Sunday, May 15, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Freshman Sam Buse stepped up just in time for Paramus Catholic, which eliminated No. 3 Immaculate Conception, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Softball Tournament on Saturday.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – With the lineup Paramus Catholic possessed coming into the season, it appeared that the Lady Paladins would be among the frontrunners for a county title. But in softball, a balanced lineup can only take you so far without a quality pitcher and a good defense to back her up. After a roller-coaster ride of a season, including nearly being upset by Rutherford in the Round of 16, the Paladins were barely staying alive in the tournament let alone a threat to win it.

So when freshman Sam Buse got the start for the Paladins on Saturday in the Bergen County quarterfinals against a dangerous Immaculate Conception team that has been crushing the ball all year, her job was merely to keep her team in the game and hope they scratched out enough runs to pull out a win. What happened instead was Buse came of age right before our eyes and single-handedly turned her team back into a title contender.

After wiggling out of a second-inning jam, her teammates rewarded her in the top of the third with a five-run inning. She rewarded them right back by retiring the next 14 batters she faced as sixth-seeded Paramus Catholic advanced to the Bergen County semifinals with a 6-1 triumph over No. 3 seed Immaculate Conception on the turf at Immaculate Heart Academy.

“We have gotten through some of our games recently by the skin of our teeth, so it’s nice to play well in a big spot,” said Paramus Catholic’s All-Bergen catcher Erin Trippi, who will play next year at Fordham. “The game against Rutherford was a huge wake-up call for us. We know we needed to step up and raise our game in every phase, and we did that today.”

Fran D'Amato and Immaculate Conception had been on a 21-game winning streak.

Immaculate Conception has been hitting the ball well all year long and it looked early as if that might continue. Caitlyn Hult led off the bottom of the second inning with a single and another single from Melanie Quintanilla moved her over to third. Amanda Zielinski followed with a screaming line-drive, but even with the PC infield drawn in, it was right at second baseman Alyssa Neal. Buse followed with a strikeout to end the inning and work her way out of trouble.

The Paladins dodged a bullet, and then fired one of their own in the top of the third. Leading off the inning, No. 8 batter Brittany Mangan clouted a long home run that landed at least 50 feet beyond the fence in left field to put Paramus Catholic on the board. With one out, Trippi and Lauren Milligan poked back-to-back singles and Christina Gonzalez followed with a bunt single to load the bases. After Trippi raced home on a wild pitch, Neal (who is also a freshman) lined a single to center that plated two more runs for a 4-0 lead.

“Getting out of trouble and then getting so many runs to work with really calmed me down,” said Buse. “I pitch a lot better when I’m relaxed. I felt like I was hitting my spots and just tried to keep them off-balance. Our team hits the ball so well that it makes me comfortable to be on the mound knowing that we’re going to score some runs.”

If there was a time for the Blue Wolves to respond with a big inning of their own, it was in the bottom half of the third inning when the top of their lineup coming to bat. However, Buse was up to the task and needed just nine pitches to retire them 1-2-3 to set the tone for the remainder of the game.

Erin Trippi was 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI for Paramus Catholic, which will play No. 2 IHA in the semifinals.

Buse had her biggest game of her varsity career at the right time with tossing a four-hitter with one walk and three K’s for Paramus Catholic (16-4). Her battery mate Trippi had a solid day at the plate going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Alyssa Sinski singled with two outs in the seventh and scored on an outfield error to score the only run for Immaculate Conception (22-2). The loss snapped a school-record 21-game winning streak.

Paramus Catholic moves into to today’s semifinals where they will meet archrival IHA. The teams have split their two regular-season meetings with Buse picking up the win in their last meeting, a 3-2 win back on April 25th. This time around there will much more at stake than just pride and the Paladins do not mind coming in as the underdog.

“We don’t care who we play as long as we keep advancing, but of course we want IHA because we have such a good rivalry with them,” added Trippi. “I think this was a game where we played to our full potential and showed what we are capable of when we’re all playing in sync. We’re pretty excited to be in the semifinals and we feel we can beat anyone on any given day when we’re playing with confidence.”  

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