Friday,
April 23, 2010
By Rich Barton
Staff Writer
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Trailing
by three runs heading into the bottom of the sixth inning,
North Bergen hit itself back into the game and then past
Rutherford in a 6-4 on Thursday.
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NORTH
BERGEN – When North Bergen’s Jazmin Palma broke her
hand near the end of basketball season, it appeared that her softball
season might be over as well before it even started. The junior
shortstop was quickly faced with two options. Either pack it in
and wait until her senior year or tape it up and try to keep playing.
With almost the entire team back this season for North Bergen,
Palma wanted to be part of the success. But after an interference
call on her that led to Rutherford’s one big inning, all
she wanted was a shot at redemption.
Although
she struggled at the plate so far this season, she picked the
perfect time to break out on Thursday and make up for her earlier
miscue.
Trailing
by a run against Rutherford in the bottom of the sixth, Palma
stroked a two-out, two-strike, two-run double in the midst of
a five-run inning that gave North Bergen its seventh win in a
row, 6-4, over the Bulldogs at 64th St. Field in North Bergen.
“We
never gave up and we never got down on ourselves, that was the
key to our comeback,” said North Bergen’s starting
pitcher Carla Arismendi. “I think last year and maybe at
the beginning of this season, we might have put our heads down.
Right now though our confidence is skyrocketing and we are going
to play hard right until the last out.”
The
Bruins grabbed an early lead in the bottom of the first when Ashley
Heredia walked and came around to score on an RBI single by Shenade
Rey for a 1-0 lead.
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| Rutherford
centerfielder Jianna Muscio making an over-the-shoulder catch
that saved two runs in the fifth inning. |
Until
the fifth inning, it was a pitcher’s duel between Arismendi
and Rutherford freshman Julie Sosnicki. Arismendi allowed two
hits over that span and Sosnicki allowed just four. But then one
interference call and then a wild play in the top of the fifth
inning turned the game completely in favor of the Bulldogs.
Ally
Paskas, the No. 9 batter in the Rutherford order, singled back
through the box to get things started. Paige Goldsack followed
with a single to right-center. Heredia fielded the ball and appeared
to cut down Paskas trying to go to third base. But Palma ran into
Paskas on her way to third and she was awarded the base. Jenna
Goldsack then worked out a walk to load the bases for Christine
VonCappeln.
VonCappeln
singled up the middle to bring home a run and the ball skipped
past the centerfielder and that is when things unraveled quickly
for the Bruins. A pair of throwing errors allowed everyone, including
Von Cappeln, to score and give Rutherford a 4-1 lead.
“We
kept battling against a very good pitcher and it was nice to see
us break through and take advantage of the one mistake they made,”
said Rutherford head coach Helen Antzoulides. “With the
way Julie (Sosnicki) was throwing the ball, I felt good about
our chances at that point. But a breakdown or two gave them some
life and you can’t do that against a team that is pretty
darn good.”
North
Bergen tried to get the runs back with two on in the bottom half
of the inning, but was thwarted by Rutherford centerfielder Jianna
Muscio. She tracked down a long fly ball off the bat of Arismendi
that would have certainly scored both runs and made an over-the-shoulder
catch to end the inning.
The
Bruins continued to plug away and got the big inning they were
looking for in the sixth. A fielder’s choice that should
have been an out fueled the fire as North Bergen took advantage
of Rutherford’s mistake, just as the Bulldogs did an inning
earlier.
Tiffany
Garzon laced a single up the middle to plate two runs and cut
the lead to one. After a walk to Heredia, Palma stepped to the
plate trying to make amends for the interference call. She did
more than that by roping a long double inside the left-field line
to plate Garzon and Heredia to put the Bruins ahead, 5-4. Arismendi
lofted a high fly ball that got caught up in the wind and dropped
to the ground, allowing Palma to score to cap the comeback for
a 6-4 lead.
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| North
Bergen has now won seven straight games. |
“I
just didn’t want to strikeout and get this hit one way or
another,” said Palma. “Once we got down, we had to
pick each other up. It’s been hard to play while coming
back from a broken hand. But I’ve been letting it heal the
best I can and it requires a lot of patience. I try to show that
patience at the plate too. I haven’t hit the ball as well
as I hoped to this year, but hopefully this hit get things started
for me. I’m just glad I could help out the team after I
put us in a bad position with the (interference) call against
me.”
Paige
Goldsack singled to lead off the top of the seventh and her sister
Jenna followed with a hard shot to right field. But she never
made it to first as North Bergen’s Ashley Vazzona cleanly
fielded the ball and rifled it to first to get her by half a step
and essentially end the threat.
“That
is the third play Ashley has made like that this year in a close
game,” said North Bergen head coach Tom Eagleson. “It
was a roller coaster of a game, but we keep finding new, interesting
ways to win games. We showed a lot of character in this win.”
As
exhilarating of a win as it was for North Bergen, it was equally
as frustrating of a loss for Rutherford, which was just coming
off a convincing 6-1 win over Fort Lee.
“We
had them on the ropes and couldn’t deliver the knockout
punch,” added Antzoulides. “But if you don’t
execute the little things, you don’t win. It’s very
frustrating to have a pretty good team on the hook and let them
off. We can either learn from this experience and move on, or
we can let it fester and it can jeopardize everything we’ve
worked so hard for this season. I think this will be a good learning
tool that hopefully helps us in the long run.”
North
Bergen (9-4) will look to keep their winning streak going today
when it get another test against perennial Group 1 power Cedar
Grove. Rutherford (6-4) meanwhile will lick its wounds and look
to bounce back today against Queen of Peace. A win over the Golden
Griffins will secure a berth in Bergen County Tournament.
For
Palma, the game-winning double is a possible sign that she is
just about all the way back from her injury and the Bruins are
firing on all cylinders.
“We
have really high goals for this year and we feel confidence that
we can achieve them,” said Palma. “Again, I’m
just glad I could pick us up after I made a mistake that led to
Rutherford’s four runs. I’d say we wanted to win this
game really bad because we did, but we want to win every game
really bad. We are coming together as a team and we’re starting
to play really well. It’s all about having fun and enjoying
this win today. But tonight we have to turn the page and focus
on Cedar Grove tomorrow.”
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