The Stateliners lost to Watchung Hills 5-4 on Wednesday.
Even though it wasn't the result Phillipsburg pitcher Brooke Moyle and her teammates hoped for on Wednesday, the senior made quite the impact in her final game in a Stateliner uniform.
Moyle blasted two homers over the fence at Watchung Hills in the Stateliners' 5-4 loss in the NJSIAA North 2, Group 4 quarterfinals.
She hit a solo home run over the left-field fence in the top of the second inning to put Phillipsburg up 1-0. Moyle followed that with another solo shot over the left-center field fence to cut Watchung Hills' lead to 4-3 in the fourth inning.
"Brooke's been amazing for us all season long," Phillipsburg coach Kristin Boyer said. "She's been one of our six seniors. Heart and soul of the team. Kept us in every game. Came up big with big hits when we needed it. I dare say she kept the majority of the teams that we played off-balance when they were hitting. That's very important for a team like us to then come out on top. You let Brooke go in there and do what she does and then you really work on hitting and follow up with the hits."
Moyle, who will play at Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania, struck out four and allowed only one walk on Wednesday. She only gave up two earned runs in the outing.
The pitcher had another chance to do damage with the bat in the sixth inning but Watchung Hills coach Mike D'Alessandro told pitcher Robin McCabe to be extra careful pitching to her. Moyle walked and the cautious approach paid off for Watchung Hills as the Stateliners were held off the scoreboard in the 4-4 game.
"We were not going to give her a good pitch to hit," D'Alessandro said. "The plan there was to keep the ball away from her and see if she might swing, be a little bit overanxious. If we got a couple of strikes, we might have pitched her a little differently. The way she was swinging, we didn't want her to make the difference there in the tie game."
"Any time you get a girl step up and hit two home runs in a row, I'd do the same thing. That's just good coaching right there," Boyle said of Watchung Hills' approach in the third at-bat.
Josh Folck may be reached at jfolck@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshFolck. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.