Tuesday, May 21, 2013

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Connor Walsh, hit a home run on this swing in the fifth inning and also threw a complete game two-hitter in Waldwick's 3-1 win over Palisades Park in the opening round of the North 1, Group 1 state sectional tournament on Monday.

WALDWICK – With the two starting pitcher's battling it out and basically canceling each other out, Monday's North 1, Group 1 state sectional tournament opener between Waldwick and Palisades Park would be decided on a razor thin margin. A play not made here or there or, more specifically, one in the bottom of the first and one in the bottom of the fourth, made the difference.

Kyle Carty's infield hit to open the bottom of the first inning put him on before he tried to steal second. The throw down from Pal Park catcher Jonathan Soler was in plenty of time, but in the scrum of making the tag Carty knocked the ball loose and was safe. Three batters later and with two outs, James Moran drove in the game's first run with a clean single through the middle. In the fourth, a misplayed pop-fly in foul territory that came between two strikeouts kept Joe Simeone's at bat alive long enough for him to hit a sacrifice fly.

Those two unearned runs, and the work on the mound of junior Connor Walsh, made up the winning margin in Waldwick's 3-1 win that put the seventh seeded Warriors into the quarterfinals where they will play at No. 2 Pompton Lakes, the defending section champion that went all the way to the Group 1 state final last season.

“It comes down just having one guy, and it could be anybody in the state playoffs, stepping up and getting a play or two to go your way during the course of the game. There is not a big difference between teams in this bracket,” said Waldwick head coach Frank Clark, who led the Warriors all the way to the Group 1 state final in 2011. “I told the guys that there were going to be some funky scores around the state today. It happens that way in the state tournament and you can ride a hot pitcher like we did with Connor Walsh today.”

Pal Park senior Nick Terranova threw a complete game six-hitter and also hit a home run.

Carty was moved up to the lead off spot, where he does not ordinarily hit, and came through big time. A left-handed hitter, Carty has an interested swing that is designed to put the ball in play and on the ground somewhere so he can use his speed. He had two infield singles in his first two at bat and a bunt single in the third, finishing 3-for-3 with that key run scored in the first inning. Waldwick as a team had just five hits off of Palisades Park starter Nick Terranova.

“Usually I just try to put the ball on the ground and get on base and if the infield is playing back I will lay one down and then steal if I get the sign,” said Carty, a junior left fielder who came into the game with a video game-lie .560 batting average. “My goal is just to get the ball past the pitcher and get down the line as fast as I can.”

Carty was the only batter for either team to have a multiple hit game as Walsh and Terranova were each on top of their games. Both kept hitters from squaring up with Walsh using his fastball to get ahead in the count before mixing in his off-seed stuff and Terranova pitching backwards, using his curveball early and then getting out with late swings on fastballs. Each also contributed at the plate with solo home runs.

“Terranova was awesome today. He hit a home run, needed just 80 pitches to get through six innings and he did the job. He gave us a chance to win,” said Pat Bott, who just completed his first season as Palisades Park's head coach. “I know, like the rest of us, that he would have liked the win, but a game like that where he located the ball well and performed like that is the way a senior wants to go out.”

Waldwick lead off hitter Kyle Carty was a 3-for-3 and also scored a run.

With one out in the top of the fourth, Terranova hit a 'Waldwick Special,' a home run into the tress behind the short porch in right field that tied the game at 1. But he walked Mike Salmonese, the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the inning, help Waldwick build the go-ahead run. Stephen Corra followed with a single and his pinch runner, Ryan Moore, was the trailer in a double steal behind Salmonese to put runners on second and third with no outs.

But Terranova got a called strike three for the first out and then induced the pop-up that stayed in play only to fall uncaught in foul territory. On the next pitch, Simeone lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-1. Walsh added the insurance by crushing a home run to right-center with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.

Walsh went the distance on a two-hitter with eight strikeouts. He lost the strike zone temporarily when he issued back-to-back walks to Jake O'Dowd and Brandon Martinez, the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters in the Pal Park lineup, with one out in the third, but got two straight ground balls to escape trouble and walked just one more the rest of the way. Besides Terranova's home run, the only other hit Walsh allowed was a two-out single to Timmy Asani in the top of the fifth.

“My team was really counting on me and I have not been pitching well lately. My location has been off, I have been leaving the ball up a little bit and then I was kind of choking the ball and throwing it in the dirt trying to get it down. I was a little frustrating,” said Walsh, who, as a freshman, was a key piece to the section title winning team and also helped lead Waldwick to a section title in hoops this past winter. “Today I had a good bullpen session and we worked some kinks out. I was more fluid and threw a little easier and I think that helped my velocity, too.”

Timmy Asanti had one of Palisades Park's two hits.

Terranova finished with a six-hitter in which he struck out five, walked four and gave up just the one earned run for Palisades Park, the No. 10 seed that finished the season, the first under Bott, at 10-15-1. The Tigers will lose six of their 10 starters in Monday's game to graduation, but have the foundation in place to be a perennial playoff team.

“One thing that we are learning as a small school and as a program that is always in that 9-10 seed in the state playoffs is really what it takes to get to that next level. It means doing all of the little things right because it was those little things that were the difference today,” said Bott, a 2001 Rutherford graduate who was an assistant for seven seasons before getting the head job.”Coach [Joe] Cirillo left me with a lot of tricks on how to manage our type of kid, some of whom might work two jobs and can make it to practice on the weekends here and there. I liked working with this team. We had great senior leadership and I did not have to dos any motivation. My job was just game management and it was a pleasure.”

Waldwick (16-7) will have the pleasure of visiting Pompton Lakes on Friday in what will be a matchup of the last two section champions.

“There are a lot of good teams on the top lines in this bracket and Pompton Lakes is certainly one of those,” said Clark. “But you just have to continue to work hard and on any given day, especially if you get a kid to throw the ball like Connor did today, you have a shot.”

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