Monday, April 14, 2014

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Emily Klion's two-out, two-run single in the seventh tied the game and Fair Lawn went on to post a 7-4 win over New Milford in 9 innings on Sunday at the EDSAF Tournament at Emerson High School.

EMERSON – Fair Lawn head coach Sue Benjamin has preached to her players all season about handling adversity. Despite numerous losses of key players to graduation, the Cutters were off to a strong 4-1 start heading into a showdown on Sunday with undefeated New Milford. Benjamin knew this would be a good barometer of where her team stands at this point in the season and, down by two runs and their last strike, Benjamin got a pretty good idea of the make up of her team.

Emily Klion's two-out, two-run single tied the game in the top of the seventh inning and Danielle Sibilio laced the game-winning single in the ninth as Fair Lawn came back to hand New Milford its first loss of the season, 7-4, in the EDSAF Tournament at Emerson High School.

“We knew this would be a big test for us and I love the way our kids responded to the challenge,” said Benjamin. “We made a few defensive miscues that New Milford was able to take advantage of, but we've been there before when we came back to beat West Milford in extra innings, so we knew we were capable of winning this game and these kids never stopped battling.”

New Milford jumped on top early when Alexandra Sauer drove home Carly Lesko with an RBI single in the first inning. Two innings later, right-hander Jamie Ashman helped her own cause by also driving home Lesko with a two-out single to put the Knights ahead 2-0. Fair Lawn responded in the top half of the fourth inning with Sibilio's RBI double getting the Cutters on the board and Nicole Hegybeli's sacrifice fly tying the game at 2.

Alexandra Sauer put New Milford in front with an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning.

The game was hotly contested throughout and it appeared that one play would be the difference. New Milford caught a pair of breaks on the same play to pull in front in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two runners on and two outs, Alexis Monroy poked a ball into no man's land behind the pitcher that dropped in between the shortstop and the second baseman. That scored a run and another run came across on the subsequent throwing error with the Knights grabbing a 4-2 lead. The Cutters knew they were running out of outs to comeback, but had to stay confident.

“We wanted this game so bad. We couldn't let a bad break keep us from pushing forward,” said Sibilio. “Not everything is going to go your way in a big game and you have to fight through that. Maybe we needed that adversity to pump us up again. We were down to West Milford and won that one, so we knew we could do it against a good team.”

Down by the same score in the top of the seventh, the Cutters grinded out at-bats to get themselves at least in a position to set up Klion's heroics. Freshman shortstop Danielle Burke singled and Sam Dypko drew a two-out walk. Then both runners moved up on a passed ball to get into scoring position before Klion drove a ball past the diving Sauer at second base to plate both runners and knot the score at 4-4.

Brittany Meerholz came on relief of Klion in the fourth inning and was able to keep the powerful Knights' lineup in check before the Cutters could finally take the lead. They strung together four consecutive hits with Sibilio bringing home the go-ahead run on a single and Hegybeli providing insurance with a two-run double to make it 7-4.

“(Ashman) threw me a pretty good change-up and I didn't get a great swing on it, but I got enough of the bat on it to get the job done and I'm happy with it,” added Sibilio. “The key was that we never got nervous and we never doubted ourselves when we were down. It feels great to get another big win over a good team. We'll celebrate it today, but we have to turn the page tomorrow and focus on the next game.”

Danielle Sibilio had the game-winning hit for Fair Lawn, which improved to 5-1 on the season.

After a rough start, Meerholz settled down for Fair Lawn (5-1). She did not allow a hit over the final four innings and worked her way out of a jam in the eighth before tossing a 1-2-3 effort to close out the game and pick up her second win of the season. Sibilio paced the offense with three hits while Klion, Hegybeli, Meerholz, and Jenna Berry each had two hits.

Ashman took the loss for New Milford (5-1), with three walks and three strikeouts. The Knights, who have one of the most potent offenses in North Jersey, were held to just four hits by Klion and Meerholz.

With early-season wins now over West Milford and New Milford in thrilling fashion, the Cutters are seeing their hard work in the off-season and in the pre-season paying early dividends. Benjamin feels that bodes well for the remainder of the season.

“I'm so proud of how we played our best under adverse conditions,” said Benjamin. “When they went ahead (4-2) in the fifth on that blooper, we could have thought 'This just isn't our day'. This is a game we can look back and show what happens when you keep fighting until the last out and you don't give up. We got contributions from everyone and we can use this experience as a positive one for the rest of the season.”

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