May
19, 2004
By
Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
LODI - Over the past three weeks, Pascack Valley finally hit the stride that is has been looking for all season, playing their best ball just in time for Tuesday's North 1, Group 2 state tournament first-round battle with Lodi.
But before the Indians got to Lodi yesterday, they had a tune-up when they faced Mahwah in an NBIL clash on Monday. A whopping 18 innings later, they walked off the field with a bitter 1-0 loss. This put the pressure squarely on the exhausted shoulders of Pascack Valley senior pitcher Christina Scordato les than 24 hours later, but that is exactly how she wanted it.
The 14th seeded Indians took advantage of two Lodi errors to take an early lead and while Scordato did not have her best stuff, she was able to get ahead in the count on the Lady Rams. Scordato scattered six hits to help the Indians pull a 3-0 upset yesterday over Lodi, the No. 3 seed.
"I knew we had to come back and dig down deep to get a win here," said Scordato. "I tried to get my outside curveball over for a strike to get head in the count. My team got a couple of runs for me and that took the pressure off of me. The loss to Mahwah was tough, but coming back with such an important game the next day made it easier to forget about it and focus on what we had to do here."
The Indians knew Scordato was not going to have the velocity she normally has after throwing all 18 innings in the loss to Mahwah. In softball, a couple of breaks go a long way and they took full advantage of it to get Scordato a healthy lead.
In the top of the second inning, Laura Murphy led off with a sharp single. Amy Biedeman moved her over to second on a sacrifice bunt. Ashley Ruesch stepped to the plate and hit a ground ball to the glove side of Lodi shortstop Jaime Marino, who expected the ball to hop up, but it stayed down and rolled into the outfield. Murphy came around to score from second to give Pascack Valley a 1-0 lead.
An error on the throw from the outfield moved Ruesch up to third base with one out before Lodi pitcher Melissa Johannemann got out of the jam with a ground ball and a pop-up to end the threat.
However, the Indians took advantage of another Lodi error an inning later and tacked on two more runs. Gina Sapuppo started off the inning with a double to left-center. After a groundout, a walk, and a fielder's choice, Val King stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Murphy. She hit one off the end of the bat that went only a few feet from the plate and a rushed throw went into right field, scoring both runners to make it 3-0.
"Mistakes become that much bigger and big games and that was the difference, we made a couple and they didn't make any," said Lodi head coach Rob Terhune. "We hit the ball pretty well, but we couldn't string any hits together and get a rally going."
With some run support, Scordato breezed through her way through the Rams' order until the fifth inning. Singles by Jessica Wagner and Dana Mulvaney brought the tying run to the plate in the speedy Donna Marino. She hit a hard ground ball but right at Scordato, who made the throw to first to get out of the jam.
Scordato allowed a hit in each of the final two innings, but did not allow a runner past second base all afternoon in lifting Pascack Valley into the North 1 Group 2 quarterfinals with the 3-0 triumph.
"After losing in that marathon game to Mahwah, our main concern was Christina (Scordato)," said Pascack Valley head coach Craig Nielsen. "But we have had a great attitude and been playing well over the last few weeks. Lodi has a nice club and their pitcher (Johannemann) was crafty, but playing tough opponents in the NBIL day in and day out prepares us for games in the state tournament. This game showed a lot about this team's character and now we just have to keep it going."
Scordato did not walk a batter and had five Ks to help Pascack Valley climb above .500 (12-11) and keep its season alive. Beideman went 2 for 3 and also threw a runner at second base in the sixth to halt a potential threat. Murphy, Sapuppo, and Lia Ribustello had the other base hits for the Indians, who will go on the road and play the winner of 11th seeded Lenape Valley and Pompton Lakes, the No. 6 seed, in Thursday's quarterfinal.
Johanneman was the hard-luck loser for Lodi (17-6). She allowed just five hits, walked two, and had 3 Ks. Jessica Wagner turned in a fine performance for the Lady Rams. She went 2 for 3, had a stolen base, and also made a nice flip on a wild pitch to throw out a runner at the plate in the sixth inning. Jaime Marino, MaryBeth Dawson, Katie Casas, and Mulvaney had the other hits for Lodi, which still has three games left on its schedule.
"We fell a bit short of a few of our goals, but we still have one big one left," added Terhune. "We want a 20-win season and if we win our last three games, we'll achieve that. This team wanted to do some damage in the county tournament, repeat as league champs, and win a section title. We can't do that, but we can still win 20 games. That is a goal we really want. Not too many teams from Lodi can say they have won 20 games, and we know we're capable of getting it done."
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