Friday,
May 26, 2014
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Anna Nielsen hit the first home run by a Mahwah batter this season and it gave her team the lead for good in a 6-2 win over Ramsey in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament. |
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – When Mahwah reached last year's Bergen County semifinals as the No. 13 seed after a long stretch without making such a run in the counties, it naturally raised some eyebrows. So when the Lady Thunderbirds were given the exact same seed this year under the new power-point system, they could have either seen that as a slight or as a chance to show that last year was far from a fluke. To do that they would have to beat Ramsey, a team that they lost two twice during the regular season while scoring just one run in 14 total innings.
This game would be different and it was evident right from the first inning when the Thunderbirds were able to celebrate a particular event for the first time all season.
Anna Nielsen's two-run homer in the first inning was the first of the season by any Mahwah player. The T-Birds tacked on three more in the third and Danielle Iacovo did the rest in the circle. She allowed just four hits and, for the second consecutive year, Mahwah advanced to the Bergen County semifinals as a No. 13 seed with a 6-2 triumph over fifth-seeded Ramsey on Sunday at Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township.
“This is all we have to play for so we gave it our all,” said Iacovo. “Ever since losing in the states we've been really focused for this game. Even though it got postponed (on Saturday) because of the rain, it didn't stop our focus. We came to the field today with the same intensity and it helped our confidence when we were able to jump on them early.”
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Katie Olson had an RBI and pitched well in relief for Ramsey. |
It was an anomaly for a strong hitting club like Mahwah to not have had a player clear the fence with a batted ball all season coming into the Sunday's game. In the top half of the first, that all changed as Nielsen crushed a ball to left-center that went way out. It was not just Mahwah's first home run of the year, but the first time they had led Ramsey in any game this season as it jumped to the 2-0 advantage.
“I wanted to keep it simple when I came up; see the ball and hit the ball,” said Nielsen. “We know we can pitch and play good defense, so scoring early is big. We came ready to hit, too.”
Mahwah did not stop there and scored three more times in the third inning. Taylor Ziman led things off with an infield single and came around to score on an RBI single from Alyssa Baldi to make it 3-0. After another run scored on an error, Iacovo helped her own cause with a single to center to plate Baldi and give the T-Birds a 5-0 lead.
Ramsey escaped further damage in the frame by getting a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded before finally getting on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the fifth. Christina Esposito started it off with a single and scored on a single by Katie Olson, who then took third when the throw down to second. Courtesy runner Devan Larson then subbed in for Olson and scooted home on a wild pitch to trim the lead to 5-2.
Iacovo never got rattled and retired the side in each of the next two innings without giving up a run as Mahwah (15-9) kept its season alive with the victory. After being two-hit in their previous meeting, the T-Birds racked up 10 hits and took advantage of four Ramsey errors.
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Danielle Iacovo allowed just four hits in the complete game win that gave Mahwah a shot at Indian Hills in the county semifinals on Monday. |
Olson had an RBI and allowed just one unearned run in relief for Ramsey (20-5). The season is not over for the Lady Rams though. They are still alive in the state tournament and will play at home on Tuesday as the No. 3 seed where they will take on seventh-seeded Lenape Valley in the North 1, Group 2 quarterfinals.
“We're definitely disappointed in how we played today, but we still have a lot to play for,” said Ramsey head coach Chris Caserta. “I thought we were mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared to play today. Have to tip our caps to Mahwah though, they also came ready to play and executed better today than we did. We've been a little bit of an offensive funk lately and we'll have to break out of that on Tuesday. To keep our season going, we have to be clicking on all cylinders like Mahwah was against us today. We have a chance to end the season on our terms and we're excited for that opportunity.”
Mahwah will look to take its magical run one step further on Memorial Day when it faces off against top-seeded and undefeated Indian Hills. Very few people outside of the Mahwah dugout are thinking that the the T-Birds could pull the upset, especially being that Indian Hills beat them via the mercy rule (10-0) in five innings back in April. Then again, very few people outside of the Thunderbirds' dugout thought they would get this far so they feel the momentum is all on their side.
“We're really excited to get another chance to play Indian Hills,” said Iacovo. “We're going to come into the game with confidence and we have nothing to lose. It's another chance to prove to everyone how good of a team we are and we can't wait to get back on the field.”
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