Jones rebounds to put Ramsey in Round of 16

Sunday, May 2, 2004

By Joe Zimmermann
NJS.com Student Intern

RAMSEY -- Ramsey's Amanda Jones nearly cost her team its opening round Bergen County tournament game on an error in the sixth inning. Luckily, the star pitcher's teammates would help her out of the jam, and Jones made sure to give back a little thanks of her own.

The senior ace shined on the mound and at the plate, pitching seven shutout innings for the ninth-seeded Rams to go along with a 2 for 3, two-RBI performance in the batter's box. She compiled eight strikeouts while allowing only three hits and a walk. Westwood's Chrissy Rabadan also pitched seven strong innings in the 3-0 defeat, fanning four Ramsey batters while surrendering six hits.

"(Amanda Jones) is tough. She's a tough, fierce competitor. She doesn't like to lose, and she will, when we're down, crawl and fight back, especially for this team," said Ramsey head coach Karen Finn, "She takes a lot of responsibility on her shoulders, because that's the type of kid she is, and that's the type of competitor she is."

The game was a tight pitcher's dual for the most part, but it was the action in the sixth frame that would provide the afternoon's best drama.

Up 1-0 in the top of the inning, Jones was staring down the top of the Cardinal's lineup. Rabadan, 24th-seeded Westwood's leadoff batter, began the inning by jumping on a 1-1 fastball and lining it into right field. The speedy senior stole second after the next pitch got away from Rams' catcher Michelle Lynch.

Marisa Cole then attempted to move Rabadan over to third with a bunt, and Jones scooped up the slow roller and threw to first. Unfortunately, the ball sailed over the head of first baseman Leslee Fisher.

Rabadan, already charging to third, saw the misplay and rounded the bag for home. However, right fielder Olivia Whiteman made a heads-up play in backing up Fisher at first, catching the errant throw and rifling the ball home. Lynch caught it and applied the tag to a leaping Rabadan for the out, who nearly hopped over the crouched catcher and scored.

"We work on (that play), and we try to execute it," said Finn, "And you hope at that point in time that Olivia does a good job of backing up. We know she has a good arm. She shot the ball on the money (to home plate), and the tag was perfect."

To add salt to the wound, Cole tried to scamper to second on the throw to the home, but Lynch recovered from the near-collision and fired a bullet down to second where the sliding Cole was tagged out.

"Lynch made a perfect throw to shortstop. You couldn't ask for a more executed play, from the backup of a missed throw to the second out, after the play at the plate," said Finn.

Both pitchers seemed to stump their opponents early, as they combined for seven strikeouts and gave up only two hits in the first three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, however, Ramsey (12-3) drew first blood off of Rabadan.

With one out, Fisher blooped a single to right. Catcher Kristina Pillari then grounded out to Jones on the mound, but Fisher moved to second. Batting cleanup, Jones roped a single into left and Fisher came around to score, giving the Rams a 1-0 lead.

Jones admitted feeling some fatigue in the game, but it didn't seem to affect her performance.

"I was feeling a little off. I've been pitching since Wednesday, so I was feeling a little bit tired," said Jones. "We knew during warm-ups that my shoulder had been bothering me a little bit. So today, she was calling the right things to keep the stress off my shoulders."

After the close call in the top of the sixth, Ramsey would score again in the bottom of the inning. The rally began with two Rams singles, and with runners at first and second, pinch runner Cheryl Patterson came into the game to replace the lead baserunner. Fisher laid down a sacrifice bunt to Rabadan that moved both runners into scoring position. Ashley Mutch, the Rams' third baseman, then lofted a long fly ball into deep left-center. Westwood's (9-5) center fielder Christine Royland made the catch, but Patterson was able to tag up at third to make the score 2-0.

With two outs, Jones came to the plate for the third time in the game. Kaitlyn Clark, the runner at second, went to third on a wild pitch and Jones then added insurance to the lead by drilling a 2-0 pitch into left field, scoring Clark.

The three-run lead was too much for the Cardinals to overcome, and they went down in order in the final inning.

"There's nobody in any situation I would rather have than (Jones) when it comes to knocking in an extra run, a game-winning run is on the line," said Finn. "She's the type of kid that you have so much confidence in, whether it's on the mound, playing defense, or up to bat."

The Rams hope to progress farther than their showing in the counties last year, where they lost in the round before the quarterfinals. Jones is confident that this year's squad is an improvement over most of the teams she has played with in the past.

"This is the best high school team I've been on. I think this team has the potential to go very far. (This team) has so much talent, and such a good team bond," said Jones.

Joe Zimmermann is a senior at Bergen Academy (Hackensack). He is the co-captain of the football team, where he plays guard and defensive tackle and also plays lacrosse.

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Joe Zimmermann