On Tuesday, the second seeded Cedar Grove upset the number one seeded Verona, beating them 2-1 in the NJSIAA North I Group I tournament finals.
Plenty of people showed up to watch the two rivals battle it out for the championship title. All eyes were on sophomore Mia Faieta from Cedar Grove, as she had struck out all 21 batters of the North Warren team in the semifinals. Senior Kaitlyn Deo of Verona, however, was the first to stop Faieta from having another perfect game in the second inning. Deo said that playing a rival team makes her and her team want to win even more.
Verona had trouble in the third inning on defense. They picked up their play on offense in the same inning, having a player on first and second base, but could not translate it into points. Deo said Verona’s 2-0 deficit then did not alter their optimism and that they had come back from being down before. She also added that “Because it was a state game none of us wanted to give up until the final pitch in the last inning. Especially for us seniors, we did not want this to be our last game so we tried to keep the energy up and not get down on ourselves.”
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Deo put a number on the board for Verona in the sixth inning, hitting a double that gave them some motivation to make a comeback for the title.
She said that nerves did not play a factor in the loss and “overall it was a really good game and even though we lost I am extremely proud of how our season ended…I think I can speak for the whole team when I say we are happy with the way we played and fought until the end.”
The Verona girls ended their season with a 22-6 record.
Photos copyright Andy Yeates. Used by permission.
