Monday,
April 19, 2010
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Sophomore
Nicole Hroncich scattered eight hits to finish off her third
shutout of the season as Ridgewood downed Saddle Brook,
9-0, at the EDSAF Tournament. |
EMERSON
– Coming into this season the Ridgewood softball team was
expected to take a step back, especially offensively, after the
loss of several key seniors in the middle of its lineup. That
was not the case, however, as the Maroons ripped off six straight
wins to start the season, including one over previously undefeated
West Milford. But after being shutout by Clifton, Ridgewood head
coach Patti Auger was curious to see how her team would respond
from its first loss of the season.
She
found the exact answer she was looking for on Sunday against Saddle
Brook with yet another offensive outburst.
Lauren Tom finished
a home run shy of the cycle and had a career-high 4 RBIs as Ridgewood
cruised to a 9-0 over Saddle Brook at the EDSAF Tournament at
Emerson High School.
“After losing
to Clifton, we wanted to come out here and play really well today,”
said Tom. “I just want to get a hit every time up. I saw
the ball really well today and I hit the ball hard. I think a
lot of people doubted us coming into this year, but we feel we
have the potential to do big things and that makes us work hard
every day.”
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| Angela
Delgado taking a cut for Saddle Brook, which fell to 6-4 on
the season. |
Without
the ball only going out of the infield once in the third inning,
the Maroons took advantage of a pair of errors for a 2-0 lead.
Tom followed in the next inning with a two-run triple to double
Ridgewood’s lead to 4-0.
“We
just made too many mistakes, a team like Ridgewood will make you
pay every time for them,” said Saddle Brook head coach Darren
White. “Ridgewood hits the ball hard and puts it in play.
You have to make the routine plays and not give them any extra
outs. This loss is definitely a shot to our pride, but we will
bounce back. We’re still in first place in our league and
our goals we set before the season are still very attainable.”
Saddle Brook was able
to get runners on base in every inning but one. But Ridgewood
sophomore Nicole Hroncich was able to wiggle her way out of trouble
every time by mixing up her speeds and keeping the Falcons off-balance.
Tom
finished off her career day with a two-run double in the seventh
to knock in the final two runs for Ridgewood (7-1). Hroncich scattered
eight hits to record her third shutout of the season. Saddle Brook
fell to 6-4 on the season. Oddly enough, the Falcons are 6-0 in
games played during the week and 0-4 on weekends.
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| Ridgewood
will carry a 7-1 record into Monday's game against Wayne Hills. |
Ridgewood
gets another test today when it faces another one of the big surprises
in North Jersey this season, Wayne Hills (8-2). With nothing to
lose, Auger likes the position her team is in.
“We are playing
really well so far this season and we are in a good spot,”
said Auger. “We definitely lost a lot of senior leadership
and a lot of quality players last season, but players who were
role players last year have stepped into leadership roles seamlessly.
All we can worry about is what we can control and continue to
have a great work ethic. We have the same approach this year that
we have always had of focusing on only on the game at hand. This
was a real good win for us, but now we have to shift our focus
to Wayne Hills. We are enjoying the run we’re having and
we’ll try to keep it going (today).”
FOR
MORE
PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
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