Paramus Catholic pitcher Samantha Buse has been in the center of the Lady Paladins’ recent hot streak. (DEMITRIUS BALEVSKI/Staff Photographer)
Because of Signing Day, I didn’t get a chance to recap Wednesday’s action, so here’s some not-so-snap judgments from the past two days. The big winners Wednesday were Paramus Catholic (beat No. 19 Pascack Valley, 13-1) and Passaic Valley (beat No. 17 Bergen Tech). The Lady Paladins started 0-3, but have since gone 4-1 in their last five games and are looking more like the team that began the year as The Record’s eighth-ranked team. The lopsided score of the PV game was the biggest surprise, as Stephanie Triola had a huge day, with a double, two home runs and five RBI and Samantha Buse fired a complete game two-hitter. Janelle Marchesani also homered and drove in two. The same three were at it again on Thursday in PC’s 3-0 win over Bergenfield, as Troila and Marchesani both homered and drove in one, while Buse got another win.
Lots more around North Jersey below, including current division leaders and other teams in the hunt for league titles from all around the area (Big North, NJIC, NJAC and Hudson County) at the bottom of the page.
The biggest winner on Thursday? Lyndhurst…with its statement 9-4 win over No. 10 New Milford in a game featuring the last two remaining unbeaten teams in the NJIC Liberty Division. The Bears now have the inside track to a division title and are certainly making their case to rejoin the Top 25 with a 7-2 record, including two wins vs. Top 25 teams this week (they beat No. 23 Secaucus on Tuesday). Casey Zdanek led Lyndhurst to Thursday’s big win with a home run, 2 RBI and got the win with five strikeouts.
Over the past two days, we’ve had two new members join the 100-hit club in DePaul’s Christina Martinez and Park Ridge’s Samantha Vradenburg. Three teams on the outside looking in regarding the Top 25 — Hasbrouck Heights (7-1), River Dell (5-3) and Passaic Valley (5-3) — continue winning. River Dell is in the midst of a perfect week, with wins over Dwight-Morrow, Ridgefield Park and Demarest, while Passaic Valley’s Kate Kallert had one of the most impressive pitching performances of the week, striking out 18 in a no-hitter against No. 17 Bergen Tech — a 9-0 win. Pretty sure that was Kallert’s second no-hitter in a span of five days after no-hitting Eastern Christian last Saturday.
We still have five undefeated teams in North Jersey heading into Friday’s action — No. 1 Immaculate Heart (9-0), No. 2 Immaculate Conception (11-0), No. 5 Park Ridge (10-0), No. 9 Fair Lawn (8-0) and No. 25 Butler (9-0). I’m already looking forward to the IHA-IC game next Saturday at the HOFS Classic — a loaded tournament, featuring seven Top 25 teams (really seven Top 13 teams), and the other team is Mount St. Dominic. And IHA extended its state-best winning streak to 41 games on Wednesday with its 12-0 win over Passaic, just after Ally Vergona and Cassidy Trause signed with UNC-Greensboro and Temple, respectively. Angelina McGuire drove in four, and I’m sorry I didn’t stay for the game, Ally and Cassidy.
No. 2 Immaculate Conception won on Wednesday getting another dominant performance on the mound, as Sarah Piening fired a 15-strikeout two-hitter in the Blue Wolves’ 7-0 win over Hawthorne. Amanda Zielinski and Shannon Truppi both added two RBI for IC, which broke open a 2-0 game with a five-run fifth. Truppi doubled twice. … Andee Lupica then had a big day on Thursday in Immaculate Conception’s 18-4 win over North Arlington, doubling twice, driving in five runs, while striking out 10. Samantha Krakower added a double, home run and four RBI, Meghan Beyer added three RBI and Lea Georgatos homered and drove in two. IC currently has the most wins in North Jersey, with 11.
No. 5 Park Ridge picked up win No. 10 on Thursday and there were a couple of milestones in the 12-0 win over Hawthorne Christian. As previously mentioned, Sam Vrandenburg picked up career hit No. 100, and she did it in style, going a perfect 4-for-4 day, including a double, triple and two RBI. And freshman Angela Rivera blasted her first career home run and also drove in a pair of runs. Rivera also tripled. Emily Kline got the win with seven strikeouts.
No. 7 DePaul had some milestones of its own on Wednesday when Martinez joined the 100-hit club in the Spartans 11-0 win over Wayne Hills and Ashley LaGuardia fired a five-inning perfect game with 10 strikeouts. Martinez finished 3-for-3 with a triple, two runs and two RBI. Winners of five straight now, DePaul (7-2) earned the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Passaic County Tournament, where it will look to defend its title.
