Sunday,
May 15, 2016
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Jen Sweeney gave up just four hits and struck out 12 for Dumont, the No. 15 seed that stunned No. 2 Demarest, 3-2, in the Round of 16 of the Bergen County Tournament on Saturday. |
SADDLE BROOK – Falling two runs behind one of the best teams in the New Jersey is not an ideal situation for most teams. For Dumont though, it was just another chance to show why it has become one of the biggest surprises in Bergen County this season. After Jen Sweeney hit a walk-off homer to erase a two-run, seventh-inning deficit in a first-round Bergen County Tournament win over Hasbrouck Heights last weekend, the Huskies were at it again on Saturday.
This time though it was against one of the favorites to win the tournament, Northern Valley/Demarest, with the end result being one of the biggest upsets in the Bergen County Tournament’s illustrious history.
Dumont only had four hits in the game but they came at the right time. All of them came in the top of the fifth inning when the Huskies scratched across three runs and Sweeney made it stand up. The junior retired seven of the final eight batters she faced and stranded the tying run on second to end the game as 15th-seeded Dumont pulled off a shocking 3-2 triumph over No. 2 Demarest in a Bergen County Tournament Round of 16 game in Saddle Brook.
“This is a huge win for us against a great team and a great pitcher,” said Dumont first-year head coach Kendal George. “We were down two runs but we’ve been there before. After winning our league, everything else built off of that and we came into this game with nothing to lose.”
Demarest struck first with Victoria and Veronica Corcoran doing most of the damage. Victoria was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the third inning and stole second on the next pitch. Veronica brought her home with a single to center to get the Norsewomen on the scoreboard first. After an Ellen Hamlin single moved the runner over to third, Makenzie McGrath lifted a sacrifice fly to put Demarest ahead, 2-0.
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Demarest's Ellen Hamlin chasing down a ball in left field. |
Normally, that would be all the run support McGrath would need. Emerging as one of the top pitchers in the state, McGrath, a sophomore, has dominated the opposition all season long. Twenty-one times this season the Norsewomen have had at least a two-run lead and they never relinquished it in any of those 21 games. McGrath had not allowed a hit through four innings and only one batted ball reached the outfield over that span. However, Dumont never stopped battling and broke through in the decisive fifth inning.
Devon Davis got things going with a leadoff single to center. Then an error on a bunt and another single by Jasmine Vera quickly loaded the bases with no outs. Mackenzie Tamburro, Dumont’s No. 9 batter, punched a ball to the right side to bring in Davis cut the deficit to 2-1. Courtney DeLoughery then beat out an infield hit with Ariana Martoral coming home for the tying run and, on the play, the ball was bobbled at first base with Vera coming all the way around from second to score the go-ahead run for a 3-2 lead.
That put the game back on the shoulders of Sweeney and the hard-throwing right-hander was up to the task. She was what most coaches call ‘effectively wild’ through first five innings. But once the Huskies took the lead, Sweeney quickly went from effective to downright dominant. She retired the side 1-2-3 in the sixth and got the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Victoria Corcoran singled to keep the Norsewomen alive and stole second to get into scoring position. Sweeney bore down and got a strikeout that closed out one of the biggest wins in Dumont softball history.
“I knew once we got the lead that it was up to me to hold it,” said Sweeney. “Our team has so much confidence in one another that we never feel like we’re out of a game. A couple of my pitches earlier in the game got away from me, but I couldn’t let that affect me. We string hits together when we need them and we always find a way to get the job done.”
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Devon Davis leadoff single got Dumont's rally going in the top of the fifth inning. |
Sweeney hit four batters in the game but allowed just four hits, walked one and had 12 Ks for Dumont (18-3).
McGrath took the tough loss for Demarest (21-2). The sophomore also gave up four hits with eight strikeouts and she did not walk a batter.
Although the upset was a huge one for the Huskies they will have little time to revel in it. At Immaculate Heart Academy with the first pitch scheduled for noon, Dumont will face off against seventh-seeded Saddle Brook for an unlikely berth in the Bergen County semifinals.
“Our team never gives up and we never stop working hard,” said George. “We got the one big inning where we started swinging at pitches we like not chasing pitches we couldn’t hit. This team worked very hard in the off-season and wanted to make a statement against the big-name teams.”
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