Sarah Cooley knew she had big shoes to fill this season.
Taking over for the departed Sophia Bordi and Gracie Granate on the mound, the junior has given Haddon Heights the steady pitching needed for another deep tournament run.
Cooley scattered seven hits, struck out three, walked one and allowed just one earned run over seven innings as the second-seeded Garnets stopped seventh-seeded West Deptford, 6-2, in an NJSIAA South, Group 2 quarterfinal in Haddon Heights.
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The Garnets (17-5) will play host to third-seeded Cinnaminson in the semifinals next Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Heights pushed a pair of runs across in each of the first two innings, giving Cooley more than enough offense.
After riding the arms of Bordi and Granate to back-to-back state titles in 2022 and 2023, and a trip to the South Jersey finals a year ago, one of the big questions about this year’s team was whether or not Cooley could step into the role of a No. 1 pitcher.
“I definitely felt some pressure but knowing I had a good field behind me took some of the pressure off,” said Cooley, who helped herself at the plate by going 2-for-3 with an RBI. “I worked hard all winter and once I realized we had some good bats and a good field behind me, everything fell into place.”
Unlike her predecessors, Cooley won’t blow batters away – all three of her strikeout victims were caught looking – but she beat West Deptford for the third time this season by letting her fielders make the plays behind her.
“I definitely rely on hitting my spots and getting my spin,” she said. “That controls where people hit the ball.”
“I have a lot of confidence in her,” said junior third baseman Jordyn D’Amelio, who batted 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs. “She’s a really good pitcher and we’ve gotten better as a defense because more balls are being hit to us and we support her by making the plays.”
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The Garnets took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, sending seven batters to the plate.
Ruby Caviston (2-for-4) had an RBI single to center field that scored Hannah Butler (2-for-3), and Cooley followed with a sacrifice fly to chase home Sami Szabo.
D’Amelio led off the second with a long drive that just cleared the fence in dead center field – her first homer of the season and third of her career.
“I thought it was dropping over (West Deptford center fielder Erin Thayer),” D’Amelio said. “But then (my bench) started going crazy. I didn’t even realize it was over the fence.”
Emma Covello singled later in the inning and scored on an error to make it 4-0.
“I think it was important to get those runs,” D’Amelio said. “When we played them before it was kind of close, but getting an early lead set the tone for the rest of the game.”
Heights added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth as D’Amelio delivered an RBI single and scored the final run when Zoe Fuller followed with an RBI hit of her own.
D’Amelio and Fuller combined for half of their team’s RBIs out of the eighth and ninth spots in the batting order.
“The bottom of the lineup has been pretty steady,” Heights coach Michelle Hastings said. “Jordyn came up big against West Deptford the second time we saw them, so that definitely was not surprising.”
The Eagles finally got on the board in the sixth inning as Aubree Eichenberg singled to score Jordyn Ambrosius, and an error on the same play allowed Sadie Afflerbach to score.
But Cooley retired the next two batters to end the inning and had an easy seventh to close it out, sending the Garnets to a seventh straight sectional semifinal.
Despite some key graduation losses, Hastings said the bar remained high this season.
“People were talking about what we lost and who we lost, but we came back confident,” she said. “I could not be prouder of this group. All five of our seniors were part of both (state) championships. They came in with (Bordi) and were there for that greatness and they don’t know any other way to play. They don’t listen to the hype and the noise or worry about other peoples’ expectations, but they know what it feels like to win and that’s what they work for.”
The Garnets will see if they can keep the momentum going next week.
“We’re focused on playing the game – playing our game – and enjoying ourselves,” Cooley said.
Thayer went 3-for-3 to close out an excellent career for West Deptford, which closed at 10-14.
The Eagles had some nice wins this season, but also had a bunch of close losses.
“I feel like I constantly preach to the girls that if we score early, we score often, but too many times this season we’ve found ourselves in a hole,” West Deptford coach Sydney Jakubowski said. “We do fight back and we show heart, but sometimes, like today, we fall short.
“I knew we’d be a little younger this year with less experience, but we scheduled tough games. We wanted to see the kids rise to the occasion. We played a lot of close game and fought hard.”