BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above, Allentown players celebrate their sectional title win over JFK in Woodbridge on Juen 1. Below, Allentown's Carly Machiz slides under the tag of JFK third baseman Kaitlyn Corica. Excellent pitching, timely hitting and near-flawless defense has carried the 2006 Allentown High School girls softball team to 21 wins and a Central Jersey Group II sectional title.

Now the Redbirds hope the same formula leads them to their first state championship.

Allentown was scheduled to play South Jersey champ Haddon Township Tuesday at Red Bank Regional in one of the Group II semifinals. With a win, the Redbirds would play for their first-ever Group II state crown Saturday at Toms River against the winner of Tuesday's other semi between West Essex (20-7) and Pascack Valley (24-6).

"The way we're playing, I like our chances," AHS head coach Bob Dubina said Monday night. "We're playing extremely well. Our pitching, hitting and fielding have pretty much all come together at the right time."

Win or lose, the Allentown softball program was already in unchartered territory after winning its first Group II Central title last Thursday with a 3-0 victory over JFK-Iselin in the finals at Merrill Park in Iselin.

The Redbirds had previously been knocked out twice in the same round and last year they were upset by Raritan 1-0 in the first round. But Allentown, which finished 20-5 a year ago, would not be denied this season.

"We only lost two seniors from last year's team," Dubina, who was in his first year in 2005, said. "Plus we returned both pitchers from last year. So we expected to have a pretty good year. But I'm not sure we expected it to be this good."

How good have the Redbirds been? Going into Tuesday's Group II semifinals, they were a glossy 21-4. One of the major reasons, as Dubina noted, has been the pitching and the one-two punch of seniors Katie Sansouci and Caitlin Ryan.

Coming into this week, Sansouci was 12-3 while Ryan was 8-1.

It's been Sansouci, however, who has carried the Redbirds through the playoffs. Against JFK-Iselin, the fireballing lefty pitched a four-hitter, struck out nine and walked only one.

Sansouci allowed only six base runners in all and none of them past first base. In fact, two of the four hits off her came with two outs, and she faced no more than four batters in any one inning. What's more, 82 of her 101 pitches were strikes, including 19 first-pitch strikes, and she fanned at least one batter every inning.

Meanwhile, the Redbirds provided her with all the offense she would need in the top of the first when they scored all three runs and collected four of their six hits after only five batters. Erin Kelley and Jenn Richard led off with back-to-back singles, and with one out, Ryan and Carly Machiz hit back-to-back triples for a 3-0 lead.

Allentown would manage only two more hits the rest of the game against Allison Greaney, a junior right-hander who walked none and struck out four.

But the damage had already been done, and that was more than enough for Sansouci.

"Before the game we said three runs would win it, and we got three in the first inning," Dubina said.

That three-run first and Sansouci's shutout pitching earned the Redbirds a date against Haddon Township, which beat Overbrook 3-2 to capture the South Jersey Group II title.

Sansouci was even more dominating in Allentown's first two state tournament contests. After drawing a first-round bye, the second-seeded Redbirds blanked No. 10 Somerville, 3-0, as Sansouci fired a perfect game and struck out 15 of the 21 batters she faced. It was her second no-hitter of the week as she also hurled one against Hamilton.

The Redbirds, as they did against JFK, scored all three of their runs in one inning, the bottom of the fourth, as Sansouci helped her own cause with an RBI double while Dana Machiz tripled in two more runs three batters later.

Then in the Central Jersey Group II sectional final last Tuesday, Allentown nipped Governor Livingston 1-0 in 10 innings as Sansouci locked up in a classic pitchers' duel with Capri Catalano, who struck out 20. Sansouci, meanwhile, fanned 10 and induced 11 ground balls while allowing only two hits.

The Redbirds finally pushed the only run of the game across the plate in the bottom of the 10th with the help of a new NJSIAA rule known as the international tiebreaker. Once a game reaches the 10th inning, the last batter to make an out the previous inning starts the following inning on second base. Since Sansouci made the final out in the ninth, freshman Shannon Bailey was inserted as a courtesy runner in the 10th.

Ryan then walked and Carly Machiz followed with a one-hop line drive to shortstop that was bobbled as Bailey raced home with the winning run.

Heading into Tuesday's game, Sansouci had pitched a no-hitter, a perfect game, a two-hitter and a four-hitter in her last four games.

But it hasn't been only pitching that carried Allentown this far.

"We've had all kinds of kids step up for us this season," Dubina pointed out. "We have five kids hitting .300 or better."

Indeed, Kelley, Ryan, Sansouci and both Carly and Dana Machiz have all stepped up and helped fuel the Redbirds' offense. Not to be outdone, the Allentown defense has also shined, especially in the postseason.

"Defensively, knock on wood, we've been really solid lately," Dubina said. "In our three state games, we've made only one error."

It's been that kind of defense and timely hitting, along with, of course, the outstanding pitching that brought the Allentown High softball team to the brink of its first state championship.

"I thought we had a chance to be there," Dubina said. "The pitching has really held up and lately we've had a couple of bounces go our way."