Friday,
May 23, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Shane Woelfel gets a high-five from head coach Jeff Remo after hitting a third inning, two-run home that gave Mahwah the lead for good in an 8-1 win over Pascack Valley in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinals on Thursday. |
HILLSDALE – Thursday's North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinal matchup was like a play written in two parts with the intermission perfectly placed just before the climactic moment. Act 1 was a pitcher's duel between between Ryan Remo, Mahwah's junior right-hander, and Ryan Vasel, Pascack Valley's junior lefty. Through the first four innings each had given up just two hits and the only thing separating the two teams on the scoreboard was missed hit-and-run on the pitch before Ryan MacNaughton hit a home run, making his a solo blast while Shane Woelfel hit a two-run shot in the third for Mahwah.
Act 2 was set up by back-to-back singles by James Caliento and Matt DiPoto and a sacrifice by by Justin Grippo that gave Mahwah two runners in scoring position. Vasel struck out the next hitter to raise the drama and then the curtain abruptly fell in the form of a lightning strike out beyond the parking lot. If not so annoying to have the game delayed right at its turning point, it would have been down-right theatrical.
Both head coaches used the down time to plot strategy. Should they bring their starting pitcher's back after the delay? Would Pascack Valley skipper Will Lynch opt to pitch to Woelfel, the Mahwah leadoff hitter with more than 100 career hits, with two outs in a lefty-lefty matchup but also with an open base?
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PV's Ryan MacNaughton hit a fourth inning home run over two fences, leftfield on the baseball diamond and rightfield on the softball field well behind. |
The answer to the first question was yes as Vasel took the ball upon restart and the answer to the second question was no as Woelfel was issued an intentional pass that loaded the bases for Alec Hill, Mahwah's junior second baseman and also a left-handed hitter.
“Shane told me before he even he went up that they were most likely going to intentionally walk him and it was going to be my chance to be the hero in that situation. I wanted to take full advantage of it,” said Hill, who had struck out in his previous two at bats. “I just felt like I was due for a good at bat. Coming off the rain delay I just knew that the first good pitch I got I was going to try to drive it.”
Drive it he did and Hill split the right centerfield gap. With two outs and the runners going on contact, all three of them scored on Hill's bases-clearing double that broke the game open. Matt Krupa followed with an RBI single as Mahwah, the No. 12 seed, scored four times in that fifth inning and went on to an 8-1 win that puts it in the North 1, Group 3 quarterfinals where they will play on the road against either top-seeded Indian Hills or No. 9 Paramus. The result of that game will have to wait until Friday as it was suspended due to darkness after the seventh inning of a 6-6 tie.
Mahwah, which won the outright Group 2 state title in 2012 and made it all the way back to the Group 2 state final last season, is right back at it in a Group 3 bracket that was loaded when the tournament started.
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Ryan Remo threw 6 innings of 2-hit ball to pick up the win for Mahwah. |
“We have a team where 60 or 70 percent of them have been through these state tournament runs the last two years and that is certainly a factor that helps us. They have played in big games,” said Mahwah head coach Jeff Remo, who was serenaded in the dugout after the game with a slightly pitchy version of 'Happy Birthday' in honor of his 52nd. “When we looked at the teams in the bracket when this thing started we knew what we were up against, but our kids have accepted the challenge.”
It was a big day for both Remos in uniform as Ryan Remo threw six innings of two-hit, one-run baseball. Both hits came in succession in the fourth as Ron Villone led off with a single before the botched hit-and-run saw him thrown at second. MacNaughton, who will play at Farleigh Dickinson University next season, followed with an absolute bomb, the solo shot that cleared the rightfield fence of the softball diamond that lies well behind the leftfield fence of the baseball field. MacNaughton also reached safely on a first inning error and Jon Bonica drew a two-out walk in the fourth to represent the only two other baserunners to reach against Ryan Remo (6 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 K, 1 BB). Jordan Manne pitched a scoreless seventh to close things out.
“I had a good two-seam fastball. I just tried to keep it in and keep pounding away with it. My curveball was working expect for that one home run and after that I just pretty much stuck with my two-seamer,” said Ryan Remo. “When we went up 2-0 I kind of knew that we had enough of a lead, but to come out after the delay and getting those extra runs to work with, it definitely made it easier.”
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Ron Villone had one of PV's three htis and also made a diving grab of a linedrive from his shortstop position. |
Remo was also helped by his defense. Woelfel robbed Pascack Valley leadoff hitter Ricky Tiburcio of at least one hit and maybe another in centerfield. In the second inning Woelfel got a good jump to pick off a line drive without leaving his feet, an 'atom' that many high school centerfielders might play into a double, and in the sixth he sprinted in to pick off a sinking liner with a headlong dive. Hill also stole a hit as he shuffled to his right and threw out the baserunner from his knees.
Hill (2-4, 4 RBI), Matt DiPoto (2-3, R) and Mike Yorio (2-3, 2 R) all had multiple hit games for Mahwah (18-9), which has won 11 of its last 12 games. Woelfel (1-2, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB), Krupa (1-4, RBI), Zack Freguletti (1-4), Jason Stepp (1-4) and Caliento (1-4) made up the rest of the 11-hit attack for the Thunderbirds.
Mahwah has four seniors – Woelfel, Krupa, Freguletti and Stepp – in its starting lineup and all four of them are determined to keep this thing going for as long as possible. There will be no Memorial Day weekend 'down the shore,' but the T-Birds would like to get down there as a team for a third straight state final.
“This year is definitely different from the teams I have been on the last two years. It is a different group of kids, but we really started to mesh late in the year and we are playing well right now. We are in Group 3, we are up against bigger schools and I am happy that we are making another run,” said Woelfel, who will play at Bloomsburg University next season. “We all love the game, we wouldn't be here if we didn't and we want to ride this for as far as we can go.”
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