the third inning, but Engel repeatedly induced weak contact from a team which has eight returning starters in its lineup.

"We need to swing the bat with aggression and authority. We have the people to do it, it's just frustrating when they don't," Montgomery coach Chris Glenn said. "We wait until the ball is on us before we decide. We're indecisive and you can't be like that. We have to make up our mind we're swinging well before we did today, that's for sure."

What bothered Glenn as much as the lack of offense was hits team's lack of enthusiasm after Jersey Shore took that 2-0 lead. The dugout was mostly quiet until McRae hit her seventh-inning single. The Raiders fought and gave Jersey Shore a brief scare in that last inning, but had all but run out of chances at that point.

Still, it was just one game. Montgomery has another big win Wednesday at Muncy and if it learns from Tuesday's mistakes it could become a better team from what happened against Jersey Shore.

"I kept saying, 'We're dead in here.' We were dead the whole game until the last inning," Glenn said. "You're going to have games where you're going to be down and you're going to have games where teams score on you and it might be in the seventh inning and you have to answer in the bottom of the seventh, but you can't stop just because they scored. The game is not over, especially in the second inning. We need to be able to adjust to that and play like that. We have to play from behind sometimes, that's the way it is."

Last year's Class A Player of the Year threw an outstanding game, helping Montgomery stay within striking distance the whole way. Persing allowed just three hits, struck out 10 and did not let a runner move past first base after the fourth inning.

Jersey Shore, though, made Persing battle with Kaitlyn Herman driving that point home in the fourth inning when she fell behind 0-2 before fouling off seven pitches, working a full count and seeing 13 pitches before finally popping out. McCracken worked a nine-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning and helped ignite the game's pivotal rally when she fouled off a 3-2 pitch and then drew a leadoff walk in the second inning.

Emma Pfirman moved McCracken to third with a one-out single and pinch-runner Stellfox took second. Persing collected a strikeout with runners on second and third for the second out before Engel hit a flyball that was dropped and brought in both runs. Monday, Jersey Shore rallied for two sixth-inning runs when it edged Danville, 3-2 and it continued taking advantage of opportunities.

Montgomery 000 000 0--0 1 1

Jersey Shore 020 000 x--2 3 1

Faith Persing and Shelby McRae. Isabelle Engel and Kaitlyn Herman. W--Engel, (2-0). L--Persing, (0-1).

Top Montgomery hitters: Brynn McRae 1-3; Persing 2 BBs. Top Jersey Shore hitters: Jocelyn McCracken 1-2, BB, run; Carolyn Wacker 1-3; Emma Pfirman 1-3.

Records: Jersey Shore (3-0), Montgomery (0-1).

Starting at /week.