There was a point in the high school softball season when winning the Hudson County Tournament would have been a totally foreign thought to the Bruins of North Bergen.
Sure, no Hudson County team has won more softball county crowns than the Bruins and veteran head coach Tom Eagleson, the granddaddy of all Hudson County softball coaches. Before this season, Eagleson captured an astounding 13 county titles – but it looked as if 2015 was not going to be the year to add another one.
“We were averaging four errors per game,” Eagleson said. “In one game, we made 11 errors in one inning.”
Say what? You don’t see 11 errors in an inning in a tee-ball game.
“We did,” Eagleson insisted. “We beat Hoboken, 17-14, and just held on.”
That sounds like a tight North Bergen-Hoboken football score. But softball? The games are more like 2-1 and 3-2.
“We got beat by Hoboken, 12-2, and I remember saying that this year was going to be tough,” Eagleson said. “I just didn’t feel it.”
But then, standout second baseman Jaila Grimes returned after getting clearance to play from academic difficulties.
“I didn’t realize how much we missed her,” Eagleson said. “We were 12-7 without her and that was okay. But when she came back, something just clicked. We beat Hudson Catholic and I said if we keep playing like this, we have a shot.”
The Bruins entered the county tournament as the No. 5 seed, but that didn’t faze Eagleson.
“We were just riding a high,” Eagleson said. “We had a pretty confident group.”
The Bruins went on a huge winning streak, winning seven straight before the county tournament. They then defeated Memorial, then St. Dominic Academy and the Blue Devils’ ace pitcher Christina Mezey.
Up next was Kearny, the defending tourney champs.
“The girls knew that we could beat Kearny,” Eagleson said. “They just had that confidence.”
Sure enough, they knocked the reigning champs off their pedestal and moved to the title game to face Bayonne, which defeated North Bergen, 9-3, earlier in the season.
“They just had a feeling of, ‘Hey, we can win this game,’” Eagleson said. “We knew we had a good shot.”
The Bruins rode the hot pitching of junior Victoria Avella and some timely hitting across the board, especially Arianna Diaz, who had a two-run triple and an RBI double, scoring seven runs in the last three innings to post an 8-4 victory and give the Bruins and Eagleson a record 14th county title.
What a remarkable turnaround the Bruins enjoyed.
“It’s 100 percent the most unlikely team to win it, but it’s definitely the most satisfying,” Eagleson said.
There were some rumblings last year at this time that the powers-that-be wanted to remove Eagleson as coach. There was talk of asking Eagleson to step down and let someone else take over, but Eagleson wanted no part of it. He felt that he was still a solid softball coach – and rightly so. His resume of nearly 600 career victories and umpteen county crowns speaks for itself.
So perhaps another county championship might quell the rumors just a bit and allow Eagleson to coach as long as he wants to. He’s earned the right to go out on his terms – not the terms of people who have no clue how truly successful Eagleson has been.
Eagleson was particularly proud of third baseman Melanie Luna.
“She was much maligned early in the season, but she had a great game against Bayonne,” Eagleson said. “She made every play in the field and drove in a run at the plate. I’ve been on her all season and it was Melanie who came through. I’m really proud of her.”
The Bruins won their first round game in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group IV tournament, as Avella fired a no-hitter. The Bruins were slated to face Morris Knolls in the second round of the tourney at press time.
“It all worked out well for us,” Eagleson said. “It was a wild ride. What really amplified that was the poor defense we played. Despite all that, we hung in there, then got hot at the right time.”
The Bruins have now won 11 straight games to improve to 21-7 overall. No one alive thought that the Bruins were a 20-win team a month ago. It’s a remarkable turnaround, culminating in another county title.
“I hate to say it was one girl, but without Jaila, we wouldn’t have been able to do this,” Eagleson said. “Victoria also stepped it up at the right time on the mound. She’s been absolutely great. I haven’t seen her pitch this well before. She pitched two of the best games I’ve seen pitched all year. She’s been tremendous.”
Eagleson marvels at the Bruins’ incredible turnaround.
“The last two weeks have been unreal,” Eagleson said. “Everything just clicked at the right time.”
And it’s Eagleson, the one with all the other accolades in the past, getting yet another county championship. There’s truly something fitting in that picture. Maybe Eagleson can show the powers-that-be the county championship trophy a few times as his vindication. One thing is for sure. It certainly buys him yet another year of coaching the Bruins – on his terms. And that should be the only way. – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.