Tuesday,
April 22, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Pascack Valley starter Alex Pleasic allowed just three hits and did not walk a batter while striking out 10 as the Indians improved to 9-1 with a 7-0 victory over River Dell on Monday in Hillsdale. |
HILLSDALE – Not to say that Pascack Valley's softball team was underestimated coming into the season. If there was a reliable preseason Top 10 list in Bergen County then the Indians might have fallen under the heading of 'Others Receiving Votes” or they might have been on the 'Teams To Watch List'. But with a better grasp on the season now after three weeks of play, Pascack Valley has upped those expectations by quite a bit. The Indians have yet to lose in league play, they have won 9 of their first 10 games overall and were solid in all three phases of the game yet again on Monday afternoon in a 7-0 win over a solid River Dell team.
“I could see how other people might be surprised at the way we have played, but I knew the kind of players that we have here, I have seen how hard they work and I knew that we had a good chance to have a good season,” said Jessica Sachs, who is in her third year as Pascack Valley's head coach. “It takes time to build and get everything going the way you want it. This is the first year that all of the girls on the team have only played for me on the varsity level and that trust is something that only comes with time. That has played a big part in our start to the season.”
it was the start to the game that made the difference for Pascack Valley as River Dell's Julie Montone led off the top of the first inning with a clean single and was followed by Allie Ostuni, who laid down a sacrifice bunt. It turned out even better than that for the Golden Hawks as Ostuni reached on a throwing error and took second for free as the visiting team put two runners in scoring position before the first out of the game had been recorded. That was when sophomore pitcher Alex Pleasic settled in as she struck out the next two hitters and got a routine flyball to right field to deny River Dell what could have been at least one early momentum building run.
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Kayla Rosado had one of the three hits for River Dell. |
“We had second and third with no outs and 3, 4 and 5 coming up, but this time it didn't work,” said River Dell head coach Mike Garibell. “ Those kids have been great for us this year, but today we just missed an opportunity.”
While the first inning was deflating for River Dell, it was something to build on for Pleasic, who brilliant thereafter. She allowed just two more hits in the game, she did not walk a batter and struck out 10 in the game. After allowing the first two runners she faced to reach base, Pleasic allowed just two more baserunners and was in complete control.
“That was big to get out of that first inning. It started out rough, but once I got out of that I knew it was going to be a good game. Just getting out of that first inning without allowing a run was key,” said Pleasic, a sophomore who splits time in the circle with Jenny Schneider. “Finally I was able to mix in my other pitches and that has been a little bit of a problem for me, trying to figure out what to throw against some hitters, but today it was smooth and it really helped out.”
The Pascack Valley offense really helped out, too, as it got to work in the bottom of the second inning. It was Pleasic who got it started from the cleanup spot as she singled leading off, the first of four hits in the inning that gave the Indians the lead for good. Olivia Beattie got a bunt down and beat the play when the throw down to first hit her in the back and Carly Cumito followed with a blast that one-hopped the wall in left field. The runners held to see if the ball would be caught, so Cumito had to settle for a single, but it loaded the bases for Kaitlin Unger, who singled to give PV a 1-0 lead, but River Dell left fielder Alexis Krasas threw a strike to the plate to cut down Beattie to limit the damage.
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Junior Carly Cumito had two hits and two RBIs and also caught a gem behind the plate. |
Pleasic worked around a leadoff double in the third by Brianna Gongemi by striking out the next two hitters and getting a pop-up for the third out and Pascack Valley then broke the game open in the fourth with another four-hit barrage. Carly Parenta singled leading off and stole second before Beattie singled her home and took second on the throw to the plate. Beattie then went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Cumito's sacrifice fly. With the bases empty and two outs, Christine Franklin batting out of the No. 9 spot, singled and stole two bases before scoring on a single by Caroline Savianeso, a slap hitter who pulled the infield in and then knocked one into short left field.
Pascack Valley led 4-0 after four and errors that allowed Schneider and Pleasic to reach as the first two hitters in the fifth got another rally started. Parenta drove in a run with a groundout before Beattie and Cumito hit back-to-back RBI singles to close out the scoring.
The Indians hit top to bottom in the lineup and the number bore that out on Wednesday. The No. 6-9 hitters in the order – Beattie (3-for-3, 2 RBI, 2 R, SB), Cumito (2-for-2, 2 RBI), Unger (1-for-3, RBI) and Franklin (1-for-2, 2 SB) – were a combined 7-for-10 with 5 RBI.
“Every single person in our lineup this year is phenomenal batting wise. Last year we had a few batters that kind of carried us, but everybody else was inconsistent. This year it is anyone that can start a big inning or get that big hit,” said Cumito, PV's junior catcher. “Putting the ball in play is the most important thing because it give the other team the opportunity to make errors and that is helpful for us. Obviously that happened a couple of times today. We got some runners on, we started a rally and that is how we have won most of our games.”
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Brianna Gongemi had a leadoff double in the third for River Dell, which fell to 7-3 on the season. |
Or, as Sachs put it, “I have 12 girls on this team that can rip and I have confidence in all of them.”
That confidence has contributed to the 9-1 start and the Indians are now 5-0 in the Big North – National Division where they own a one-game lead over Northern Valley/Old Tappan. Their lone loss was to Indian Hills, the defending Group 3 state champion.
River Dell fell to 7-3 with the loss, but had been on a roll coming into the game, the start of a tough stretch that will include games against Ramsey, Mahwah and Paramus in the next five days.
“We had a good game against Nutley. We were down 3-2 and came back in the bottom of the seventh inning to win 4-3 and we had a good win against Ridgefield Park before this, but it kind of snowballed on us a little bit today. We kept it close early, but a couple of hits and a couple of errors and it got away from us,” said Garibell. “This week is going to tell us a lot. You want to play good competition and if we lose we lose, but we want to get ourselves better. We have to get ready for the county tournament and the state tournament and you do that by playing well against good teams.”
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