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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