Sunday, May 10, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Juile Shaw did not allow an earned run in 12 innings and struck out 20 as Ramapo outlasted Paramus Catholic, 4-1, in the Round of 16 at the Bergen County Tournament.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- It was just before she began to throw her warmup pitches before the start of the bottom of the 11th inning on Saturday in the Bergen County Tournament Round of 16 when senior Julie Shaw, Ramapo starting pitcher, said to no one in particular, "This is the best game I have ever played in." Considering that Shaw has been a varsity contributor of the all four of her high school years and that she is on a team that had won 16 straight county tournament games heading into Saturday, that was saying a lot. Not to mention, the 'fun' for the Green Raiders had yet to really begin.

Shaw had allowed just two hits and a walk (one intentional) through the seven innings of regulation, just three hits through 11 innings and zeros across the board in the scoring column, but still Shaw found herself in a scoreless duel with Rachel Cannata, Paramus Catholic’s hurler who was almost equally as impressive.

“Either way the game would have gone, it was just the best game. We had great energy on both sides, our team and their team, and this was probably the most fun game I have ever played,” said Shaw. “It was just so much fun to go out there and have everyone so into it. This is the first game this year that we have all been so focus in one game and it just felt good to know that no matter what happened, we were all pulling for each other.”

Erin Trippi reached base in 3 of her 5 plate appearances and called a great game behind the plate for Paramus Catholic.

So just think how Shaw felt after her teammates, after struggling to put together any kind of offense against Cannata for 11 innings, broke through for four runs in the top of the 12th after playing four defensive frames with a runner in scoring position to start the inning representing the winning run as Paramus Catholic, the No. 8 seed, was the home team.

A wild top of the 12th inning that included, among other things, an intentional walk to Shaw, an unconventional 8-5 fielder’s choice put out, a batting out of order infraction that actually wound up helping Ramapo in the end and a couple of key hits by two sophomores, finally broke the ice. Ramapo, the three-time defending scored four times and won its record 17th straight county tournament game, 4-1.

“This was a classic. To have such a young team be able to handle the pressure as each inning mounted and neither team could get in a run, it really says a lot about how our team has grown. We also had a senior in the circle that was confident and knew what this was all about,” said Ramapo head coach Leslie Stephen, whose team improved to 15-4 on the season. “When you look at the sophomores that made some unbelievable plays in the field from [Christine] Boylan turning a double play by herself, [Tori] Sobel making a great catch and then coming up with a huge hit and Emily Brown coming through with a big hit, I am just so proud of them, the way they played with such passion.”

The first seven innings took just over one hour to play and scoring chances were few and far between on both sides. Paramus Catholic had a chance in the bottom of the fifth when Erin Trippi led off with a ringing double to left centerfield, but a popped-up bunt spoiled that potential rally and Boylan’s big defensive play got Shaw out of trouble in the top of the seventh.

Ramapo sophomore Emily Brown drove in the game's first run with a two-out single in the top of the 12th inning.

With one out and runners on first and second, Boylan grabbed a groundball, tagged the runner trying to cross over to second base and threw on to first for the 4-4-6 double play that sent the game into extra innings. Shaw struck out five of the six hitters she faced in the eighth and ninth innings and neither team threatened until it was forced upon them by the tie-breaker rule, which puts a runner on second base to start each inning beginning in the 10th.

Ramapo’s first shot at it in the 10th inning started promisingly when Mallory Brown drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs, but Trippi, PC’s standout catcher, made a defensive gem when she ripped of her mask in time to see a bunt that was popped up behind her. Trippi reached back with her barehand to snare the first out of the inning and Cannata got another pop out and a strikeout to end the top of the 10th.

In the bottom of the inning, Shaw (12 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 20 K, 3 BB) issued two of her three walks, one to Trippi and the other to Cannata, in the game and it resulted in a bases-loaded, one-out situation. But again Shaw worked out of it by striking out two straight hitters and the game moved on to the 11th.

Ramapo went down 1-2-3 in its 11th inning opportunity, while PC got a runner to third base with a one-out sacrifice bunt by Nicole Adamo, but Shaw held steady, grabbing a bunt attempt and getting the final out at first base.

Rachel Cannata allowed just one earned run and had PC's lone RBI.

And, finally, Ramapo’s offense came through in the 12th, but not in conventional fashion, at least at the start. Boylan was placed at second to start the inning and Shaw, who had two hits and sent shots into the outfield in all four of her previous plate appearances, was intentionally walked to. After a strikeout, Mallory Brown looped a ball into short centerfield that Lauren Milligan charged. With the runner having to hold at second base to see if the ball would fall in, Milligan had time to throw to Brittany Bucko at third base for the putout and the second out of the inning.

Needing a base hit now with two outs and runners on first and second, Emily Brown provided exactly what both teams had been desperately looking for, a clutch base hit. Emily Brown blooped a single into short right centerfield to knock in MaryKate Probert, the courtesy runner for Shaw, with the game’s first run.

Both Browns moved up a base on the throw to the plate and then Sobel, the Raiders’ starting centerfield who was hit for for the first time this season, took her first at bat as designated player Lana Auerbach was lifted after sustaining a thumb injury in the 10th. Sobel made her lone AB count as she knocked in two runs with a single.

“This was the first game that I was not in the order and my hitting has not been that great lately. But I worked with [assistant coach Mark] Aug a lot and today was just so much about the team that I just wanted to do my part,” said Sobel. “I just went up there to have some fun because I am always thinking too much. It was a 1-1 pitch and the minute I saw it come off her hip I told myself to swing. I did and then I saw everybody over there [by the dugout] celebrating and it was awesome.”

Ramapo's Tori Sobel made this nice running catch to end the second and drove in the winning runs 10 innings later.

Gen Cohen should have been the next hitter after Sobel, but it took two pitches, both strikes to Alyssa Nacco, before Stephen realized that the Raiders were batting out of order. After Stephen called the umpire’s attention to the error, Cohen then replaced Nacco in the batter’s box with an 0-2 count and then reached on an error of the fielding kind that allowed Sobel to score the Raiders’ fourth run.

Cannata (12 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 15 K) stroked an RBI double with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning for the Paladins, but that was as close as they would get as Boylan grabbed a pop out for the final out of the marathon.

Having been there before certainly helped the Raiders as the game wore on, having not been there before may have left Paramus Catholic’s young players searching a little bit as they left five runners on base in the 10th and 11th innings with chances to win the game. While Ramapo, the only lower seed to win in the Round of 16, will move on to face top-seeded IHA in the quarterfinals next Saturday, Paramus Catholic (11-5), although slight consolation, got the big game experience that may help it in the state playoffs.

“Ramapo is a great team and it becomes a routine. They have established a winning mentality and that definitely gives them an advantage because I was in that situation when I played,” said PC head coach Brielle Cosentino. “I think they exposed our immaturity at the end, but at the same time, I think we played a great game for 11 innings. It was the last one that killed us.”

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