Friday,
April 18, 2014
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Amanda Baric shook off an early comebacker off the ankle to go the distance and also helped out at the plate as Ridgefield win its fourth straight game, 15-5, over Secaucus on Thursday. |
SECAUCUS – Coming into this season with a new head coach and a handful of returning players from last year, staying in the middle of the pack in the NJIC-Liberty Division and qualifying for the Bergen County Tournament were reasonable goals for the Ridgefield softball team. But after starting the season 1-2, the Royals have been on a roll and the expectations have been raised significantly.
Just two games back in the division standings behind leader New Milford, Ridgefield want to keep pace until facing both New Milford and second-place Lyndhurst in the next two weeks. To do that though, they would have to see how they measured up against defending North 2, Group 1 state champ Secaucus.
A win and the Royals stayed in the race; a loss and it was back to the drawing board. Led by a gutsy performance from sophomore pitcher Amanda Baric and the hot bat of freshman third baseman Marissa Semeraro, it was business as usual and the Royals’ torrid play continued.
Semeraro’s two-run triple broke the game open and Baric shook off a scary moment in the first inning to settle down in the circle before blasting a three-run homer herself as Ridgefield won its fourth in a row with a convincing 15-5 triumph over Secaucus at Secaucus High School.
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A Bryonna McClure two-run single gave Secaucus a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the first. |
The Royals struck for two runs in the top of the first but Secaucus answered right back with four runs in the bottom half of the frame. Kendall Caruso led off the inning by hitting a screaming line drive off of Baric’s right ankle. After staying down for a few minutes and trying to warm up for another few, she stayed in the game. The Patriots kept right on hitting though and took the lead with the last of the four runs coming home on a two-run single from Bryonna McClure as the Patriots grabbed a 4-2 lead.
The score was 4-3 when the Royals got the bats going. Baric, Mimi Jeremic, and Vivi Carrero had consecutive singles to start the inning with Carrero’s tying the game before Semeraro knocked the other two runners home with a long triple to left-center to in the midst of a four-run inning that put Ridgefield in front 7-4.
“I know my zone. I love high pitches and I got one to hit,” said Semeraro. “It felt pretty good when I hit it. We got off to a slow start today but we bounced back. We know we can hit and we have a good pitcher, we just have to get better defensively and make the plays we feel we should make.”
The Royals tacked on two more runs in the fifth before Baric’s three-run blast in the top of the sixth to deep left all but put the game away and made it 12-4.
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Vivi Carrero had 3 hits and 2 RBI for Ridgefield, which improved to 5-2. |
After giving up the two-run single in the first, Baric settled down to retire 14 straight batters for Ridgefield (5-2). She allowed just three hits and had 10 K’s without allowing a walk. Carrero went 3-for-4 with two RBIs while Semeraro, Jeremic, Baric, and Alexis Reyes each added two hits.
Julia McClure took the loss for Secaucus (5-4) but did hit a long solo homer, her fifth of the season.
Ridgefield will get a get another shot at league-leading New Milford next Wednesday. A win there will make it a three-way race for the NJIC-Liberty Division title, which is exactly where the Royals want to be.
“We knew this was a big game and we stepped up by being patient at the plate,” said Ridgefield head coach Jack Cassimiro. “We’ve gotten off to some slow starts before this season, but we’ve come back from that by being scrappy and staying the course. If we wanted a shot at staying in it in our league, we had to win this game. (Baric) was really focused after a tough first inning and she battled her way back. New Milford and Lyndhurst beat us the first time around and they are both very good teams. But we feel like we’ve improved a lot since then and we’re also playing with a lot more confidence, so I’m excited to see how we stack up against the league the second time around.”
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