Tuesday,
April 6, 2010
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Kaitlyn
LaCass was solid in the circle and at the plate as Saddle
Brook got its first win of the season, 6-5, at Pompton Lakes.
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SADDLE
BROOK – Playing in a ‘must-win’ game for a program
with the track record like Saddle Brook has usually means that
it is late May and the Falcons are deep into the county or state
play. But after losses to Immaculate Conception and Cedar Grove,
Saddle Brook was staring at a rare 0-3 start when it travelled
to face a Pompton Lakes squad with league, county, and state championships
among its goals this season.
Behind
clutch pitching from Kaitlyn LaCass and a two-run triple from
battery mate Melissa Phelan, Saddle Brook took a four-run lead
before holding off a furious rally. With two outs in the bottom
of the seventh and the tying run on second, LaCass smothered a
hard ground ball and threw to the first for the final out as the
Falcons hung on for their first victory of the young season, 6-5,
at Lakeside Middle School in Pompton Lakes.
“We came out
and got some confidence early, that was huge,” said Saddle
Brook head coach Darren White. “We really wanted this win
and we knew we had to play well to get it.”
LaCass
helped her own cause just four pitches into the game by belting
a leadoff triple and coming home on a sacrifice fly by Phelan.
Angela Delgado and LaCass then stroked back-to-back RBI singles
in the top of the second to bump the lead up to 3-0.
“I think scoring
runs early helped us, especially with Kaitlyn (LaCass) in the
circle,” added White. “We had six kids on the field
to start the season that either never started in a varsity game
or were playing in a new position. This field is always tough
to play at and Pompton Lakes is always tough to catch when they
take the lead. We wanted to jump out early and set the pace.”
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| Freshman
Caroline Medino pitched three hitless innings of relief for
Pompton Lakes. |
The
Cardinals got those two runs back in the bottom half of the inning.
After a triple from Rebecca Vanderbrink, a fly ball off the bat
from Sam Landwehr got hung up in the blinding sun and was dropped.
The Falcons tried to throw Landwehr out at third base, but that
throw got away with her coming all the way around to score, cutting
the SB lead to 3-2.
Saddle Brook caught
a break in the top of the fourth and took advantage. With a runner
on base, a two-out error off a ball hit by LaCass scored a run
and allowed the inning to continue. Jules Esposito followed with
a single and then Phelan delivered the big blow, a long triple
to right-center off Pompton Lakes starter Jackie Gloshinski that
scored both LaCass and Esposito for a 6-2 lead.
“(Gloshinski)
was throwing strikes on the outside corner in my first two at-bats,
so I was looking for it the third time around,” said Phelan,
the Falcons sophomore catcher who is in her second season as a
starter. “We are kind of the underdog this year, but we
like it and it makes us play harder. We didn’t want to start
the season with three losses, so we had to come out and play well
today.”
LaCass was effective
mixing speeds and getting ahead in the count for the first five
innings before inexplicably losing control of her pitches in the
sixth. She threw 12 out of 13 pitches for balls, including a bases-loaded
walk to Danielle Allan. Vanderbrink then lifted a sac fly to trim
the Falcons’ four-run lead in half, 6-4, heading into the
seventh inning.
“I love the way
we battled back, but we shouldn’t have been in that position,”
said Pompton Lakes head coach Karyn Hennessy. “When you
make mistakes against like Saddle Brook, you’re going to
be in trouble. We’re capable of playing better, but it is
better to have this happen now than in the county or the states.
I think this is something that will motivate us for the rest of
the season.”
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| A
two-run triple by sophomore Melissa Phelan helped Saddle Brook
build an early 4-0 lead. |
Thanks
to the relief pitching of freshman Caroline Medino, the Cardinals
were able to stay in the game for one last shot in the bottom
of the seventh. Medino can also do it with the bat with a one-out
double down the right-field line, Jamie Quigley reached on an
error that allowed Medino to beat a throw to the plate. On the
throw home Quigley broke for second, but was cut down on a perfect
strike from Phelan for the second out.
Normally with a one-run
lead, nobody on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh, a team
could breathe a sigh of relief. But with New Jersey’s leading
homerun hitter from last year, Stephanie Pasquale, at the plate,
one swing of the bat could have changed everything. With Saddle
Brook playing incredibly deep in the outfield, Pasquale dropped
in a double to represent the tying run.
Kay Foote got a good
swing on a LaCass fastball and hit a hard ground ball back up
the middle. But it was right at LaCass, who knocked it down and
threw to first baseman Julianne Mola to close out the Falcons’
first win of the young season.
LaCass allowed four
hits, walked three, and struck out two to pick up the win for
Saddle Brook (1-2). The sophomore right-hander had a stretch where
she retired 11 batters in a row and also scored two runs and drove
in one. Vanderbrink scored a run and drove in one for Pompton
Lakes (0-1). Medino tossed three hitless innings with two walks
and four Ks.
In
an extremely balanced B-PSL, Saddle Brook took a big step toward
showing the rest of the league that it is still the reigning champ
and is not willing to give up its title without a fight.
“I think everyone
thinks we’re going to take a step back, but we think we
can still be a really tough team,” said LaCass. “We
lost a lot of players, but every team has to go through that so
you can’t feel sorry for yourself about it. This team is
not used to losing and we don’t like it. But the first two
losses that we had made us better and made us want to win even
more. Our team is a little different and we have some younger
players. But our goals are still the same and we’re always
excited about getting a win over a good team like Pompton Lakes.”
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