Brookdale honors its junior college national champions

By tim morris
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI East Brunswick’s Marissa Busch, the star pitcher for the Brookdale Community College women’s softball team, receives her national championship ring from head coach Bo Scannapieco during a ceremony at the Middletown school on Thursday. Busch, who dominated the Greater Middlesex Conference during her high school days, has taken her considerable talent to the national stage.

It was a night of celebration, reunion and reflection when Brookdale Community College honored its 2002 junior college national championship softball team.

Between games of the Dec. 19 women’s and men’s basketball double-header, the Jersey Blues were presented with their national championship rings.

"This validates it," a proud Bo Scannapieco, the Blues head coach, pointed out as he displayed his championship ring. "It doesn’t really hit you at first. When the season was over, everyone went their separate ways. With everyone coming back and getting their rings, it validates it."

Pitcher Marissa Busch, the Most Valuable Player of the national championship tournament, which was played in Joliet, Ill., said she hadn’t seen most of her teammates since winning the title and was happy to share the moment and memories with them.

"It brought back a lot of good memories," she said. "It was exciting to see everybody again and to talk with them.

"When we finally got the rings, it was very exciting," she added.

Dara DeVincenzo, the other half of Brookdale’s incomparable pitching rotation in 2002 (she and Busch combined for 43 wins, 29 shut outs and six no-hitters) was also pleased to be reunited with her teammates.

"It was great to see everybody," she said. "I don’t think it has really set in yet. It takes time to understand. It is something that you can look back on."

Katie Pusz, the team’s utility player, will be looking at her ring often. She said she is going to wear it every day. Pusz is currently playing for the women’s basketball team.

"It was amazing," she recalled. "Bo asked me to play, and I just wanted to do anything that would help the team. It was so much fun.

"It was the most amazing feeling when we won," she added. "We were so happy for the school and Bo. Now that we have the rings, it has all set in."

The 2002 Jersey Blues were 47-9 and beat Hudson Valley (N.Y.), 2-0, in the national championship game with Busch hurling a one-hitter. The team enjoyed a school-record 31-game winning streak during the season and won the Region XIX tournament for a seventh straight year.

Busch and shortstop Smith were First Team All-Americans, and Scannapieco won the national tournament’s Coach of the Tournament award. Smith, DeVincenzo and Tiffany Kenney made the All-Tournament Team, with Busch the MVP at the nationals.

Looking back on the season that started out slowly (the team was 15-8 at one point), Scannapieco said he always saw something special in this team.

"I never gave up hope because there were so many talented players on the team," he explained. "At the national championships they did a stellar job. They showed a lot of heart and poise and played as a team."

Scannapieco was pleased that so many of his former players were in attendance in the Brookdale gymnasium honoring the national champions.

"You paved the way for all this to happen, and these ladies carried it through," he remarked.

"It was all Brookdale," he said.

The 2002 national championship Jersey Blues were: Stefanie Byrd, Marissa Busch, Allison Cenci, Dara DeVincenzo, Laura Hensley, Tiffany Kenney, Allison Krilla, Ilana Machado, Nicole Maltais, Sarah Otto, Katie Pusz, Kim Roessner, Amanda Smith, Jen Thompson, athletic trainer Wayne Wedderman, athletic director Jack Ryan, assistant coach Jen Rosant and head coach Bo Scannapieco.