Monday, May 13, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Joe Schwatrz had two hits and made the diving catch that turned the game in River Dell's favor for good in an 8-1 win over Park Ridge in the Round of 16 in the Bergen County Baseball Tournament.

EMERSON – When the ball went in the air and it path became clear River Dell leftfielder Joe Schwartz was either going to be a hero or one of those outfielders that has to take that embarrassing run in the opposite direction to chase a ball that he never should have dove for in the first place. The bases were loaded with one out in the bottom of the third inning of Sunday's Bergen County Tournament Round of 16 game and River Dell's four-run lead, or most of it at least, could have been wiped out had Schwartz come up empty.

“It stayed up longer than I thought it was going to and once I got a good jump on it I knew I was going to have a chance,” said Schwartz, who broke straight in as the sinking liner left the bat of Park Ridge's Ryan Fallon. “I kind of slid in and made the catch. I have had a couple of those this year, but this was a big one.”

The Park Ridge baserunners did not think Schwartz was going to get to the ball and all three of them took off from their bases. When Schwartz made the catch and got to his feet, he chose second base to try to complete the double play. He threw into Brett Lubben, who came off the bag to field the throw and then reached for John Hodgins, who thought he avoided the tag and got back safely.

Jason Smith drove in Park Ridge's run with a ground out in the sixth inning.

The 'did-he-tag-him?' aspect of the play differed depending on who was asked.

“I got him,” said Lubben. “The end of my glove hit him on the pants.”

“My kid [Hodgins] said he missed him,” said Park Ridge head coach Pete Crandall. “And missed him by quite a bit.”

With the biased vote split down the middle, it was up to the umpire and he ruled that Lubben made the tag and the double play ended the inning. Instead of creeping within one run with one swing of the bat, Park Ridge was turned away and River Dell dominated the rest of the game in an 8-1 win that lands the 10th-seeded Golden Hawks in the quarterfinals against second-seeded Bergen Catholic, a 3-1 winner over Paramus, in a battle of Oradell.

River Dell head coach Brandon Flanagan showed plenty of confidence in starting pitcher Mark Wittkamp as he used ace Ryan Duran in the opening round win over Fair Lawn on Friday and lined up the left-hander for the game against Park Ridge, the No. 7 seed that had lost just one game all season. Wittkamp repaid that trust with a complete game four-hitter in which he walked three and struck out four and pitched effectively with a lead from the first inning on.

Mark Wittkamp threw a complete game 4-hitter for River Dell, which will play Bergen Catholic in the quarterfinals.

“I was pretty surprised that it when coach told me that I was going to start, but I was up for it. I love a challenge and we played a pretty good team today,” said Wittkamp, who had the advantage of being a southpaw going up against a lineup with four left-handed hitters in it. “I just threw the pitches that were called and against the lefties I used my curveball because it breaks in towards them and freezes them a little bit.”

Park Ridge (19-2) is having an off the charts season, but while River Dell got to get comfortable with county tournament intensity on the opening round, the Owls came in cold with a bunch of rain outs and a first round bye in the last couple of days. Two first inning errors after a two-out base hit by Mike Watson gifted River Dell a 1-0 lead. A wild pitch, a pass ball and an error on a ground ball hit by Duran with two outs and two on made two of the three runs that River Dell scored in the top of the third inning unearned as the Hawks took a 4-0 lead heading into the whacky bottom of the inning.

Anthony Altomare reached on an error leading off and Hodgins followed with a single. Eric Luther was then batting when Wittkamp threw one up and in. Luther was able to get his head and body out of the way, but his bat stayed stationary and the ball hit it, ricocheting over Luther's shoulder and into fair territory like a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt. Troy Taber then walked to load the bases with one out for Fallon, who hit the line drive that Schwartz turned into the double play that sealed the game.

Park Ridge fell to 17-2 on the season.

Duran (1-for-4, RBI, R) and Lubben (2-for-4, RBI) had RBI singles in the fifth inning to make it 6-0 and Park Ridge made two errors in the top of the sixth as River Dell expanded its advantage to 8-0. Park Ridge avoided the shutout when Jason Smith drove in Taber with a ground out in the bottom of the sixth.

Watson (3-for-5, 2 R), Tim Barnes (2-for-5, R) and Lubben all had multiple hit games for River Dell and Wittkamp improved to 4-1 on the season while the Hawks are now 17-4 with a busy week of games separating it from Bergen Catholic, with whom it shares a zip code, in an all Oradell quarterfinals next weekend.

“Battle of Oradell and it will be fun and it is going to be interesting for me because Bergen [Catholic] might be one of the only teams in Bergen County that I have never played as a head coach. I don't think we have ever even scrimmaged them,” said Flanagan. “I think both sides would be pumped up for that one.”

Despite the loss, Park Ridge also has something going in what could turn out to be a special season. The Owls already have a league title locked up and can now focus fully on the North 1, Group 1 state sectional tournament in which it will be a favorite.

“Hopefully we learn from this loss and carry it with us. We have already won the league, which is a great accomplishment and we will get right back at it on Tuesday,” said Crandall. “There are still a lot of big games to play and we'll get back to work.”

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