Friday,
April 4, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Ridgefield Park catcher Jordan Johnson turning a key 1-2-3 double play in the third inning, one of three double plays the Scarlets turned in an 8-1 win over Pascack Hills on Thursday in Montvale. |
MONTVALE – If the Ridgefield Park baseball team is going to get to the Bergen County Tournament in May, it is early April games like the one it played on Thursday on the road against Pascack Hills that helped pave the way. It was one of those that could have gone either way as Ridgefield Park held a scant two-run lead heading into the six inning as each team having combined for just six total hits.
“This was a big one. Even though we did not face their ace, this [Pascack Hills] team is very good, they went to a section final last year, and this is where the season really started for us,” said Scott Papetti, who is in his first season as Ridgefield Park's head coach. “[Former head coach] Pete [Kraljik] started the momentum with this program two years ago when we upset St. Joe's in the counties and we won a first round game last year, but to get there you have to win games like this to put yourself in position.”
Having only been able to plate single runs in the third and fifth innings against Pascack Hills starter Tommy Readie, Ridgefield Park was finally able to break the game open by sending eight hitters to the plate and scoring five times in the sixth to post an 8-1 victory, its second straight to start the season.
A couple of breaks opened the door as Charles Heslin led off with a hard groundball that ticked off a defender's glove. The home book scored it an error, the away side called it a hit, but regardless Heslin reached leading off and then stole second. Liam Connors, the senior starting pitcher, helped his own cause by getting down a sacrifice bunt that turned out even better than planned. Heslin beat the play at third and Connors reached safely before stealing second base himself to put two runners in scoring position with no outs.
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Brett Weinstein had a hit and scored Pascack Hills' lone run. |
A Tommy Ochoa sacrifice fly out of the No. 9 spot in the order, a Tommy Visaggio single, an Andrew Rizo walk and back-to-back RBIs by Jordan Jackson and Steve Orozco completed the five-run inning and made the final score look a lot more lopsided then the game really was.
Both Readie (4 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3H, 2K, 5 BB) and Connors (6 IP, 1R, 0 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 3 BB) pitched through sticky situations early and Connors side-stepped trouble in each of the first three innings. Tyler Messinger led off the bottom of the first inning with a bloop single and then stole second, but when he tried to cross over in front of a groundball to short, Ridgefield Park turned it into a 6-5-4-5 double play. Another infield single with two outs was canceled out by a caught stealing to end the inning. The Scarlets turned a 6-4-3 to end the bottom of the second and got their third double play in as many innings in a key spot in the third.
Anthony Marchetti led off the frame with a solid single center before Ben Smith was hit by a pitch and Messinger drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. About the only thing that could hurt the Cowboys was a hard groundball back to the pitcher and that is exactly what came next. Connors grabbed the comebacker and started a 1-2-3 double play and then got a pop up in foul territory to escape unscathed. Pascack Hills had four hits and seven baserunners through the first three innings and found themselves on the short side of a 1-0 score.
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Ridgefield Park senior Liam Connors did not allow an earned run in his six innings of work. |
“We had bases loaded with nobody out with our No. 2 hitter up [in the third inning] and we didn't score. That type of stuff, the baserunning errors in the first inning, is inexcusable,” said Pascack Hills head coach Kevin Kirkby, whose team lost to Mahwah on opening day. “We haven't had a chance to get out on the field much, but that is not an excuse because the two teams we have played have not made those type of mistakes and it's frustrating.”
Connors added to Pascack Hills' frustration as he mixed in a variety of pitches, all of them with some type of wiggle. He gave up just six hits over six innings and walked three while striking out four over 112 pitches. His last escape act came in the bottom of the sixth. The first three Cowboy hitters all reached base and Jake Kostma had driven in his team lone run with a grounds-rule double before Connors struck out the next two hitters. After pinch hitter Sam DiPiazza drew a walk to load the bases with two outs, Connors got the final hitter he faced to ground out weekly to first base.
“I was really prepared for this game, a lot more than I have been in the past because this year I am coming in as our No. 1 pitcher for the first time. It's a lot more responsibility and I read up on the scouting report all last night and I brought it to school with me,” said Connors, who is in his third season as a varsity pitcher. “This was my last first start to a high school season and I wanted to be as prepared as I could be. My curveball was on and my defense helped me out. We had [three] double plays and that really helps a pitcher out.”
After opening the season with a win over Englewood, Ridgefield Park is off and running toward another successful season.
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Pascack Hills starter Tommy Readie allowed just two runs (one earned) over 4 2/3 innings. |
“We had a real good preseason. We went to Myrtle Beach and even though we struggled down there, we saw good competition and the kids got to grow as a team,” said Papetti. “We had the advantage of getting out into some warm weather and we got 10 scrimmages in, more than most teams around here were able to get in. That helped, we got two wins and we'll see what we can do from here.”
On the other side, Pascack Hills needs to find that sense of urgency that was missing last year when it started the season at 2-10. On the flip side, the Cowboys did rally to make it all the way to the North 1, Group 2 state sectional final.
“Our schedule is as tough as it gets. We opened with Mahwah then Ridgefield Park and then we have Ramsey on Monday, River Dell on Wednesday and Westwood on Friday and Demarest Saturday,” said Kirkby. “I heard some joking around that it is OK because we started 2-10 last year and made the [section] final and who cares about [an 0-2] start. But that is not going to happen again and we can't start off 0-6, We have to figure out a way to stop it now and get better this weekend.”
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