Senior JT DeRiso threw a complete game 3-hitter as Pascack Valley took the first of a two-game set against Old Tappan. 4-1, on Monday afternoon.
OLD TAPPAN – Pascack Valley’s JT DeRiso is an unassuming ace. In fact, if you didn’t know his history as a prolific winner on the high school level, you might even look forward to taking a few swings against the senior left-hander. Even some washed up ball players think they could step in the box and spray some line drives around.
“We sit there talking about him and sometimes I think I could go up there and hit him. I am talking about now…knee replaced, 60 years old,” said Pascack Valley head coach Will Lynch. “Then you just watch. Nobody can barrel him. You just don’t see him getting hit hard. He has three pitches and he can throw any of them for a strike in any count. High school kids don’t do that. Nothing bothers him. He is amazing.”
DeRiso’s latest gem came on Monday in a pivotal game, the start of the two-game series against Northern Valley/Old Tappan that will likely determine this year’s champion in the Big North National Division. He went the distance on a 103-pitch 3-hitter, struck out 8, walked 1 and allowed just one run in a 4-1 victory that moves Pascack Valley to 8-3 on the season and 5-0 in the league. If the Panthers can finish the sweep at home on Wednesday, they would just about lock up the league title.
Soft-spoken and humble, DeRiso is not one for fiery dugout displays or glove-slapping antics after big strikeouts. In fact, he rarely says anything, so that when he does speak it carries weight. Pascack Valley made two errors in the opening inning before DeRiso extricated himself from the jam with back-to-back strike outs with the bases loaded.
He then read his version of the “riot act” to his teammates.
Senior Troy Essmann drove in the Old Tappan run.
“After the first inning when we made the errors he did say, ‘Let’s lock in,” said Trevor Kirkby, a fellow PV senior. “I was like, we have to go win now. When he talks, when he says anything, we have to win for him.”
It’s not like DeRiso is incapable. He is cerebral when it comes to a conversation about pitching. He just would rather let his left arm do the talking.
When pressed, he had this to say about how he would self-scout…”I would say I command the zone, I have trust in all of my of my pitches – fastball, curveball, change[up] – and I have confidence,” said DeRiso, a steal for the William Paterson baseball program where he will pitch next year. “I think the most important thing in baseball is having confidence in yourself and trusting who is behind you. The thought is always that it is 9 vs. 1. You have nine guys on defense against just one hitter, so, as pitcher, the numbers are in your favor.”
Last year’s Pascack Valley team was a good story. Crushed by injuries and seeded eighth heading into the North 1, Group 2 state sectional playoffs, the Panthers rallied to win a section title and took it all the way to the season’s final day where they fell to Governor Livingston in the Group 2 final.
This year’s Pascack Valley team is different. It is one of the big boys, a true threat for Bergen County and state titles. With the 1-2 punch of DeRiso, who is 23-7 in his high school career, and junior lefty Brendan Gaskin at the top of the rotation and a bunch of other quality arms, Lynch, as he always does anyway, loaded the schedule with every good team he could find public or parochial. They look the part and their only losses this season have been to parochial powers St. Joseph, the defending Bergen County champion, Delbarton, the defending Morris County champion, and DePaul.
Senior Trevor Kirkby went 3-for-3 with a run scored for Pascack Valley, which improved to 8-3 on the season.
And Old Tappan at home with its ace on the mound certainly presented a similar challenge. After the Golden Knights left them loaded in their half of the first, Pascack Valley did a little better in a similar situation and took the lead for good in the top of the second inning.
Kirkby drew the ominous leadoff walk and Max Stalb’s sacrifice bunt turned out even better when the ball was thrown into centerfield. A fielder’s choice, a walk to Sam Stab and a strike out left it up to Gaskin in the No. 9 spot as he came with two outs and the bases loaded. Gaskin’s single scored Kirkby with the game’s first run and then it was just about tacking on while DeRiso dominated.
DeRiso threw 27 pitches in the first inning and just 76 over the final six innings. He retired 14 of the 15 hitters he faced from when there was one out in the first inning to when he retired the side in order in the fifth.
Max Stalb (2-for-3, 2 RBI, SAC) singled in James Narlinger (2-for-4, 2 R) with a one-out single in the third and Nick Donofrio and Max Stalb each knocked in runs in the fifth with a ground out and a single, respectively, against OT’s Selden Kolkebeck (5 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 4 K, 4 BB), who pitched better than his final line might have suggest. Old Tappan (7-3, 4-1) broke up the shutout when senior Troy Essmann, Northvale’s favorite son, knocked in Cayden Yoon with a ground ball in the home half of the sixth.
These two teams will go at it again on Wednesday and nobody would be surprised to see them hook up again somewhere in the later stages of the county tournament.
Round 1 belongs to Pascack Valley, but nothing has been decided yet.
“Both of the aces threw today and Selden threw the ball really well for them. He kept us off balance, we just put the ball on the ground, got some bunts down and did the right stuff. We didn’t have many gappers,” said Kirkby (3-for-3, R, BB), who will play at Drew University next year. “With what we were expected to be this year we are seeing a lot of No. 1s. We have to pick each other up in the dugout, talk about what we are seeing after at bats and everybody has to be doing something, the little things that win games. It has to be a full team effort.”
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