Sunday, May 11, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Shortstop Kelly Hommen scored a run, drove in another and made sweet defensive play in the fifth inning as Ridgewood advanced to the county semifinals with a 4-0 win over Pascack Valley.

FRANKLIN LAKES – Ridgewood has built its resume as the top seed in the Bergen County Softball Tournament on the strength of its defense and its pitching. Junior hurler Ali Vagianos is used to being in scoreless games, holding off the opposition inning after inning until her offense can find a way to scratch a run across the plate.

So when Ridgewood got two straight base hits to lead off the bottom of the second inning and then executed its offensive strategy perfectly against Pascack Valley in the county quarterfinals, the resulting two runs were a luxury that the Maroons took full advantage of.

Ridgewood followed singles by Theresa Kircher and Kelly Hommen with a sacrifice bunt by Mary Callaghan that moved both runners into scoring position and a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by Gabby Barbera that plated Kircher. Ridgewood made efficient use of all of its outs in the inning as Kaitlyn Walsh lifted a sacrifice fly to score Hommen.

Sophomore Jenny Arcella was a perfect 3-for-3 for Pascack Valley.

The early cushion took the pressure off and opened the door to a 4-0 win that lands the Maroons in next Saturday’s county semifinals where they will take on No. 4 Saddle Brook. That game will be a rematch from the EDSAF Tournament last month when Ridgewood snuck a run across in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 1-0 win.

“To get two [runs] early was great. We haven’t put a lot of runs on the board and for Ali to get a lead like that was great for her because she has kept us in games all year,” said Ridgewood head coach Patti Auger. “It changes everything [for the opposing team]. Suddenly they are down two and, depending on philosophy, it might take away whether they bunt or not in different situations. It’s huge to get a couple of runs on the board early; it can just change the game for both sides.”

The difference in the game was the way each team used its opportunities in that second inning. Pascack Valley, the No. 8 seed, got leadoff singles from Dana Amato and Jenny Arcella in the top half of the frame, but Vagianos struck out the next two hitters she faced and then got a pop-put to end the threat.

Megan Morris led off the seventh inning with an infield single and scored Ridgewood's third run.

When Ridgewood got its chance in the bottom of the inning, it turned the two hits into two runs and played solid defense the rest of the way.

“You can’t win of you don’t score. I felt if we played any better than we did today, we still lose 1-0 because they were able to put their hits together and we were not,” said PV head coach Craig Nielsen. “Anyway you look at it, we are going to come out of here 1-0, 4-0, it doesn’t make a difference. We got runners in scoring position a couple of times and didn’t get them in. They got runners in scoring position a couple of times and got them in twice. My hat’s off to [Ridgewood], that’s a good club.”

PV had two runners on in the fourth inning when, with one out, Amato reached on an error and Arcella (3-for-3) stroked the second of her three singles in the game into right field to put runners on the corners. But Vagianos got a fly ball and a groundout to Barbera a second base to end the inning.

Ridgewood flashed the leather in the top of the fifth inning when PV’s starting pitcher, Brittany Demaio, was hit by a pitch leading off and was replaced at first base by Kim Garcia, who came on as a courtesy runner. Garcia moved to second on Kelly Bassett’s sacrifice bunt and was on the move toward third when Hommen, Ridgewood’s shortstop, moved to her left to chase down a groundball that was headed into centerfield.

Ali Vagianos allowed five hits and struck out four to lead Ridgewood into the Bergen County semifinals.

Hommen corralled an intermediate hop near the second base bag and, instead of trying for the out at first, spun and fired to third base where Jaime Lukas was waiting to apply the tag.

“We worked on it all week with our infielders being aggressive and going after lead runners. Kelly has such a great game sense, she has great instincts,” said Auger, speaking of Hommen. “She was very aware that the runner was where she was and close to her. She still had enough time and a strong enough arm to be able to get her at third. She has a great awareness on the field and it was just a great play. She got our game ball today because she really did the job for us both offensively and defensively.”

In all Pascack Valley stranded seven runners on base while Ridgewood left only two runners on the base paths and its six hits to score four runs.

The final two of those came in the bottom of the sixth as Meg Morris beat out an infield single leading off and went to second on Lukas’ sacrifice. Alex Scibetta’s groundball moved Morris to third and, after Kircher drew a walk and error on an error allowed Morris to score Ridgewood’s third run. Hommen then delivered an RBI single to close the scoring and sew up the Maroons trip to the semifinals.

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