May
25, 2004
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| St. Dominic's Holly Fagan about to crush the triple that gave the Blue Devils a comfortable lead in the opening inning against Paramus Catholic. | |
PARAMUS -- Call it a premonition, call it divine intervention, call it a coach who might need a little bit of a vacation now 30 games into a marathon season, but St. Dominic Academy head softball coach Dave Majewski had a dream.
"This
is going to sound insane I know, but last night I woke up in the middle of
the night twice," said Majewksi, whose team was on the road against Bergen
County champion Paramus Catholic in Tuesday's North Parochial state sectional
quarterfinal. "I had two dreams that we scored five runs in the top of the
first inning."
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| Jenna Corrado had two of Paramus Catholic's six hits off SDA starter Leigh Ann Murduca. |
So as the real first inning played out on Tuesday afternoon, it was already old hat to Majewski, who saw his team again score five runs on the way to a surprisingly comfortable 5-1 win. The seventh-seeded Blue Devils now move on to the section semifinals where they will take on Hudson County rival Holy Family, the No. 3 seed that St. Dom's beat in the HCIAA-Coviello Division two weekends ago.
"It's scary. As I stood there (the first inning) unfolded just like I saw it," said Majewski. "It was an incredible start and we also had a great finish."
The incredible
start began with the game's first batter when Christina Conti singled. Krystle
Snarski then laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt that wound up as a bunt single.
After a pop-up, Lauren Canonico's single loaded the bases for Leigh Anne Murduca,
St. Dominic's starting pitcher, who provided her own run support.
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| Rox Scheider and the St. Dominic defense played a near flawless game. |
Murduca fisted one toward the third base bag that ball fell into a triangle between Chanel Wehniger, the PC third baseman who was playing in, shortstop Danielle Rizzi and leftfielder Jackie Vanore, who raced in to join the play. Murduca reached safely, Conti scored the game's first run and the bases were still loaded for Holly Fagan.
Fagan, who has a knack for coming up with the big hit, then drilled a liner into deep left field. In an indication of what kind of game it was for Paramus Catholic, Vanore made a lunge and almost came up with a brilliant grab, but the ball skipped off the top of her glove and rolled to the wall. Three runs scored, Fagan ended up on third with a triple and came home with the Blue Devils' fifth and final run when Ashley Cappiello reached on an error.
"I wasn't
sure if the ball was going to go over (Vanore's) head or not but I knew it
might," said Fagan. "I just kept running as hard as I could around the bases."
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| Jackie Vanore is one of seven underclassmen in the PC lineup that will be back next season. |
With no true Hudson County tournament, St. Dominic (21-9) is the closest thing to a county champion, having won the HCIAA-Coviello Division postseason tourney, but that title does not carry the recognition in softball circles that the Bergen County crown brings. So in addition to keeping its state championship hopes alive, SDA was also fighting to elevate the reputation of its program and the league it plays in.
Murduca knew the stakes, and used her screwball to great effect all afternoon. After allowing PC's only run on a Jenna Campbell single with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning, Murduca gave up just three hits and a walk the rest of the way and finished with five strike outs.
"You
know what? I was intimidated by their reputation. They were the Bergen County
champions and Bergen County is known for its softball," said Murduca, who
gave up six hits and three walks in the win. "I just knew that I had to go
out there and do my best and when we scored the five runs it became pretty
obvious that we could play with them."
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| Christina Conte, SDA's leadoff hitter, scored the game's first run in the opening inning. |
SDA's defense also was outstanding. With one out in the bottom of the first and PC needing some runs to grab the momentum back, Vanore hit a shot that seemed ticketed for left center field, maybe into the gap. But Snarksi, the Blue Devils' shortstop, got full extension on a lunge to her left, snagged the line drive and flipped to Alyssa Faden at second base for the double play.
The two
hooked up again on another 6-4 double play when Snarski grabbed a liner off
of Wehniger's bat in the third. Catcher Rox Schneider caught the only runner
trying to steal against her, albeit on a controversial call, and SDA's lone
error that opened the bottom of the seventh meant nothing when Murduca got
a soft liner and two ground balls to end the game.
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| Jenna Campbell drove in PC's only run with this swing in the bottom of the second inning. |
"It wasn't our day. We hit three hard line drives and on two of them we got doubled off, nothing you can do about that," said Paramus Catholic head coach Larry Hughes. "We got off to a bad start and we just couldn't overcome it. We were a hit or two away from climbing back in it early on, but once the innings started piling up on us, it was a little to far to go."
The Lady
Paladins, who started just three seniors -- pitcher Dara DeSocio, Campbell
and Wehniger -- saw their successful season come to an end with a 24-6 record,
the school's first-ever county championship and an NNJIL Division A title.
Jenna Corrado had two of PC's hits, while Vanore, Brooke Anderson, Rizzi and
Campbell each had one. Kristen Nowak reached base twice with two walks and
scored the Paladins' only run.
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| Leigh Ann Muduca gave up just six hits as SDA advanced to the Parochial A North semifinal. |
Fagan had the biggest hit for SDA, but the Blue Devils had a least one runner on base in every inning and the top six hitters in the lineup each had at least one hit. Snarski was 4 for 4 with three singles, a double and a run scored and Murduca had two hits to go along with a sac bunt.
With defending champion IHA having been eliminated in the opening round and second-seeded PC now also out, Bergen County is now without a team left in the Final 4 of one of the State's premier playoff brackets, while Hudson County is assured of having a team in the final and it will be either St. Dominic or Holy Family.
"That will be a war against a team that we have a lot of respect for," said Majewski, looking ahead to Thursday's semifinal. "It says a lot of our league and a lot for Hudson County. We still have two games to win if we want to get the state title, but we are happy to be where we are at."
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