The Bulldogs were now six outs away from making program history.

Santangelo halted Bound Brook on a strikeout, a ground out and a fly ball in the sixth.

Santangelo then produced the game's final three outs in order in the bottom of the seventh on a ground out, her eighth strikeout and her ninth strikeout, fanning the girl she walked to lead off the top of the first swinging.

Santangelo had one strikeout in the first, three in the second, one in the third, one in the fifth, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.

With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the sixth, Santangelo was able to retire Gurczeski on a fly ball to center. She threw inside on a 1-0 count and jammed Gurczeski, who was capable of tying the game at that point with a home run.

"I wanted to do something different there, so I threw her an inside rise," Santangelo said.
Dayton lost its first game at Johnson 10-0 back on April 1. The Bulldogs were then 5-9 on April 24 after losing at home to Scotch Plains-Fanwood 2-0.

That's not the trajectory most teams take to eventually winning a state championship.

"After we lost to Johnson we then came back to beat Gov. Livingston in our next game and we had not beaten them in like five years," Santangelo said. "That set the tone."

"Team chemistry and trusting each other more was a big part of our success," Kandel said.

"When we lost four in a row to four really good Union County schools to fall to 5-9, I felt we were as good as a 5-9 team could be at that point," Rennie said. "We then took off from there and ended up going 14-3 the rest of the way."

After the 5-9, 14-game start, Dayton won six straight before falling to eventual first-time UCT champion Summit in the UCT quarterfinals. The only other losses the rest of the way were to Morris County schools Morristown and Morris Catholic.

"This game was a microcosm of our season," said Rennie, who was assisted by first base coach Caitlin Scaturo, who starred at Roselle Park before graduating in 2016, and dugout mentor Kevin Schultz. "We battled, hit the ball right at people, defended the ball and picked each other up all year long.

"It was such joy to coach them this season, no matter how it ended."

2026 SOFTBALL GROUP 1 STATE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
ON MIKE SHEPPARD, SR. FIELD AT IVY HILL PARK

N2-Dayton (19-12)                   0       0       0         0       0       2         0 - 2       5       0
CJ-Bound Brook (16-13)          1       0       0         0       0       0         0 - 1       1       2
WP: Julianna Santangelo, junior right-hander.
LP: Isabella Marusiak, senior right-hander.  

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