Monday,
April 14, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Freshman Julie Rodriguez went 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in three runs and also threw a complete-game two-hitter for Old Tappan, which beat Emerson, 10-0, in the finale of the EDSAF Tournament. |
EMERSON – The Emerson Disabled Student Assistance Fund Tournament has become an early season staple as it hosts a bunch of quality teams over two days to raise money for a worthy cause. Many of the teams that have played in it over the years have to gone to successful seasons that include league, county and state championships. For many participants, it is the first chance they get to play in a tournament-type setting that can help prepare them for what is to come later on.
Whatever happens from here, the Northern Valley/Old Tappan softball team will be better for the experience.
“We love coming to this tournament because, yes, it is for a good cause, but I also think that the tournament atmosphere that is created here because Emerson does such a good job putting it on, it prepares you for later in the season when there is a bigger crowd and more people watching,” said Old Tappan head coach Melissa Landeck. “This experience is huge and that is why I love coming here.”
Question is whether the Golden Knights will be invited back as they sent 10 hitters to the plate in a six-run fourth inning to break open what turned into a 10-0, five-inning win over the host team, Emerson, in the tournament finale on Sunday afternoon.
The top of the NV/OT lineup was unstoppable and just kept the pressure on until the breakthrough happened. Alexa Smedberg, the junior slap-hitter, drew a walk as the first batter of the game and Julie Rodriguez single to set the first inning table. Emerson pitcher, freshman Katie Falatico. Was able to induce three straight ground balls to get her team out of that frame with no damage, but thereafter, every time Old Tappan turned the lineup over it was able to do damage.
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Nicole Johnston had one of the two hits for Emerson, which fell to 4-3. |
Smedberg, who can confound a defense with her ability to draw a defense in and then smack the ball over it bunt in any count and then fly down the line, reached base in all four of her plate appearances, stole three bases and scored three runs.
“Every time up I just try to read the defense to see where I can place the ball so I can get on base for the other hitters to get me in,” said Smedberg, Old Tappan's left-handed hitting centerfielder. “This team has a lot of talent. We have a freshman leftfielder [Lana Davidoff] and a freshman pitcher [Rodriguez]. They have fit right in and made us better right away.”
Davidoff, also a lefty slap-hitter who hits seventh, contributed with a run scored after a bunt single and a stolen base in the fourth, while Rodriguez made her presence felt from start to finish. In the batter's box, Rodriguez went 4-for-4 with and finished just a home run shy of the cycle while wearing out the left centerfield gap. She drove in runs in each of her final three at bats and her courtesy runner, Rachel Kim, scored three times. In the circle, Rodriguez threw a complete game two-hitter with three strikeouts and one walk as she improved her record to 5-1 on the season, the same as her teams'.
Emma Nelson also had a big day at the plate OT's No. 3 hitter. She finished 2-for-4 with a double, 3 RBI and a run scored. Every time she went to the plate there was at least one runner on base and Nelson kept the carousel turning. The top three hitters in the Old Tappan lineup – Smedberg, Rodriguez and Nelson – were a combined 8-for-10 with 6 RBI and 7 runs scored.
“The whole lineup was doing their job and everyone was hitting. Julie was unstoppable today, she had four hits and it is easy to hit behind her,” said Nelson, the junior shortstop whose double with two on and two out in the top of the fifth drove in the run that brought the game to an early conclusion. “We all played our hardest and we really wanted to win the game to keep things going in the right direction.”
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Emma Nelson had two hits and drove in three runs for Old Tappan, which improved its record to 5-1 on the season. |
There were other contributors as well as Kristen Farrell scored a run and drove in another, Danielle Matteo added an RBI, Carol Oberhelman knocked in two with a fourth inning single. Rebecca Blekht drove in a run, scored another and had the defensive play of the game with a full-out dive to grab a fly ball well into foul territory down the leftfield line in the bottom of the fourth.
Omana Douce-McDermott and Nicole Johnston had the two hits for Emerson, which fell to 4-3 on the season, but the result was not the only thing that was going to define success for failure for the Cavos, a Group 1 team that invites the best teams around to its home field every year to test itself on the field and share its community spirit off of it. The tournament was started in support of former Emerson player Ari Solimando, a 2004 graduate who was paralyzed in a swimming accident and who has been a rallying point for the township ever since.
“Our kids give back every year and they do this as community service. For us it is a great cause because Ari is a former player of ours and for other people who might be in that type of situation. We get great help from the parents, the community comes out to the games and it is always a good day...even if you get pounded,” said Emerson head coach Nancy Graff, who took the good and the bad equal grace. “Clearly I do not think that we played to our ability. Old Tappan was the better team, but we are a better team than we showed today. We definitely scheduled up so that we can get better. We have some potential. We have some young players, we have some older players and we want to be prepared for states and counties and our tougher league game. That is why we invite these teams.”
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