Monday, May 18, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Jenna DiScepolo about to club her two-run single in the top of the second inning that gave Pascack Valley the lead for good in a 4-0 win over Old Tappan in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

FRANKLIN LAKES – Looking for flashy softball complete with daring chances being taken on the base paths, with balls flying all over the infield and with strikeout piling up by into the double digits on catcher’s mitt popping fastballs? Then watching Pascack Valley is not for you. But if you prefer the basics like limiting opposing baserunners by not issuing walks, watching the ball being thrown to the right base by a heady infielder, of batters playing situational offense, then PV is the kind of team that fits that bill to a tee.

It all stems from a softball ball head coach who is also a football head coach that knows the value of the fundamentals.

“It’s like any sport you have, it starts with defense. [In softball] then you can go to pitching and hitting in that order and that is what we have been doing,” said Neilsen. “We’ve played six games this week and we have given up one run and that is using three different pitchers.”

None of the four run scored against Old Tappan's Jen Capazzi were earned.

The latest of those sparkling defensive performances came on Sunday as Pascack Valley, the No. 7 seed in the Bergen County Tournament, pulled its second upset in as many days against a team that it lost two during the regular season. After upending No. 2 Indian Hills on Saturday in the quarterfinals, the Indians ousted No. 6 Old Tappan, 4-0, on Sunday at Ramapo High School to reach the Bergen County final for the first time in 17 years.

Also for the second straight day Neilsen handed the ball to Brittany DeMaio, who has now thrown 14 straight scoreless innings in a 24-hour span of pressurized softball.

“Our defense has been playing amazing and we are starting to put our hits together and that has made it easier to pitch,” said DeMaio, who allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four. “Basically I just tried to get ahead of every batter. I knew my defense would help me, so I just wanted to let them hit it and let my fielder’s get the outs.”

From the top of the second inning on DeMaio had a lead to play with courtesy of a smart at bat by Jenna DiScepolo. PV’s starting second baseman and No. 9 hitter came to the plate with two outs and two runners in scoring position. She fouled off four pitches before getting one she could handle, one up in the zone that she clubbed into leftfield.

Pascack Valley starter Brittany DeMaio threw her second straight shutout in as many days.

With the wind blowing in, Old Tappan leftfielder Nicole DeLisio was forced to charge hard as the ball hung up. DeLisio, running full speed, made a sliding effort and got a glove on the ball just before it found the grass, but her momentum forced a roll toward the infield with the ball stuck somewhere underneath. It was ruled hit, Corrine Finnamore and Nicole Marino, a pinch runner Jaime Perlmutter, scored and Pascack Valley scored two runs to take the lead for good.

“I have a lot of trouble with pitches on the outside corner, so I just thought that if I went up there and crowded the plate that she would maybe come in on me or if was on the outside corner I would be able to reach it,” said DiScepolo. “I wasn’t sure if [DeLisio] caught it at first so I was really happy when I found out that the two runs counted.”

It was also typical of the kind of day it was for the two teams. For Pascack Valley, it got those first two runs courtesy of an infield error that stretched the inning long enough for DiScepolo to get to the plate and for OId Tappan a near great defensive play came up about an inch short.

Allison Brown had one of Old Tappan's four hits.

The two errors that Old Tappan did make led to all four runs scored against Jen Capazzi being unearned, while Pascack Valley’s two defensive miscues were smoothed over by a comebacker that DeMaio was able to snare with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the third and two groundballs gobbled up by shortstop Dani Klemt to end the game in the bottom of the seventh. Old Tappan also had two runners thrown out on the base paths, including one at home plate.

DiScepolo also hit the ball that accounted for PV’s other two runs. After Finnamore reached on a one-out error in the top of the sixth, Dana Amato singled and Melissa Pena walked to load the bases. Capazzi (7 IP, 4 R, 0 ER, 8 H, 7 K, 2 BB) got a swinging strikeout for the second out of the inning, but DiScepolo’s ground ball was mishandled on the infield, which allowed the game’s final two runs to score.

“They had a great day and their defense had an outstanding day. They made the plays when we were threatening, they made the plays that got them out of innings and their pitcher did a really nice job,” said Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck, whose team was making the first appearance in the Bergen County Tournament semifinals in school history. “But that doesn’t take away from what we have accomplished. My kids left their hearts out there today like they do everyday and I am proud of them for that. It’s just that today wasn’t Old Tappan’s day, bottom line.”

Corrine Finnamore had two hits and scored twice for Pascack Valley, which will play IHA in the county final.

Old Tappan can now move on to chasing other titles. It is still up by two games in the loss column on Ramapo with five league games left to play in Division 1 of the NBIL and the Golden Knights are the No. 3 seed in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional playoff bracket.

Pascack Valley is holding on by a thread, three games back with three to play, behind first place Indian Hills in Division 2 of the NBIL, but now matter what happens in the league race, the Indian know that they are one of just two teams left with a chance at a county championship and they are an obvious threat in North 1, Group 3 where they will host Passaic County champion Wayne Hills in the 8/9 game on Tuesday.

“We’re just playing ball and having fun,” said Finnamore, who reached base in three of her four plate appearances, including two hits and two runs scored. “We’ve been playing good ball and been doing well. It’s the love of the game that is keeping us moving.”

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