Thursday, April 10, 2014

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Pascack Hills centerfielder Kaitlin Listro make one of many key defensive plays that the Cowgirls used to keep their distance in a 10-3 win at River Dell.

ORADELL – It is probably going to be this way all season in the Big North Patriot Division. Included in River Dell's 3-0 start to the season was a quality win over Mahwah and one of the two losses that Pascack Hills suffered in the first week was to those same Thunderbirds. And now the whole division was thrown into further flux as Pascack Hills scored five times in the top of the first inning and went on to 10-3 victory that means that the top four teams in the five-team league all have one loss.

“We lost our opener to Mahwah and River Dell beat Mahwah 8-2. This league is kind of anyone's game and it will come down to how well any of us play for the seven innings we are on the field against the team we are playing that day,” said Pascack Hills head coach Erin Curatola, a former River Dell standout who was coaching against her alma mater. “It's always bittersweet playing against River Dell, I love it here, but it was really nice to come out today and get our bats going and do some of the things that we have been trouble with lately.”

Kaitlin Listro led off the game by reaching on an error and that opened the door to a big inning. Brianna Musco turned a sacrifice bunt into an infield single and Erica Aborlleile then roped a two-run double to give the Cowgirls a 2-0 lead just three batters into the game. Amanda Reynolds and Nikki Mancinelli also had first inning RBI as Pascack Hills sent nine hitters to the plate in the inning to take the commanding 5-0 lead.

Kayla Rosado had two hits and an RBI for River Dell.

“You have to give Pascack Hills the credit. They hit the ball and when you fall behind like that early, it kind of takes away some the things that you can do offensively because you don't want to take chances that could cost you an out,” said River Dell head coach Mike Garibell. “It was a tough way to start. We make and error, they get a bunt down and then a double and we were down just like that.”

While final score might have suggested a game in which Pascack Hills got up early and was able to coast home, but River Dell, which was a perfect 3-0 coming in, had its chances as it put at least one runner on base in all but the final inning. The Golden Hawks had nine hits in the game, they drew four walks and put the ball in play in big spots, only to see Pascack Hills' defense do its job.

River Dell got a run back in the bottom of the first and it could have been more. With two outs, Cathy Antonelli, Kayla Rosado and Jordyn Rocca strung together three straight singles to plate a run, but the inning ended on a runners interference call on a ground ball hit to Musco, the PH shortstop. In all, River Dell stranded 10 runners on the basepaths.

Pascack Hills tacked on a run in the top of the third when Kayla Strick singled in Amanda Reynolds, who had doubled leading off and River Dell was robbed of a run in the bottom of the frame. Allie Ostuni smoked a line drive that Musco reached high to snare meaning that there were no runners on when Rosado, RD's left-handed clean up hitter, crushed an opposite field double two hitters later.

Robyn Abaunza went the distance as Pascack Hills got back to .500 at 2-2 on the season.

Robyn Abaunza, Pascack Hills' starting pitcher who went the distance, helped out on the offensive side with a two-out, run-scoring single in the top of the fourth to make it 7-1 and the Cowgirls added three more in the top of the sixth. Sammy Miller singled in a run and Nikki Mancinelli knocked in two more with a two-out single.

River Dell got something going in the bottom of the sixth when Lauren Brown singled leading off, Cassie Kay followed with a walk and Julie Montone singled in a run. With two on and no outs, Listro, who picked off a line drive in centerfield for the second out of the fifth inning, helped short-circuit the sixth inning rally with a running, back-handed catch in right-center. Antonelli singled and Rosado walked to load the bases with one one, but Pascack Hills then caught a couple of 'atom' balls to escape further damage.

Rocca hit a rocket right into the glove of Kristina Hughes at third base and Kaitlin Principato hit a dart that was caught by Strick at second base to end the threat and Abaunza worked her lone 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh to even her record at 2-2 on the season, the same as her team's.

“River Dell did a great job trying to get back in the game a couple of innings in a row. They gave us a real scare, but Robyn did a great job hitting her spots and everybody did their jobs on defense,” said Musco, the three-sport star (soccer, basketball, softball) who is working on her 12th varsity letter. “This win feels good. River Dell is a good team, undefeated before today, and this gets us back to 2-2. We have been hitting and we have to keep that up because we are getting hits from all over the order.”

Wednesday might have been the day that it all came together for Pascack Hills, which bodes well moves forward.

River Dell freshman Lauren Brown scored a run and pitched her first varsity inning, a scoreless frame in the seventh.

“It was important to get off to a good start with the bats, but even more important than that was that we kept scoring because we have a tendency to come out strong and think that will be enough. I knew that River Dell was a great hitting team and that we would have to keep the pressure on and we were able to do that,” said Curatola. “The whole game for us is kind of what we were looking for. We had great pitching, great defense and great offense. If we can keep doing that we might win a couple of games, safe to say.”

For River Dell, the first loss was going to come some time and now Garibell will get to see how his team responds.

“Our approach was good. We were patient at the plate, we waited for our pitches and we put a lot of balls in play. We just didn't get a lot to fall for us. We hit a bunch of line drives that were caught, a couple of deep balls that were caught and we didn't get that big hit with runners in scoring position that might have got us back in the game,” said Garibell. “There are some things we have to work on, but this was just Game 4 and we need to improve. Even if we had won today the plan would have been the same; to keep working to get better every game as the season goes along.”

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