OCEAN CITY — The Ocean City High School softball team scored four runs in the first inning Wednesday.
That was all the offense Brooke Douglas and her Red Raiders teammates needed to win, even though Buena Regional threatened every inning.
Douglas pitched a complete game, struck out five and allowed seven hits to lead Ocean City to a 4-2 victory over Buena in a Cape-Atlantic League National Division game
The Chiefs (11-5) outhit the Red Raiders 7-4. Ocean City made some good defensive stops in the game to prevent any more runs. The Red Raiders improved to 15-6.
“I knew (Buena) were hitters coming into this,” said Douglas, a 15-year-old sophomore from Absecon. “I feel like my fielders really had my back. I just threw my pitches. You just have to power through.”
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Buena left seven runners stranded in the first five innings, including two in the third and fourth. Overall, the Chiefs left 10 stranded.
In the sixth, the Chiefs finally delivered with runners in scoring position as Katelynn Golden singled in Jadarys Morales to cut the Chiefs’ deficit to 4-1. In the seventh, Morales singled out Laylah Collins, who walked.
Despite those hiccups, Douglas got out of some jams, including in the seventh when Buena had runners on first and second with two outs. Douglas threw a strikeout to end the game.
“It’s a really big win,” Douglas said. “They are kind of our rivals, so it works.”
Ocean City coach Carrie Merritt played for Millville in the 1990s, and remembers playing against strong Buena teams led by longtime coach Pam Pickett, who earned her 700th career win last season, a milestone only five other New Jersey softball coaches have reached.
Ocean City also defeated Buena 10-2 on April 18.
“They have a long history of being a great program,” Merritt said about the Chiefs. “I played against (Pickett), so there’s history that goes with it. I’m glad, but it always makes me nervous playing them because I know the rich history of their program. Knowing how she brings teams prepared, this is a good win.”
In the first inning, Ocean City’s Carly Hennis drew a bases loaded walk to score Anna McCabe, who singled. Carlee Hiddeman singled in Ava Wahl and Jessica Mooney, who walked. Annabelle Shumski doubled in Hennis to make the score 4-0.
On Saturday and Monday, Ocean City lost to both Southern Regional and Middle Township, respectively, in extra innings.
“Set the tone for the day,” Merritt said. “Makes you relax, hopefully not relax too much, but find a happy space. We had a couple extra-inning losses in the past four days, so we were, like, really concerned about that. So, getting this one back (Wednesday) is good for us.”
Morales went 3 for 3 and reached on an error for Buena. Cami Johnson tripled and drew a walk. Julia Sheridan singled twice. Anna Sheridan struck out seven. The Chiefs put together opportunities to add more runs, but left too many runners on. Correcting that issue will be the Chiefs’ focus moving forward, Pickett said.
“That’s what we talked to the girls about,” Pickett said about her team leaving runners on base.
“They are a big (Group) III (school), and we are a (Group) I. We are working toward the end of the season when we get to that state tournament. We basically played a decent game. We just gotta put those bats in play when we have those runners on.
Pickett said his team played the Red Raiders better than last month. The Chiefs did not commit any errors Wednesday.
“Last time we didn’t play them well, I thought playing a clean game was important for us,” Pickett said. “I thought our game was clean. Obviously, they are a good team. We are not taking anything away from them. But we have some better at-bats, and it could have been a different outcome for us. But I wish them well down the stretch because we like to vote for our Cape-Atlantic League teams.”
The Chiefs put together “quality at-bats” and were not chasing Douglas’ pitches, Merritt said.
“But our defense really prevailed and Brooke fought back a lot,” Merritt said. “A couple really good plays that kept it in the infield that could have been gamechangers of those balls got through to the outfield. So, a big performance by our defense (Wednesday).”
“We just need to keep our confidence up,” Douglas said. We have each other’s backs. “We have got to pick each other up.”
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