April
6, 2006
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| Ridgefield Park's Amber Doran spun a one-hit shutout to boost the Scarlets to 3-0 on the season. | |
RIDGEFIELD PARK – Last year, the Ridgefield Park softball team felt it was one that was worthy of a state tournament bid. The Scarlets had the pitching, they had the speed on the basepaths, and they had a solid defense. But several one-run losses came down to their woes in the batter’s box. They often had to come from behind and most times fell short.
But under their new offensive-minded head coach Mook Iannacone, the Scarlets have now got the bats going and all the pieces to the puzzle appear to be in place for a great season.
Their toughest test to date came yesterday against Lodi and its senior hurler Melissa Johannemann. RP passed with flying colors by putting three runs on the board in the opening frame. That was all junior right-hander Amber Doran needed. She twirled a one-hit shutout to boost Ridgefield Park to 3-0 on the young season with a 6-0 triumph.
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| Lodi starter Melissa Johannemann scattered eight hits, struck out 12, and walked four. |
“To get out of the box quickly against a solid pitcher is a good sign for us,” said Iannacone, who is in his first year at the helm after coming over from BCSL-American Division rival River Dell. “We have some speed and we have some power as well. When the top of our lineup gets going, everyone else seems to follow. I’m a baseball guy and in baseball, you have to hit to win. In softball it’s a little different, but we still want to put pressure on our opponents with the way we hit the ball and we did that today.”
Without the benefit of a base hit, Ridgefield Park loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the first inning. Melissa Sinclair led off with a walk, Doran reached on an error and Jillian Kane also drew a walk.
They were juiced for cleanup batter Danielle McArow, who came through with a single, which scored Sinclair for the game’s first run. Alyssa Nelson followed with a seeing-eye single to center, plating both Doran and Kane to make it 3-0.
“The walks and the error really put us in a bad spot against the heart of their order,” said Lodi head coach Rob Terhune. “Against a good team, you can’t afford to get off to a slow start. Coming back from down a run is manageable. But when you’re down three runs after one inning, that’s a tall order for any team to come back from.”
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| Melissa Sinclair led off with a walk to get Ridgefield Park's first inning rally started. |
Doran settled into a rhythm in the circle quickly. She consistently got ahead in the count and kept the ball low. The Lady Rams were kept off-balance throughout and Doran was in complete control. So much so, that she did not allow a ball to reach the outfield through the first five innings.
“The confidence level of our team is so much better than it was last year,” said Doran. “No matter who the team we play against is, we always feel like we have a chance to win. I trust my defense and they made all the plays behind me. With the way we hit now, I just know I have to do my job, keep the ball down, and we’ll win.”
The Scarlets scored another run in the fourth on the hustle of Kane, who was a first-team All-Bergen County selection in basketball this winter. The senior led off the inning with an infield single, stole second, and moved to third on a single by McArow. She then raced home on a rare wild pitch from Johannemann to make it 4-0.
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| Lodi fell to 1-1 on the young season. |
They tacked on two more insurance runs in the sixth inning. Sinclair clubbed a two-out RBI triple. Doran followed her lead on the next pitch with a RBI double for the final margin.
Lodi had a pair of chances to get on the scoreboard with a runner on third base in both the sixth and the seventh innings.
Amy Silbowski broke up Doran’s no-hit bid with one out in the sixth. There were runners at the corners and Doran hopped out of the circle to make a nice play on a nubber by Lauren Herzog to end the threat. In the seventh, Lodi had runners on second and third when McArow’s diving stab at a pop-up ended the game and preserved the shutout.
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| Lodi shortstop Lauren Herzog making a throw across the diamond. |
Doran walked three and struck out 10 to pick up the win for Ridgefield Park (3-0). Kane went 2-3 with two stolen bases and two runs scored. Sinclair and McArow each collected two hits and an RBI.
Johannemann scattered eight hits, struck out 12, and walked four in taking the loss for Lodi (1-1).
“They are starting to feel sure of themselves and that is as important as anything else at this point,” added Iannacone. “Scoring early puts the pressure on your opponent and puts you in the driver’s seat. We are a good team right now, but we’re not among the upper echelon teams yet.”
“But I think teams will realize that we’re not going to throw our mitts on the field and lay down for anyone. Now we have the bats going and we have the confidence to know that we not only can compete, but we can win when we step on the field.”
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Ridgefield
Park's Jillian Kane scoring on awild pitch in the fourth inning.
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