No. 8 Fair Lawn remained unbeaten with its 10-1 win over No. 17 Bergen Tech on Thursday, getting a 4-for-4 day from Jen Calabrase and another 11-strikeout performance from Marissa Spinuzzi. Have those two been good this year or what? Sophomore Brittany Meerholz added a double and three RBI on Thursday. Really big game for the Cutters coming up on Saturday at the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament when they take on No. 18 Ridgewood — a team better than its 4-6 record indicates. Then they’ve got a West Milford team playing better on April 23 and the rematch with Lakeland on May 1, which will probably determine whether Fair Lawn shares (which they don’t want) or wins the league title outright.
No. 9 Rutherford played four days in a row this week and won them all, beating Lodi, Pompton Lakes, Manchester and Mary Help. The win over Pompton put them in the driver’s seat for the NJIC Colonial Division title. The Lady Bulldogs have big games the next two Saturdays when they take on No. 4 Indian Hills at the Blake Tournament at Highlands and Mount St. Dominic the following week.
No. 12 Lakeland won its fifth game in a row on Wednesday and improved to 7-3 with its 16-0 win over Kennedy (you know who else is on a 5-game winning streak? DePaul… maybe they’ll meet in an important game somewhere down the road…). Lauren Berry had two hits, two runs and 4 RBI for the Lancers, while Danielle Stoll and Kristin McNerney each added three RBI. Lakeland recently nabbed the 2-seed in the upcoming Passaic County Tournament.
No. 13 Paramus picked up a good 6-1 win over No. 22 Old Tappan on Thursday, breaking open a 1-1 game in the fifth with five runs. Alexa Salinardi tripled and drove in three, while Ashley Cantone, Kelsey Settecasi and Ani Avanesian each added one RBI. Nicole Chermark fired a complete game two-hitter for the Spartans, now 6-2.
No. 17 North Bergen picked up another two wins the past two days with wins over Union City and McNair Academy. Jessica Godoy, Alize Sarmiento and Sabrina Reyes all added two RBI in the win over McNair, and Jessica Feria picked up both wins in the circle, firing a two-hitter vs. Union City and a one-hitter vs. McNair. Don’t have the strikeout totals, but if I had to guess, it was probably around 10 or so for both, since that’s what it is pretty much every game. Feria is a strikeout machine.
No. 20 Ramsey… on fire. The Rams picked up another two wins the past two days and are now 8-2 this season. It’s still super early, but Chris Caserta has to be in the conversation for Coach of the Year right now, as Ramsey is currently tied atop the competitive Big North Patriot Division with Mahwah, both at 3-1, with River Dell and Pascack Hills lurking one game back. On Wednesday, the Rams beat Dumont, 8-3, getting two RBI each from Holly Cook and Christina Esposito, then on Thursday, Ramsey defeated Dwight-Morrow, 10-0, in five innings — getting one RBI each from ten different players. After an opening day loss to River Dell (who they’ll see again on Monday), the Rams are 8-1 in their last nine… the only loss coming to a very good Jefferson team, 2-0. Jefferson is 8-2, with one of those losses coming to state-ranked High Point, 1-0. So yea, Ramsey seems for real.
No. 21 Midland Park is 8-1 with the only loss coming courtesy of No. 5 Park Ridge. MP won again on Wednesday with its 10-0 win over Emerson, as Katie Lelinho followed up her perfect game on Monday with a six-inning three-hitter. Victoria Bell tripled and drove in two, while teammate Katie Kontos added a double and one RBI. Good game scheduled for today with No. 10 New Milford. And some major looking ahead here, but I could see Midland Park heading into its rematch with Park Ridge at 17-1 if they beat New Milford today. MP doesn’t face another Top 25 team until then.
And here are the current division leaders and others in the mix, according to our database:
Big North United: Immaculate Heart (3-0) … DePaul one game back
Big North Liberty: Bergen Tech (5-0) … Clifton one game back
Big North Freedom: Ramapo and Indian Hills (4-1) … Paramus one game back
Big North Patriot: Ramsey and Mahwah (3-1) … River Dell and Pascack Hills one game back
Big North Independence: Fair Lawn (5-0) … Lakeland one game back
Big North National: Old Tappan and Pascack Valley (4-1) … Demarest one game back
Big North American: Dumont (4-0) … Ridgefield Park one game back
NJIC Colonial: Rutherford (8-0) … Pompton Lakes 1.5 games back
NJIC Meadowlands: Immaculate Conception (7-0) … Saddle Brook and Hasbrouck Heights 1.5 games back
NJIC Liberty: Lyndhurst (7-0) … New Milford 1.5 games back
NJIC Patriot: Park Ridge (7-0) … Midland Park 0.5 game back
Hudson County Coviello: North Bergen (5-0) … Kearny one game back
NJAC Independence: Pequannock and Butler (4-0)