By RICH FISHER
Contributing Editor
During the course of the 2024 softball season, Red Bank Catholic coach Tony Flego spoke of how it was time for his program to reach the next level and prove it belonged in the same sentence with Donovan Catholic, Toms River, and St. John Vianney, Holmdel.
A year later, the Caseys have done just that after taking a 9-1 win over Colts Neck in the Shore Conference Tournament championship game at their home field in Count Basie Park May 19. Add that to the A North Division crown they shared with SJV (which moved up from B North this year), and RBC is proving it’s one of the state’s best teams.
In fact, it is considered the best by NJ.com, which ranks RBC No. 1 in the state ahead of No. 2 Donovan Catholic and No. 3 St. John Vianney. It’s the Caseys first such ranking in Flego’s 15 years as head coach.
The Caseys gave it a good run last year, going 22-4 and winning the A Central Division title. But they could not get past the SCT’s second round and lost in the South Jersey Non-Public A semifinals.
But with four Division I college recruits returning, Red Bank Catholic was ready for its coming out party.
“We have a big senior group who were the major contributors,” Flego said. “They were determined to get this done. They worked so hard since they stepped on the field as freshmen. They did a tremendous job.”
Before beating Colts Neck, Red Bank Catholic (19-3) had a major obstacle in the semifinals, where it faced SJV. The Lancers were ranked No. 1 at the time and were the defending SCT champ.
The teams split during the regular season, which Flego felt gave his squad assuredness against standout hurler Madison McDougall entering the game.
“Madison is a great pitcher and if this was the first time facing her it may be a different story with our confidence level,” said the veteran coach, who’s assisted by his daughter Annie and Mallory Kirchner. “But we’ve faced her twice. We knew we could get it done, we just had to take a deep breath and let it happen.
“Coach Mal always says one pitch at a time, one inning at a time. In order to get where we wanted, we knew that would have to be the case with St. John Vianney. They’re a great team. I think getting over that hump with that first victory this year (on Apr. 15) helped our confidence.”
That confidence increased when freshman Mackenna Savage blasted a solo homer in the top of the first to give pitcher Lily Hagan all she would need. The senior fired a one-hitter with five strikeouts and shortstop Nicole Knox made a diving catch on SJV’s first batter to set the tone.
“That kind of took the nerves out and Lily just took it from there,” Flego said. “She kept them off-balance and pitched a tremendous game. In 15 years, we’ve had some great pitchers, but that was one of the best pitched games I’ve seen.”
The coach felt that scoring first was huge.
“That was such a big boost for us, just to be out in front of them,” he said. “It could have been the opposite if they scored. You start squeezing the bat a little bit, the nerves might get a little more tense. The first run was key. Did I think that one run would hold up? Absolutely not. But both pitchers were awesome.”
After such an emotional win over the defending Non-Public A champions, Flego went to bed worrying about Colts Neck and a possible letdown.
“All of a sudden, you’re thinking, ‘We didn’t win anything yet, we just got there (to the finals),” he said. “It was like ‘OK you just beat number one in the state, what can you do to top that?’ But they are determined, they are focused, they know what they want.”
Flego’s worst fears were realized in the first inning of the finals when Colts Neck collected three hits and took a 1-0 lead.
“They hit some shots,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh boy, maybe they don’t have it today.’ They had second and third with one out but didn’t score and after that Lily shut them down. We came back to score in the bottom of the first and that settled our nerves.”
RBC scored four in the second and never looked back. Offensive contributors were Knox (2 doubles, 3 RBI), Grace Lombardi (triple, 2 RBI), Sophia Lasater (double, 2 RBI), Brianna Santangelo (2 doubles, 2 runs, RBI), Savage (triple, run, RBI), Lana Rudolph (double, 2 runs) and Jayden Kane (double, single). Nine of the Caseys 10 hits were for extra bases.
It was RBC’s first SCT title since 2010, which was also their last trip to the finals. They have hosted the event for nearly 10 years, prompting Flego to quip, “The good thing is we didn’t have to chase after foul balls.”
Next up for the Caseys is a May 27 state tournament tune-up against No. 4 ranked Mount St. Dominic. Then comes the SJ Non-Public A meat grinder, in which RBC should be seeded second between Donovan Catholic (one) and St. John Vianney (three)
“We’ve faced great pitching in our division which helped us tremendously in the (SCT),” Flego said. “Going into the states it’s like ‘OK, we’ve done this before, there’s nothing that says we can’t do it again.”
The Caseys enter the fray with four Division I commits as Santangelo is going to Columbia, Hagan is headed for Notre Dame, Knox will play at North Carolina and Lana Rudolph is attending Hofstra.
“Out of nine starters,” Flego said, “that’s a pretty good group.”