Wednesday, June 3, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Sophomore Kaitlyn LaCass was a perfect 3-for-3 with and RBI and a run scored for Saddle Brook, which knocked off High Tech, 6-5, in the Group 1 state semifinal on Tuesday in Ramsey.

RAMSEY -- After playing 11 innings in which it scored just two runs in a marathon win over Park Ridge in the North 1, Group 1 state sectional final, the Saddle Brook softball team looked like it was on easy street when it scored six runs through the first three four innings on Tuesday against North 2 champion High Tech in the Group 1 semifinals. Saddle Brook, judging by the fact that it had 29 win in its pocket already this season, knows how to put opponents away and it looked like it could just start counting the outs before claiming its spot in the Group 1 state championship game for the first time since 2002.

But High Tech, as a program, has ascended past the point of being a nice little team from Hudson County. The Lasercats expect to win games like this, they did last year on their way to the state final, and almost made it all the way back. Saddle Brook’s lead had shrunk to a single run in High Tech’s final at bat and Nicolette Martinez was standing on second base with the potential tying run.

“That is a very good team over there. They are not 26-1 for nothing, they were in Toms River and beat Pompton [Lakes] in this game last year and they battled,” said Saddle Brook head coach Darren White. “They have some good seniors and they had 2-3-4 in the lineup coming up [in the seventh inning] and we knew if wasn’t over.”

Freshman Natalie Classen had two doubles and three RBI for High Tech and drove in the two runs that got the Lasercats to within 6-5.

It wasn’t over until Jillian Lombardi moved into shallow right field to grab a flyball that finally gave Saddle Brook the final out it had long sought in 6-5 win, its 30th of the season. That set up an interesting weekend for the Falcons, who have their prom on Friday night then a trip down the shore, including the Group 1 state final against South Jersey champion Gloucester City. That game will be played at Toms River North High School in a 1:00 p.m. start on Saturday

“We have the prom on Friday, but I am definitely going to be more concerned about Saturday,” said Stephanie Gilronan, one of Saddle Brook’s five seniors. “It’s our senior prom and I am looking forward to it, but Saturday is so important. We are going to Toms River, it’s our last game and we have never been there before.”

And Gilronan was key in getting the Falcons off and running in a four-run second inning. With the bases loaded and one out Lombardi smacked a hard grounder off an infielder’s glove and before the ricochet could be recovered, Melissa Phelan and Brielle Ratajczak scored the game’s first two runs. Gilronan then cracked a two-out, two run double to right centerfield that put Saddle Brook up 4-0 just an inning-and-a-half into the game.

High Tech got on the board with an unearned run on an RBI by Angela Nieves in the top of the third, but Saddle Brook got its four-run lead back in the bottom of the inning when Kaitlyn LaCass stroked the second of her three singles in a 3-for-3 day at the plate. Her shot to left field scored Kim Prevedel to make it 5-1.

Saddle Brook senior Stephanie Gilronan (3) going in hard to second base in hustling out a second inning double.

“We knew we were going to see a lot of screwballs, all inside, and that is my one weakness. I hate screwballs,” said LaCass, Saddle Brook’s sophomore second baseman. “So I was just being really aggressive and trying to stay ahead of the ball and it worked out for me.”

But High Tech just kept chipping away. Freshman Natalie Classen, hitting out of the No. 9 hole in the order, whacked a two-out double to left centerfield with runners on first and second base. The shot would have scored two runs but it rolled under the mesh outfield fence and was ruled a ground rule double. Jen Martinez scored, but the other runner was sent back to third base and Prevedel got a ground ball to get out of the inning with a 5-2 lead.

Saddle Brook scored its final run in the bottom of the fourth and Gilronan helped build it. She walked with one out, stole second base and scored Tricia Kirwan’s single, but from there the Falcons were left just trying to hang on.

A single and an error gave High Tech two baserunners with no outs in the top of the sixth, before Prevedel got a pop up and a called third strike to come within one out of escaping any damage. But then Classen came up again and she a lined a ball into the outfield and hustled herself a double that scored both runs.

High Tech's Erica Colon struck out nine and had two hits, including a single to start the seventh inning.

“These girls battle. They have battled all year and you have to give our girls credit for coming back and playing the way they did, just showing a resiliency and never saying die,” said High Tech head coach Ravon Anderson. “And how about our freshman centerfielder [Classen]? Two doubles, three RBIs, and it makes you excited about players like that when they can show up and play like that in games like this.”

So a game like that was destined to go down to the wire and when Erica Colon singled leading off the top of the seventh, the nail-biting started for Saddle Brook, especially after Martinez’s double, which was misplayed in the outfield and landed her on second base with one out, 120 feet from tying the game.

But Prevedel picked up the 344th strikeout of her senior season for the second out and when Lombardi hauled in the final out in short rightfield, Saddle Brook met in a pile near the pitching circle to celebrate their first trip to the state final in seven years.

“This group is so close. A couple of these seniors babysat my son a few years ago, so I am so happy for their success,” said White, whose team improved to 30-2 on the season as the senior class picked up its 106th over the past four years. “There are not a lot of teams in New Jersey that have 30 wins and that was kind of a closet goal of my own. We won at least 20 games for 12 straight years and now to get 30 and get back down to Toms River, it’s great.”

Saddle Brook's Jillian Lombardi about to catch the final out of the Group 1 state semifinal.

Prevedel improved her own record to 28-2 on the year and her 11 strikeouts moved to less than 10 away from 1,000 in her career. Prevedel gave up seven hits and three walks, while only two of the five runs scored against her were earned. Colon struck out nine against eight hits and three walks and three of the six runs scored against her were unearned.

The Lasercats burst on the scene last season when they rode Colon, then a sophomore, all the way to the state final and proved they were no one-hit wonder when they won a second straight North 2, Group 1 sectional title this season. With just two seniors (Justine Mateo and Martinez) in the starting lineup as compared to three starting freshman and with Colon having another year left, High Tech doesn’t seem destined for obscurity any time soon.

“I am incredibly proud of how far this program has come. To be able to come out here and make it to this game for two years in a row and then play a Top 5 team like they are down to the final out, I can’t say enough about these girls,” said Anderson. “Maybe what this does is put our county and our program over the top to where everyone knows that we have arrived.”

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