Sunday, May 11, 2008
By
Ned Winner
NJS.com Correspondent
FRANKLIN LAKES –
Taking some cuts in the batting cages before Saturday’s
Bergen County quarterfinal game against Park Ridge, Saddle Brook’s
Christian Esposito had a good feeling. She sensed that maybe she
was going to put one over the wall at Ramapo High School’s
softball field.
“Espo”
was right.
After Park Ridge hopped
out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, Esposito answered
with a two-run, opposite field blast that knotted the game and
put the Falcons on their way to an eventual 7-4 win. Saddle Brook
scored six times in the game’s first three innings, coasting
into the semifinals, where they’ll face top-seeded Ridgewood
next Saturday at Ramapo College.
Park Ridge opened the
scoring early off of Saddle Brook starter Kim Prevedel, picking
up first-inning runs off on Caiyln Lavender’s RBI single
and Dana Carroll’s run-scoring double.
In the bottom half
of the inning, though, Stephanie Gilronan got Saddle Brook started
with a leadoff single. Two batters later, the score was tied.
“The kids weren’t
panicked, but it’s not a position you want to be in,”
Saddle Brook coach Darren White said of his team’s early
2-0 hole. “Then Steph rips a single to lead it off and I
thought we were going to at least get one. Then Christina comes
up and makes sure we get two.”
Esposito said that
her team has played well from behind all year.
“We weren’t
worried at all,” she said. “We’re usually a
comeback team. We play seven innings. We get 21 outs. We get many,
many chances to get runs back.”
After Esposito’s
jack, the Falcons took off. Saddle Brook scored three runs in
the second, thanks largely to a two-RBI single by freshman second
baseman Kaitlyn La Cass, the team’s ninth hitter. La Cass
had another run-scoring single in the third, putting Saddle Brook
up 6-2 at the time. She finished the day 2-for-3 with three RBI.
La Cass has slipped
seamlessly into the second base slot for Saddle Brook this year
after Esposito shifted over the shortstop. Admittedly, La Cass
had to overcome some butterflies before her clutch performance
on Saturday.
“I like the pressure
games,” La Cass said. “I was nervous, but I’m
always nervous. I get used to it. My team helps a lot.”
“She’s
just been outstanding,” White said of La Cass.
After a tough first
inning, Saddle Brook starter Kim Prevedel settled down and was
close to outstanding. She finished the game with 10 strikeouts,
the last one coming on a game-ending called strike three. She
did allow feisty Park Ridge to plate single runs in the fifth
and sixth innings, but did everything she needed to do to win
the game.
“I thought she
pitched well with a lead,” White said. “She was getting
ahead, making her pitches.”
“I was a little
off today, but my fielder’s helped me out,” Prevedel
said. “It helps to have a good team behind you.”
Prevedel also helped
herself, going 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and two runs scored.
Gilronan reached base all four times up for Saddle Brook, finishing
2-for-2 with two walks and a run scored. Carroll was the hitting
star for Park Ridge, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a pair
of RBI.
Things don’t
get any easier for the Falcons as they prepare to take on the
Ridgewood, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, in next weekend’s
semifinal round to be played at Ramapo College. The two teams
played earlier in the year in a game that remained scoreless into
the seventh before Ridgewood pulled out the win.
“It’s
nothing we haven’t seen before,” White said. “Playing
Ridgewood just gives us a chance to redeem ourselves.”
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