Sunday, May 4, 2008

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

PARAMUS – Year after year, Paramus sets a goal of being among the top teams in the county with the hopes of winning a Bergen County championship. Last year, those hopes were dashed by Indian Hills. When the draw for this year’s tournament came out, the Spartans saw that they would have a chance for revenge with Indian Hills in line for a Round of 16 rematch.

But for the Spartans to get there, they would have to get past Cresskill, one of Bergen County’s most pleasant surprises this season.

Cresskill has had a dramatic resurgence in recent years, making the county tournament for the second year in a row after being winless just three seasons ago. However, the Spartans are always tournament-tested. The gap between two talented teams generally comes in the form of big-game experience and nobody on the field had more of that than Allison Schraer, Paramus’ starting pitcher for the past four seasons.

Whether it was in the circle or at the plate, Schraer made an impact early and often. She drove in three runs and struck out 14 batters as Paramus, the No. 10 seed, breezed to a 9-0 triumph over 23rd seeded Cresskill.

“We have been struggling lately and we knew this was the time to start peaking,” said Schraer. “It was very important that we scored some runs early and set the tone. We wear the name (Paramus) on the front of our jerseys. With that, we know teams are going to come after us and we have to be ready. No matter who you play in the tournament, you have to come with your ‘A’ game.”

Cresskill showed some nerves early and the Spartans took advantage. Lizzy Iuppa lined Cresskill starter Jaime Conrad’s first pitch into center to lead things off. She came around to score on a bloop single by Schraer. After a wild pitch brought in another run, Kaitlyn Brock perfectly executed a suicide squeeze to make it 3-0.

After the Spartans scored another run to close out the first, Schraer knocked home two more with a second-inning single to make it 6-0. Iuppa’s two-run single followed by an RBI double from Christina Vasile made it 9-0 in the bottom of the third.

It looked like the Cougars were on their way to being mercy-ruled right out of the county tournament in the first round for the second straight year (Saddle Brook beat them 10-0 in the first round last year). Freshman Liz Paschetta made sure that was not going to happen. She came in to pitch and settled things down, tossing 3 1/3 hitless innings.

“I thought Liz came on and did a tremendous job,” said Cresskill head coach Mike Doto. “I wish we didn’t come out of the gate so intimidated. Once we got our legs under us, we showed we could play with them. But we didn’t get beat by the mercy rule and that’s a positive that we have to take from this game.”

Just being in the county tournament is an accomplishment in itself for a team that lost 43 out of 44 games in the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Now the Cougars will set their sights on winning their first BCSL-Olympic Division league title in three decades. They currently sit a game behind New Milford, who they beat earlier this season, for first place.

“We’re very confident that we can make some noise and compete for a league title,” added Doto. “Today we played scared and I think we’ll learn a lesson from this loss. We’ve already beaten New Milford and they are at the top of our league, so we know we’re right there. Our league is there for the taking. Whoever is near the top of the standings and gets hot over the next couple of weeks is going to take it. We hope we can put this loss behind us and have a nice end to the year.”

Schraer tossed a four-hit shutout with 14 Ks and no walks for Paramus (9-5). Iuppa went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBIs, and a stolen base. Vasile added three hits, two runs scored, and an RBI.

Floriana Borova, Amber McAndrews, Katherine Pascetta and Carly Cerone had the hits for Cresskill (11-4)

Paramus will face seventh-seeded Indian Hills, a winner over St. Mary’s (Rutherford) yesterday, this afternoon at Indian Hills at 2:00 in the second round of the Bergen County Tournament.

“They have Lisa Finizio and (Katie) Enright pitching, so we know what a tough out they are going to be,” said Paramus head coach Brian Hay, speaking of Indian Hills. “If we can start fast like we did today, I’m confident in our chances. But we also know that we have to play our best if we’re going to beat a well-coached team like Indian Hills.

“The first game of the county tournament is always the hardest. We have had some tough losses this season, but we also have some quality wins under our belt. I think we have to start focusing more on the positives to maintain being consistent and being successful. Being where we are in this tournament (the No. 10 seed), we have everything to gain and nothing to lose. We just have to play within ourselves and believe in ourselves that we can make a deep run into the tournament.”

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