Saturday,
April 25, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Zack Davis threw a complete-game six-hitter as Demarest won its fourth straight game, 3-1, over Pascack Valley on Friday afternoon. |
DEMAREST – With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, Pascack Valley's John Bonica hit a dribbler out in front of the plate that forced Northern Valley/Demarest pitcher Zack Davis to hustle of the mound, field the ball in a hurry and throw it as hard as he could. Davis did his job and he got the out, nipping the hustling baserunner by less than a step to end the inning. Why was that out, which came with the bases empty in a middle inning in which no runs scored important? Because it proved that Davis could throw a straight fastball if he absolutely had to.
The rest of the time, like when throwing any of the 90 or so pitches that he needed to toss a complete game four-hitter without allowing an earned run, just about everything that Davis threw had some kind of bend, dip or curve to it. For the full seven innings, Davis worked the corners and let his defense work behind him in what turned into a complete game six-hitter and a 3-1 win that was the fourth in a row for the streaking Norseman.
“This team [Pascack Valley] is a talented ball club and in my mind I was thinking that I can not leave the ball in the middle or they were going to hit it and hit it hard. I located my curveball on both sides of the dish, I mixed in change-ups, sliders and everything was working today,” said Davis, a senior left-hander. “I was trying to spot my curveball away and I got a lot of swings and misses early on. I was able to locate throughout the entire game and my defense picked me up towards the end when they started to figure out that curveball.”
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Dan Corrigan had two hits for Pascack Valley and scored the Indians' lone run. |
Because the high school baseball regular season is compressed into a six-week sprint and because the games come fast and furious, it is hard to point to any one as a 'must win,' but the for the Norsemen, this particular contest was essential. A loss would have all but ended Demarest's hopes to challenge for the Big North – National Division title and falling back to .500 would have made it all the more difficult to build a case for inclusion in the Bergen County Tournament. But now, with four straight wins, a 7-5 record and in a tie for second in the league just one game in the loss column behind Pascack Valley and tied with Northern Valley/Old Tappan, nothing is off the table for the Norseman.
“Pascack Valley is the team that on Opening Day, but up five runs in the last inning in about eight minutes to beat us, but our ball club is very resilient, hard working and this is a great feeling right now,” said Marc Houser, Demarest's first year head coach. “To be honest, I don't pay attention where we are in the league standings or anything like that because every game is equally important to us. Yeah, we got a little happy after this one, but when their heads hit the pillow tonight, that's it. It's on to the next game.”
It's a shame that Demarest will not get to savor this one a little bit more as it was played at high level by both sides working with a razor thin margin of error. When outfield assists are a factor in the final outcome, it had to be a close game and Demarest got two of them to help the cause.
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Brian Kelly was 3-3 for Demarest, which is now just one game behind in the league title race. |
Pascack Valley took the lead with an unearned run in the top of the third as Dan Corrigan (2-3, R) led off with a double the other way that painted the right field line and scored two batters later when Ricky Tiburcio's grounder was thrown away for a two-base error. With one out and a runner is scoring position, Ron Villone pulled a line drive right at rightfielder Tyler Mornhineway, who gloved it and then threw in behind to second base to double up the baserunner, who misread the line drive and was heading the wrong way.
Demarest then came in to hit and took the lead for good. Kyle Steven led off the bottom of the third with a single before being replaced at first base by George Gillies, who was robbed of a basehit by a sprawling stop of his ground ball by Villone as the PV shortstop turned it into a fielder's choice. Gillies then stole second and scored when Joe Ferolie sliced a basehit down the right field line. Brian Kelly (3-for-3) followed with another opposite field single to push Ferolie to third and Dom Fazio's sacrifice fly gave the Norsemen a 2-1 lead.
They tacked on an unearned run in the fourth when an error kept the inning alive long enough for Stevens to deliver a two-out RBI single that scored Jack Avallone, who led off the frame with an infield single. Stevens, hitting out the No. 9 hole, was 2-for-2 at the plate.
Davis cruised through the fourth and fifth innings by facing just one over the minimum, but Pascack Valley got something going in the six two outs when Ryan Orr's double that dropped between two defenders in right-centerfield moved Ryan MacNaugton to third in front of him, but Gillies pocketed a flyball in centerfield for the third out.
Davis had thrown just 76 pitches to get through six innings, but he needed some help to finish it off and it came from his defense, namely catcher Ross Dunayer and Mornhineway, who again got to show off his arm in right field. Jimmy Butler led off the seventh with a single back through the box and was replaced on the basepaths by Anthony DiMeglio, who went to third on a single by Jack Fischer and the subsequent outfield effort that left the tying runs on the corners with no outs.
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Jimmy Butler led off the top of the seventh with a single on this swing. |
But the Indians ran themselves out of the late rally when Dunayer cut down the would-be base stealer with an assist from Kelly, the Demarest shortstop who got a leg down in front of the base to make the head first dive by Fisher come up short. That left a runner on third with one out before Mornhineway fielded Corrigan's flyball in medium right field and threw a strike to the plate to Dunayer, who had time to come up the line and tag out DiMeglio for the final out of the game.
“There are two kids that are not going to show up in the box score but both came up huge. Tyler Mornhineway was 0-for-3 and then he throws a guy out at the plate to end it. Ross Dunayer was 0-for-3 and throws a guy out at second that was the tying run,” said Hauser. “That is how we are built. We leave offense in [the dugout] and go and play defense. You saw it here. We had two guys struggling at the plate a little bit, but they go out and come up big on defense in the seventh inning.”
Davis started this winning streak with a complete game shutout against Ridgefield last Saturday night and extended it to four on Friday as he again went the distance. He walked just one and struck out two and has now gone 14 straight innings in back-to-back starts without allowing an earned run.
“We are 7-5 now and we are going for a league championship, we are going for a county championship and we are going for a state championship and I believe we have the personnel here to do that,” said Davis. “I really believe that. We have to keep up the focus level that we have had the last four games for the rest of the season and we are going to be a tough team.”
Pascack Valley (9-4) has the type of personnel to accomplish those same goals and it is the team with a one-game lead in the league standings. The Indians' got a quality start from Matt Ogus 94 2/3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 7 H, 4 K, 1 BB) and Evan Dymond retired all four hitters he faced in relief. The difference on Friday was that Demarest played just a little bit cleaner.
“Three baserunning mistakes. That makes all the difference in a game like this against a good team. We are not a great hitting ball club. Everything has to break right for us to come out with success and it didn't today,” said Pascack Valley head coach Will Lynch. “Give that kid [Davis] all the credit. He kept us off balance, he kept us off base and we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit, but that's baseball and we'll move on and get ready for the next one.”
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