Sunday, May 3, 2015

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Nicole Curley struck out a career-best 14 and needed everyone of them as No. 8 Mahwah held off No. 24 Leonia, 1-0, in the first round of the Bergen County Tournament on Saturday.

MAHWAH – There was a time just a few short years ago when Mahwah was the plucky team hoping to make a name for itself when facing one of the better teams in Bergen County. Now that the Thunderbirds are among the upper echelon of teams in the county, it is them who have become the hunted. Such was the case on Saturday in the first-round of the Bergen County Tournament when upstart Leonia senior Ursula Castiblanco and Mahwah’s Nicole Curley were locked in an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel.

It was evident as the game wore on that whichever team got the first big hit would come away the victor. Mahwah’s Alyssa Baldi did just that with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth. Curley did the rest with a little help from a sparkling defensive play by third baseman Kayla Devine. The two teams combined for just four hits as eighth-seeded Mahwah survived a scare with a 1-0 triumph over No. 25 seed Leonia at Mahwah High School.

“It was a closer than we would have liked but their pitcher (Castiblanco) threw the ball really well and I had to keep playing my game,” said Curley. “It was pretty stressful at times. You just have to take it one batter at a time, one pitch at a time.”

Curley had everything working right from the first pitch as she attacked both sides of the strike zone and also changed speeds. She struck out six of the first eight batters she faced.

The Thunderbirds got a runner into scoring position in each of the first three innings, but Castiblanco bore down and got out of the jams by ending each of those three threats with a strikeout as the teams matched zeros.

Leonia's Ursula Castiblanco allowed just three hits and struck out eight.

Leonia had a huge chance in the fourth when a pair of errors put runners on second and third with one out. A hit or a bad bounce could have put Mahwah in some serious trouble. Curley never let that become a possibility with consecutive strikeouts to keep the game scoreless.

Castiblanco had retired six straight until a hustle play got the T-Birds going. Deanna Burbridge beat out a routine grounder to third then went to second on a fielder’s choice. That brought Baldi to the plate with a chance to drive in a run and one she knew that a similar opportunity might not come again. With the count 2-1, Baldi roped a single to right-center with Burbridge beating the throw to the plate to give Mahwah a 1-0 lead.

“I was really just looking to hit the ball hard and put it in play,” said Baldi, a three-sport star (tennis, basketball). “She threw me outside the first time I was up. I was looking for it again and I was ready when the pitch came.”

The Lady Lions came right back with one last quality scoring opportunity in the top of the sixth inning. Andrea Garcia got the Lions’ lone hit with a leadoff single followed by a walk to Castiblanco. A sac bunt by Colleen Weber put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with two outs. Lexi Capote hit a squibber off the end of her bat that landed with heavy spin in front of Levine at third. Levine calmly collected the ball and fired to first just in time to get Capote at first to end the inning. Curley then retired the side 1-2-3 to close out the game.

Castiblanco took the hard-luck loss for Leonia (8-3). The Hamilton College-bound right-hander allowed just three hits with one walk to go along with eight strikeouts. Garcia and Elizabeth Gold made back-to-back outstanding defensive plays at shortstop and third base, respectively, in the fourth inning.

Mahwah's Alyssa Baldi drove in the game's lone run with an RBI single in the fifth inning.

“We’re disappointed we lost, but we came in as underdogs and we played well,” said Castiblanco, who holds the single-season and career strikeouts record at Leonia. “This opportunity was so exciting. Noone really knows what kind of team we are and we hope today put us on the map. This is one of the better teams in the county and it was a (0-0) game going into the sixth without two of our starters. We knew they were a great team and we hung right with them.”

Curley was dominant from start to finish for Mahwah (13-3). She allowed just one hit with two walks and a career-best 14 Ks. Baldi had two of the Thunderbirds’ three hits including the only extra-base hit of the game, a first-inning double.

Mahwah survived and advanced against a solid Leonia team, but in order to go any further, the Thunderbirds will have to get the bats going. They will have that chance next week against another surprise team, 24th Dumont, who pulled the biggest upset of the BCT so far with a 2-1 victory at ninth-seeded River Dell on Saturday.

“We have struggled with energy at times this season and that can’t happen if we want to go far in this tournament,” added Curley. “We know teams are looking to knock us off and we have to keep our energy up for all seven innings if we’re going to keep advancing.”

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