June
3, 2005
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| Lisa Prevedel hit the ground ball that barely left the infield but also scored the three runs that Saddle Brook needed to pull of a 7-5 win over Wallington in Thursday's North 1, Group 1 state sectional final. | |
WALLINGTON - The Saddle Brook season was on the brink. The Falcons were trailing by one run with two outs in the top of the seventh inning of Thursday's North 1, Group 1 state sectional final. The considerable home crowd was chanting 'One more out! One more out," trying to will Wallington to the title in its first trip to the final since 1997.
But in the next instant the ball was ping-ponging across the infield, dirt was flying everywhere and those in the stands could only look on in stunned disbelief as Saddle Brook plated three runs on a play where the ball barely made it to the edge of the outfield grass.
With
Ali Lagomarsino, pinch running for Melissa Fritsch who reached on an error
leading off the inning, on second and Christina Esposito on first, Saddle
Brook's Lisa Prevedel hit a ground ball that headed almost directly at the
second base bag.
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| Saddle Brook's Ali Lagomarsino at second base from where she would score the tying run on a wild play in the top of the seventh inning. |
Wallington shortstop Sam Labriola made a lunging try to glove the ball and almost pulled off a sparkler. She knocked the ball down and then, reaching for the bag with her right foot, tried to corral the ball in time for the force, which would have been the final out. But instead, Esposito slid in safely and Lagomarsino never stopped on her way to the plate with the tying run.
The throw home was high and Lagomarsino had the play beaten anyway, but the overthrow allowed Esposito to take third, which she did as Wallington catcher Kim DeFrancesco recovered the ball. DeFrancesco then threw in behind Esposito at third, but the Saddle Brook freshman decided to go for broke rather than trying to wriggle out of a rundown.
Esposito made a hard break for home, the throw back to DeFrancesco was high again and rolled to the backstop as Esposito scored and gave Saddle Brook the lead. And while all of that was going on, Prevedel never stopped running, circling the bases and scoring right behind Esposito with an unlikely insurance run, the result of two errors on two seperate throws home.
When
the dust settled, literally, Prevedel went out and struck out two in the bottom
of the seventh to cap the wild finish, giving Saddle Brook a 7-5 win, its
fourth state sectional title in the last eight years and its first since 2002.
The Falcons now move on to the Group 1 state semifinal where they will take
on Verona, an 8-2 winner over Belvedere in the North 2, Group 2 final, on
Tuesday at Union High School.
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| Wallington's Emily Kaczmarek knocked in two runs with a double on this swing in the bottom of the third inning. |
"I was confident that Lisa (Prevedel) was going to hit the ball hard and I was just hoping it would get through. Their shortstop made a heckuva play just knocking the ball down, but Ali (Lagomarsino) is fast and just by where the ball ended up I knew we were going to get at least one run," said Saddle Brook head coach Darren White. "When they threw it high to the plate, Christina (Esposito) is a very aggressive base runner even though she is just a freshman and she baited that throw to third to get herself home."
For as wild a play as it was and having come at the make or break point for her team's season, Lagomarsino had actually been in a similar situation before, albeit three years ago. In the 2002 section final, Lagomarsino, then a freshman, scored the winning run in the 13th inning of a classic 2-1 win over Emerson.
"I am
on this team to run. Since my freshman year I have been runner and it is my
job to sit and wait until I am needed," said Lagomarsino, now a senior. "I
was on second base and when Lisa hit that ball I knew I was scoring. Forget
about third, I was going straight home. I was getting pummeled by my teammates
and I didn't even know the play was still going on until I saw Espo sliding
in and then Lisa like two seconds later. It was great."
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| Saddle Brook catcher Amanda Bartels slapping a tag on Wallington's Lauren Matanin (19) on a play at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. |
Esposito played a near perfect game. One of two freshman that start in an infield that also includes two sophomores, she was a 4 for 4 at the plate, scored three runs, stole a base and had an RBI.
She scored the game's first run in the top of the first inning when she singled with one out, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a strikeout, breaking for the plate on the throw to first made after the third strike hit the dirt. She then gave Saddle Brook (22-10), the No. 8 seed that upset No. 1 Park Ridge in the quarterfinals, a 2-0 lead with a clutch two-out single in the top of the third that scored Kelly Grimaldi, the courtesy runner for Amanda Bartels.
Wallington (24-5), the No. 2 seed, got one run back in the bottom of the second when Michelle Moskal scored on a wild pitch and took a lead in the bottom of the third inning. In that rally, Jackie Brunacki drew a lead off walk, Tara Perrucci followed with a single and a fielder's choice and an error on a ground ball hit by Lauren Matanin loaded the bases.
After
a strikeout, Emily Kaczmarek whistled a double into the right centerfield
gap that scored two runs. Kaczmarek then scored on an error to give the Panthers
a 4-2 lead. Saddle Brook limited the damage when a perfect relay from Liz
Byrne to Jamie Rattacasa to Bartels cut down Matanin at the plate trying to
score on Moskal's single.
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| Tara Petrucci pitched Wallington to its first sectional final since 1997. |
In the top of the fifth, Melissa Fritsch led off with an infield single, Esposito got her third hit of the game and Rattacasa walked to load the bases for Prevedel, who placed a single into short centerfield that plated two runs and got SB back even at 4-4. Kaczmarek scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the fifth to give Wallington the one-run advantage it carried into Saddle Brook's final at bat.
Prevedel, who missed most of Saddle Brook's final two regular season games with an elbow injury before returning to start the Falcons' playoff run, wrestled with her control for most of the game but got the big outs at important times. She walked eight and hit three batters, but balanced those numbers with nine strikeouts, including three in the final two innings. Two of the runs scored against her were unearned and she allowed just five hits.
"This was the craziest game I have ever played in. The fans were amazing, they were all screaming. I think it was the [Wallington] baseball team and they were going nuts," said Prevedel. "I've never been in a game like that and I am just glad that we won."
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