Burlington Township Stuns Number One Seeded Audubon

When Burlington Township defeated the ninth seeded Kingsway in the first round of the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs, all they could talk about was traveling to Audubon and take on the number one seeded Lady Green Wave. With an impressive 21-1 overall record, Audubon has proved to be seeded as the number one team in their group. But today would the Lady Falcons' day to be in the spotlight as they upset Audubon in nine innings by a 5-2 margin. Vanessa Moczulski picked up the win for Burlington Township as she gave up just one hit and recorded six strikeouts.

The eighth seeded Falcons walked onto the field knowing that if they played a complete game, they had a chance of knocking off the number seeded team in their bracket. Burlington Township (14-5) defeated Kingsway on Tuesday by a score of 5-2. Coach Alfred Howell and his staff were going with their game plan of "Plain and Simple". In a one game playoff any team could win just as long as you keep to the basics.

Moczulski was definitely pumped up for this game as several of her pitches were fired into the dirt. Just like a veteran pitcher, she would settle down and keep her pitches in the strike zone to record the out. Moczulski kept Township in this game early on as she struck out three batters and walked none through the first 3 innings. Karen Wendler scored Township's first run in the top of the second inning. They would add one more run when Kelly Gibson lined a 1-2 pitch up the middle scoring Shauna McAllister from second base.

But just like all good teams in this area, they find a way to come back. The home crowd has seen it all season long what their Audubon softball team can do. No margin is too big for their team to overcome. Samantha O'Donnell drew a 10-pitch count walk that she fouled off several pitches. After O'Donnell stole second base, Jen Jackson got the first hit of the game for Audubon at the right time. Jackson's blooper over in the infield dropped into right field, which O'Donnell was running hard all the way home, slid in safely to cut Audubon's deficit in half. Nicole Cannon tied this game at 2 when Audubon manufactured a run in the bottom of the fifth after a walk, wild pitch, sacrifice bunt and a balk evened the score.

Burlington Township finally put this game out of rich in the top of the ninth inning when they batted around and scored 3 runs. The first 3 batters, Kelly Gibson, Candace Wright and Jenna Darling, all scored to put the Falcons ahead for good. Township will now face the winner of the Northern Burlington versus Haddonfield next week.