Sunday, May 6, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Jen Stoll hit a home run and pitched a complete game for Lakeland, which knocked off Clifton, 5-3, in the quarterfinals of the Passaic County Softball Tournament on Saturday.

WANAQUE – Lakeland has been by far the biggest surprise in Passaic County softball scene this season. A lot of that has been due to the arrival of freshman pitcher Jen Stoll and the emergence of Allie Yoffee as one of the county’s top power hitters.

But dig deeper and you will find that Lakeland is a team that can win in a variety of different ways with everyone on the field contributing in crunch time. Playing in the program’s biggest game in recent memory Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Passaic County Tournament, the Lady Lancers needed to come up with huge plays in big spots if they were going to hold off a Clifton team primed to pull the upset.

Danielle Stoll and Tina Brindisi both made big inning-ending defensive plays; and even after Clifton tied the game with three runs in the sixth, Brindisi poked a single through a drawn-in infield in the bottom half of the inning as second-seeded Lakeland advanced to the Passaic County semifinals for the first time since 2007 with a 5-3 triumph, their 12th straight win, over seventh-seeded Clifton.

“We’ve been in close games all year, we got a little nervous but we never panicked,” said Danielle Stoll.

Lakeland wasted no time in jumping out to a lead as Jen Stoll led off the bottom of the first with a line-drive to right-center. With no fence at Lakeland’s home field, the ball just kept on rolling. Jen Stoll sped around the bases easily for a solo home run and a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, cleanup batter Nicole Mahoney clouted a shot to dead center for her first home run of the year to put the Lancers up by two.

Clifton had a chance to tie the game in the top of the fourth with two runners in scoring position when Jen Chutick lined a shot to center, but Brindisi was there to make a running catch to end the inning.

Callie Shanahan went the distance in the circle for Clifton and doubled home two runs at the plate.

The Lancers bumped their lead up to three runs before the Mustangs threatened again in the fifth. They loaded the bases with one out on a pair of bloop hits. It looked like another was going to drop into right field off the bat of Janelle Giordano, but Danielle Stoll ranged back to her left to make a nice play and alertly doubled off the runner at first to end the inning.

“I didn’t really think about anything, I just reacted to the ball being in the air,” added Daniell Stoll. “We practice in situations like that making a quick throw to try and double the runner off and today it worked.”

The Mustangs could have easily put their heads down after stranding five runners in two consecutive innings, but they were able to dust themselves off and rally to tie the game. After a walk and an infield single, a pair of errors on the same play brought in one run and Callie Shanahan doubled home two more runs to knot the score at three. A ground out moved her to third and put the go-ahead run 60 feet away. But Jen Stoll was able to induce a groundout to short to keep the game tied.

“I loved the way battled back today, we just left too many runners on in the fourth and fifth innings,” said Clifton head coach Sal Anzaldi. “We showed what kind of heart we have and we played pretty well. Give Lakeland credit though, they just kept coming at us. They made some big plays in the field and got some clutch hits at the right time.”

Lauren Berry led off with a single and was moved over to second on a sac bunt by Toni Lyn Brindisi. After moving to third on an infield single with two outs, Tina Brindisi stepped to the plate in the spot where she normally would not.

Tina Brindisi drove in the game-winning run for Lakeland.

Clifton had all nine of its players in the infield against the slap-hitting Brindisi yet she was able to find a little hole between the first and second baseman, which drove in courtesy runner Kristin McNerney with the game-winning run.

“In a situation like that, I usually get pinch-hit for, but coach (Laura King) had confidence in me to get the bat on the ball and beat it out for a hit. I figured she wanted to throw strikes and not get back to the top of the lineup. That helped me relax and focus on just making contact.”

Jen Stoll allowed a lead off single in the seventh before retiring the next three batters in running Lakeland’s record to a staggering 18-1 on the season. She, along with Brindisi, had two hits.

Shanahan was 2-for-3 with two RBI at the plate, but took the loss for Clifton. Heather Ranges and Kayla Meneghin also had a pair of hits for the Mustangs, who fell to 12-10 on the season.

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