Sunday, May 17, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Old Tappan freshman Kayla Farrell about to connect with a single that provided Old Tappan with the winning run and its first ever trip to the Bergen County Tournament semifinals.

WASHINGTON TWP. -- What a difference a year makes, just ask Kayla Farrell. At this time last year she was finishing up eighth grade in Harrington Park and had not yet been funneled into the Northern Valley Regional high school district. On Saturday, she found herself in a jersey with Old Tappan splashed across the front, a freshman batting in the No. 9 hole in the top of the seventh inning of a tie game with a chance to get the Golden Knights into the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament for the first time in school history. With all of that being said, what do you think happened?

Yup, Farrell fought off an 0-2 pitch and punched it into short centerfield, deep enough to score Callie Young with the game-winner in an 8-6 upset of third-seeded Ridgewood. Old Tappan, the No. 6 seed, will take on No. 7 Pascack Valley, itself an upset winner over No. 2 Indian Hills, in the Final 4 on Sunday afternoon at Ramapo High School.

To say Farrell was calm, cool and collected in the biggest at bat of her life to date would be stretching the truth.

Shortstop Kelly Hommen drove in Ridgewood's first two runs with a third inning double.

“I was so nervous. When I walked out the dugout I knew that it was going to be stressful. We had the bases loaded and I had to get the hit. I was protecting the plate with two strikes and the pitch was a little high but definitely a strike so I knew I had to swing,” said Farrell. “I was just happy to be getting a chance to be in the lineup as a freshman. I am just thankful for the opportunity and I never thought that something like this would happen.”

But it did and it plated the winning run in a good, old-fashioned slugfest that had plenty of twists and turns.

“We’ve been mixing things up in that [No. 9] spot in the order and playing the hot hand, rotating it around a little bit,” said Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck, who obviously pushed the right button when she handed in the lineup card with Farrell’s name in it. “We like the way her at bats have been going in the last couple of games and we gave her the nod today and she came through. Today I look like a genius and if it didn’t I would have looked like, well I don’t know what but it wouldn’t have been good no matter what you called me.”

With neither pitcher, Ridgewood’s Allie Vagianos and Old Tappan’s Jen Capazzi, given much a window in the bottom of the strike zone or on its corners, both were forced to work the middle of the plate and any chance of a pitcher’s duel was blown away by Old Tappan’s five-run third inning.

Senior Cally Young rounding third after her two-run homer during OT's 5-run third inning.

After Capazzi walked leading off the inning and Farrell sacrificed courtesy runner Kelsey Morgan to second, Kirsten Savage broke the ice with double that short-hopped the wall in deep centerfield. Vagianos then got a swinging strike three to get within one out of escaping with minimal damage, but Mia Assante kept that from happening with an RBI single and Jaime Giacomelli then singled to keep the rally going long enough for senior Cally Young, who crushed her second home run of the season, a two run job that easily cleared the fence as Ridgewood centerfielder Mary Callaghan ran through it.

“To be honest, I actually pictured that happening. I know that when [Vagianos] goes up [in the count] she’ll go with a change up. I was looking for it right there and pretty much swung as hard as I could. I wasn’t swinging for a home run, but I was definitely looking for an RBI,” said Young, Old Tappan’s centerfielder. “The umpire wasn’t forcing us to swing at pitches on the outside [corner] that we would usually take to right[field], so we were looking for pitches over the plate, right down the middle that we could drive.”

On a normal day, a five-run lead for a team like Old Tappan, which is now in sole possession of first place in Division 1 of the NBIL, would mean game over, but not against a Ridgewood team that has experienced players up and down its lineup. The Maroons got off the deck almost immediately when Kelly Hommen’s two-out, two-run grounds rule double in the bottom of the third knocked in Lauren Tom and Christina Ricks to make it 5-2.

Teresa Kircher's 3-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Ridgewood a 6-5 lead.

Old Tappan went 1-2-3 only once and that was in the first inning, but the Knights stranded a total of six baserunners in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning and were unable to tack on to their lead. That left Ridgewood hanging around and it almost pulled it out. Down to its last six outs, Ridgewood took advantage of an error, a fielder’s choice, and a walk to Ricks to load the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth.

When the next hitter, Kaitlyn Walsh, drew a walk it forced home the tying run and set the table for Teresa Kircher, who ripped a double to left that cleared the bases and game Ridgewood the lead at 6-5 and left Old Tappan with just three outs to either tie the game, take the lead or bow out of the tournament and call it a good run.

The Golden Knights chose door No. 2 when Giacomelli and Young drew back-to-back walks leading off the top of the seventh and an error on a groundball hit by Allison Brown loaded the bases with nobody out. Nicole DeLisio then looked at ball four to force home the run that tied the game at 6 before Farrell came through with the ribbie single that put Old Tappan ahead for good. Kirsten Savage’s sacrifice fly to right field gave the Knights an insurance run that it looked like it might need during Ridgewood’s last licks.

OT's Kirsten Savage drove in two, including a key insurance run in the top of the seventh inning.

The Maroons did not go down in order in any of the seven innings and got a one-out single from Rita Muzio and a two out single by Tom to put the tying runs on base, and Capazzi ran a 3-2 count on the next hitter before throwing her final pitch, which resulted in a fly ball to right field that landed in the glove Danielle Betts and landed the Knights in the Final 4 for the first time in school history.

“We just felt like our schedule prepared us for whoever we were going to see in this tournament and it gave us the confidence that we could play with anybody,” said Landeck. “One of the characteristics of this team is that they battle to the last out. This is not a team that folds when they are down, this isn’t a team that quits. They take advantage of every pitch and every out that a game gives you. They believe in each other and I believe in them.”

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