Saturday, May 30, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

This is what Lauren LaCass' game-winning hit looked like as it left the bat in the bottom of the 11th inning of Saddle Brook's 2-1 win over Park Ridge in the North 1, Group 1 state sectional final.

SADDLE BROOK -- After 10 1/3 innings of trying to checkmate Park Ridge only to see the Owls find their way to an open spot on the board, Saddle Brook finally got its pieces in order in the bottom of the 11th inning of Thursday afternoon's North 1, Group 3 state sectional final. The International Tiebreaker Rule had already given Saddle Brook a free base runner, a sacrifice bunt moved her up a base and Lauren LaCass, who has struck out all of three times in 31 games this season, came up with a chance to get the Falcons a championship and extend her senior season for at least one more game.

Finally, Saddle Brook had backed Park Ridge, through no fault of its own, into a corner.

On the second pitch she saw in her fifth plate appearance of the game LaCass got around on an inside fastball drove it just short of the wall in deep left field. When the ball hit the ground Stephanie Gilronan trotted down the third base line with the winning run, a jumping Saddle Brook head coach Darren White following close behind, and the rest of the Falcons streamed out of the dugout to celebrate the 2-1 win and the North 1, Group 1 state sectional championship, the fifth for the program since 1998 and fourth in the last eight years.

Park Ridge pitcher Jaclyn Masterson did not allow an earned run and did not walk a batter 10 1/3 third innings.

“I had good at bats all game and I hit two other balls (flyouts to deep left field in the first and sixth innings) that were close to going out. I wasn’t trying to hit a home run, just make good contact and get the ball into the outfield,” said LaCass. “A base hit or a deep flyball was going to score the run and that was all we needed.”

Park Ridge, which beat Saddle Brook in the sectional semifinals last season, finished this one with a 24-5 record, but its hard to blame its final loss on anything other than Friday’s game had to end sometime.

“Like I just told the kids, even if we had won the ball game, it wasn’t like [Saddle Brook] would have lost. The effort and plays that were made, both pitchers working to the utmost of their ability out there and as a coach that’s all I can ask for out of my players,” said Park Ridge head coach Frank Baldino. “Sure it hurts, but now I wish [Saddle Brook] the best of luck. Today they came up with one more run and now I want them to succeed. We came up one run short against a team that is very good and we are very good, too.”

Both pitchers, Park Ridge’s Jaclyn Masterson and Saddle Brook’s Kim Prevedel, were masterful as they faced a combined 78 batters and gave up a total of 14 hits and one walk between them. Masterson did not walk a batter all game and did not allow an earned run while striking out seven.

Saddle Brook's Kim Prevedel struck out 9 to bring her season total to 333 and her career total to near 1,000.

The lone run that Saddle Brook was able to scratch out in regulation came in the bottom of the second inning when Melissa Phelan singled leading off and went to second on Prevedel’s sacrifice bunt. An error allowed Phelan to cross to third base and, after a pop out, Jillian Lombardi hit a grounder on the infield. One moment of hesitation, a glance toward home plate by the fielder, allowed Lombardi to beat the rap at first base as Phelan hustled home with the game’s first run.

Prevedel worked out of a fourth inning jam when she got back-to-back swinging strike threes with the bases loaded and she had allowed just four hits by the time Park Ridge came to the plate still trailing by a run in the top of the seventh.

But after two hitters, Saddle Brook was suddenly faced with not only trying to close out the game, but to stay in it. Kelsey Wimmerschoff led off with a ringing double into the gap in left centerfield and Samantha Sacco followed with a clean single and took second base free of charge.

The Owls had the go-ahead run at second base with no outs, but had to get even first, which they did on Kristen Minnetti’s ground out to second base. Wimmerschoff waited for Saddle Brook second baseman Kaitlyn LaCass to throw to first base for the out, then raced home and beat the throw from first baseman Stephanie Gilronan and the tag of Phelan to tie the game at 1-1 as Sacco moved up to third with one out. But Prevedel then got a key pop up for the second out and Phelan fielded Park Ridge’s attempt to bunt home the go-ahead run. Phelan chased Sacco back to third base before flipping to Brielle Ratajczyk as Saddle Brook escaped with the game still tied.

Kristen Mennitti drove in Park Ridge's lone run with an RBI ground out in the top of the seventh inning.

The first three extra innings were relatively uneventful and Park Ridge, after bunting the first placed runner to third in the top of the 10th, were turned away by a pop up and a ground out by Prevedel, who did not allow a hit or a walk in any of the four extra innings.

“After they tied the game up we just had to keep going. We’ve been through so many of these games and we just had the confidence that we were going to find a way to win,” said Prevedel, who improved her won/loss record to 27-2 on the season and now has a school record 86 wins in her four-year varsity career. “We were able to hold them and not let them score from second base in extra innings so every time we came up we just needed one run to win."

In what was a rarity for a softball game that gets into the tiebreaker situation, Saddle Brook strung together two hits in a row leading off the bottom of the 10th but came away without a run. With Prevedel at second base to start the inning, Ratajczyk bounced a clean single into left field. White sent Prevedel, but she got halfway down the third base line before realizing that Lorraine Lucanie’s throw from left field was right on the money. Prevedel tried to retreat to third, but she was chased down and tagged out by PR catcher Nolyn Birch.

Jillian Lombardi had an infield single that gave Saddle Brook a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Kaitlyn LaCass then hit a single, but rather than risk another play at the plate, Saddle Brook settled for runners at first and second with one out, but a nice over the shoulder catch by Owls shortstop Dana Carroll and then her 6-3 put out with the bases loaded and two outs bought Park Ridge one more shot at the plate.

But when Prevedel worked a 1-2-3 11th and Tricia Kirwan bunted Gilronan to third leading off the bottom of the 11th, it set the table for Lauren LaCass, who made good on the opportunity. Lauren LaCass is one of a core group of seniors that includes Gilronan, Ratajczyk and Prevedel that has wracked up 105 wins over the past four years. Prevedel had nine strikeouts on Friday to bring her season total to 333 with an outside shot to get to 1,000 for her career should Saddle Brook make it to Toms River for the Group 1 state final.

“I’ll tell you what; this feeling will never, ever get old. I feel as excited for this group as I did for that first [sectional championship] team back in ’98,” said White, whose team improved to 29-2 on the season, setting a new school record in the process. “I am so proud of these kids, especially these seniors.”

Saddle Brook will play the winner of the North 2, Group 1 sectional final between Hoboken and defending champion High Tech, a game that was pushed back from Friday to Saturday. The Group 1 state semifinal will take place on Tuesday in Ramsey and Saddle Brook needs one more win to make it back to Toms River for the first time since 2002 when it lost to Pennsville. The Falcons know how hard it is for teams from North Jersey to win it all in Group 1.

“Tuesday is a big game. It is that weird, sandwich game and the first time we played in it we were like we have to play another game after the section final?” said White, whose program has evolved by plenty since then but has yet to win an outright Group 1 state title. “This is my 15th season coaching and the North has not won Group 1 while I have been coaching, but we’d like to get down there anyway.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.