Tuesday, April 20, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Kaitlyn McGillicuddy hit a two-run double with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to give IHA a 3-2 win over Paramus on Monday afternoon.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP -- While last season's wild postseason run to the Bergen County championship, the Non-Public A state championship and the overall No.1 ranking in New Jersey gave the IHA softball team plenty of trophies to carry around and lots to celebrate, it all left a lasting impression on the Blue Eagles who returned this season. IHA erased a two-run deficit in extra innings of the county final to win it, then was down to its last out before coming back to win the state final in 11 innings and what the Eagles learned then was that no game is over until the opposing team is on the bus and the umpires have gone home for the day.

It was a lesson that came in handy on Monday afternoon when IHA entered the bottom of the seventh inning with just one hit to its credit and trailing Paramus by a run on Monday afternoon in Washington Township.

“Playing in those games that we did last year and finding a way to win them makes you more prepared for those situations,” said IHA’s Christina Miguel. “Coming into the bottom of the seventh I said ‘We are made of comebacks’ and we really are. Knowing that you can do it because you have done it before makes it that much easier.”

Paramus' Tori Feorenzo carried a one-hitter into the bottom of the seventh inning.

It didn’t look like it was going to be easy as IHA had the bottom of its order due to bat in the bottom of the seventh and its 6-9 hitters had gone 0-for-7 with a walk in front of Paramus hurler Tori Feorenzo through the first six innings. But then Nikki Osafsky led off the bottom of the seventh with a base hit up the middle and the Blue Eagles rolled from there.

IHA put together four hits in its final turn at bat, the last of which was a well-struck, bases loaded double down the left field line by Kaitlyn McGillycuddy that scored Osafsky and Allie Vergona with the winning runs in the Blue Eagles 3-2 victory.

The winning rally was set up by back-to-back on-out singles by IHA’s Erica Correa and Lauren Currens batting out of the No. 8 and 9 spots in the order and neither of them could have been truly expected. Correa, a sophomore, came on as a pinch hitter taking just her third varsity at bat. He quickly fell behind 0-2, but then laced a single up the middle on the next pitch to put runners on first and second and leave IHA head coach Anthony LaRezza with a decision to make.

“I was second-guessing myself on Correa’s at-bat. Should we bunt, should we not bunt? But we had only one hit going into that inning and I didn’t waste an out and she did a great job and got a base hit on an 0-2 pitch,” said LaRezza. “When we got to Lauren Currens in the 9-spot I was definitely going to bunt to give McGillycuddy a chance to win the game, but when I told her she said ‘No, I am going to hit the ball.”

IHA starter Christina Miguel did not allow an earned run.

Currens followed through on her promise and roped single up the middle to load the bases for McGillycuddy, who fouled off the first pitch she saw then lined the second down the left field line to score the game winning runs without a throw.

“I just wanted to go up there, relax and hit the ball hard somewhere. If it wasn’t for Erica [Correa], Nikki [Osafsky] and Lauren [Currens] getting on then I wouldn’t have had that chance so I just wanted to go up there and do my job,” said McGillycuddy, IHA’s leadoff hitter and rightfielder. “I got a little antsy on the first pitch and I pulled it foul, but the second pitch was right there and I drove it.”

The final lead was the only one that IHA had in the game as Feorenzo was dealing through the first six innings and was pitching with a lead after the top of the third inning. Paramus took the lead when Lauren Holden reached on an error leading off the third inning and it sparked a two-run rally.

Jenny Zymet slapped a single before Kristina Meier drew a walk to load the bases for Victoria Vergona, the Paramus clean-up hitter and the sister of IHA catcher Allie Vergona. Victoria Vergona worked the count full and then delivered a single that scored Holden and Zymet for the 2-0 Paramus lead. Taylor Buffalo followed with a line single to centerfield, but she might have hit it too hard as it got to IHA centerfielder Taylor Cosentino on one-hop and she threw a strike to home plate where Allie Vergona put the tag on Meier for the third out of the inning.

Victoria Vergona drove in both of Paramus' runs with a two-out, two-run single in the third.

Paramus was in front, but head coach Brian Hay knows it could have been by more.

“The thing is we let them off the ropes. I thought we had them in trouble early in the game, we were doing a good job of working the count and hitting the pitches that we wanted to hit and we just didn’t turn it into enough runs,” said Hay. “It’s kind of been our story all year long. We get two runs and we kind of settle and it came back to hurt us in the last inning.”

IHA cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth as McGillycuddy led off with a walk and Alexis Durando followed with the Eagles’ first hit of the game, an infield single. After a strikeout, Carly Piccinich drew a walk to load the bases and Cosentino scored the run with a sacrifice fly to centerfield.

And Miguel did her job by keeping Paramus off the board over the final four innings. She finished with a five-hitter and struck out five while walking three. Neither of the runs scored against Miguel were earned as IHA upped its record to 10-2 on the season. With its two losses coming to Sparta and Livingston, IHA has not lost to a Bergen County opponent since May 17, 2008 when it fell to Ramapo in nine innings in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

Taylor Cosentino drove in IHA's first run with a sac fly on this swing in the bottom of the fourth.

Maybe the biggest challenge facing IHA is keeping its focus as it gears up for another postseason run. After the wild postseason run last season, it is a matter of plugging away until it can get back to the adrenalin rush that comes with playoff softball.

“That was a magical run we had last season. We had four or five comebacks in the last six games we played and all of them were crazy. But that just doesn’t happen, you have to put in the work to get in position to do that again,” said LaRezza. “This game felt like one of those games from last year and winning like that never gets old.”

Paramus fell to 8-3 on the season with all of its losses coming against quality competition. The Spartans’ other losses have come against Pascack Valley and West Milford, but simply having a chance to win against good teams is not exactly the goal for a program of Paramus’ pedigree.

“I told the kids last week that you don’t really gain anything from losing. It’s about winning and winning championships,” said Hay. “IHA is battle tested and they have done it before. We are not there yet and we are going to keep working hard until we are.”

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