Friday, May 9, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Junior Brittany DeMaio threw nine shutout innings and drove in the game's lone run as Pascack Valley won another extra inning marathon against Ramapo, 1-0, on Thursday afternoon.

HILLSDALE – By Pascack Valley head coach Craig Nielsen’s count, seven of his program’s last eight games against Ramapo have taken extra innings to decide and all eight of them have been one run games. Ramapo head coach Leslie Stephen provided a less specific count, saying instead that “Every single time we play them it is like this.”

So then it was no surprise on Thursday afternoon when the regulation seven innings came and went with neither team able to push a run across the plate. Then the eighth inning blew by with the game still scoreless and the ninth inning seemed headed for the same outcome when Ramapo turned a 1-2-3 double play to get within one out of escaping a bases loaded, nobody out situation.

With one out left before the game would have headed into a 10th inning that included the international tie-breaker rule, Brittany DeMaio decided that she wanted no part of it. Pascack Valley’s starting pitcher had already thrown nine scoreless innings when she came up with two outs and a runner on third base, 60 feet away from ending yet another PV/Ramapo marathon.

Ramapo's Brittany Baiunco was called out when this pitch hit her right hand. It also limited her to four innings of work in the circle.

So after keeping her team in the game for the better part of two hours, DeMaio got a chance to make herself the winning pitcher, which she did when she get a piece of the top half of the ball and knocked it through the middle. Her base hit scored Nicole Marino, the pinch runner for Jenny Arcella, with the lone run of Pascack Valley’s 1-0 win.

“I was so nervous, but I knew I had to get that hit because it was a chance to win the game against Ramapo and we always have great games against them,” said DeMaio. “I was so excited and so anxious, so it was such a relief when I saw it get through.”

With the win, Pascack Valley (15-6) stayed within two games of Indian Hills for first place in Division 2 of the NBIL pending Thursday’s other results, while Ramapo, which entered the game with a two-game lead over both N/V Demarest and Northern Highlands in Division 1 of the NBIL, fell to 16-5.

Both teams will play on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament as PV, the No. 8 seed, will take on No. 1 Ridgewood and second-seeded Ramapo, the two-time defending county champion, will play No. 10 Paramus in a rematch of last season’s North 1, Group 3 state sectional final.

Dannie Klemt had a third inning triple, one of Pascack Valley's three hits.

“I was talking to [assistant coach] Jen [Mackay] as the game was going on and we were talking about how we have not had an easy game against PV in the last four years. Not an easy win for us or an easy win for them,” said Stephen. “It’s either been an extra inning game or a one run game. It has been a tremendous rivalry and there is a mutual respect.”

The game was a pitcher’s duel from pitch No. 1 as DeMaio retired the side in order in the opening inning. DeMaio was matched at the start by Brittany Baiunco, who walked the first hitter she faced, Nikki Bischoff in the first inning, and Jenny Arcela leading off the second, but Baiunco also struck out five in the first two innings and left both runners standing on second base.

Baiunco gave up just one hit, a two-out triple by Dani Klemt in the bottom of the third, and struck out eight in four innings of work, but her day in the circle was cut short by a strange call while she was batting during one of Ramapo’s few offensive opportunities in the top of the second inning.

Julie Shaw did not allow an earned run in 4/23 innings of relief for Ramapo.

After Maggie Scarpelli’s infield single and Mallory Brown’s sacrifice bunt, Baiunco came up with a runner on second and, with two strikes, DeMaio busted her inside with a fastball. Baiunco started to offer at the pitch, which slammed into the base of her right (pitching) hand while it was still attached to the bat.

At first Baiunco was awarded first base via a hit by pitch. Then, after an umpire’s conference, she was called back in favor of a foul ball and then, after further discussion, she was ruled out on a swinging strike three even though there was no question as to whether or not the ball made contact with Baiunco’s hand, which was attached to the bat. A walk and a strike out later and DeMaio was out of the inning. Baiunco (4 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 8 K, 2 BB) threw two more innings, but when the hand swelled up, Julie Shaw came on in relief to start the top of the fifth inning.

Shaw (4 2/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 4 K, 3 BB) pitched out of a two-on, no-out jam in her first inning of work, but allowed just two base runners, one on a walk and one on a hit, over the next three innings as the team’s stayed scoreless through eight innings.

But in the ninth, Dana Amato led off with an infield single, Arcella drew a walk Corinne Finamore loaded the bases when her spinning blooper found its way over the third base bag and Ramapo could not get the force out. But then Shaw started the 1-2-3 double play that looked like it would extend the game to a 10th inning before DeMaio came through with the clutch single.

PV's Nikki Bischoff sliding in to catch the third out and end Ramapo's rally in the eighth inning.

“This gives us a shot [for a league title]. We were two games behind coming into today, but at least we still have a shot,” said Nielsen, whose team swept the season series against Ramapo as it won a 3-2 decision in the first matchup that lasted 10 innings. “I don’t mean this to sound like bragging, but this is the second time we have beaten [Ramapo] this season and that can only boost our confidence heading into Saturday.”

DeMaio (9 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 7 K, 4 BB), struck out seven and walked four and was also able to count on her defense when necessary. After Kaitlin Taranto walked and stole second with two outs in the eighth, Nikki Bischoff same sliding in to pick off a pop fly hit by Jess Brennan in short leftfield. And after allowing a walk and bunt single to Baiunco with one out in the top of the ninth, Bischoff chased down a deep flyball and DeMaio struck out the final batter she faced.

“Every game in our league is tough and I am getting a lot more comfortable in these kind of close games,” said DeMaio, a junior who is part of a three pitcher rotation and improved to 5-4 on the season. “I am not expecting anything to come easy so I don’t come out expecting to be pitching with a big lead. We are going to play close games most of the time. We know that and we are ready for that.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.