Extra Bases: Softball, Softball, Softball… A look at the past three days

So much to get into from the past three days, I don’t even know where to start. Included below are some thoughts from this weekend, some Top 25 talk and the teams that are on the verge of cracking the rankings, and my (incomplete) list of current players who are in the 100-hit club. I’m missing plenty of them, so check the bottom of the page for details on how to let me know who else should be on the list… 

Saturday was a wild day all around North Jersey. I was at Park Ridge’s Coaches. vs. Cancer Tournament, then headed over to Northern Highlands for some of the Mike Blake Tournament. I left the Fair Lawn-Ridgewood game, which ended up being probably the best game of the day. But thanks to some quality tweeting/reporting from Park Ridge’s Sam Vrandenburg, the Aces had Ridgewood’s 3-2 11-inning win covered. Fair Lawn’s Marissa Spinuzzi blasted a clutch game-tying home run in the 7th to force extras — and it was also her 100th career hit.

Obviously the two biggest storylines were the two unbeatens falling in Park Ridge, with Ridgefield Park beating the host school and Ridgewood beating Fair Lawn. That RW-FL game could have been a preview of a state tournament game, as Fair Lawn is 3rd in the first power point rankings and Ridgewood is 4th in North 1, Group 4.

As for Ridgefield Park, Scarlets pitcher Irene Kontogiannis was good and the Scarlets took advantage of some walks in the 7th to strike twice for the game-tying and go-ahead runs in the 3-2 win. RP coach Mook Iannacone called it a “signature win for the program.” Park Ridge pitcher Emily Kline, who has been brilliant all season long, just lost some control in the final inning, but there’s hardly any reason to panic for the Owls. Park Ridge, now No. 7 in the Top 25, bounced back Monday with a 14-0 win over Cresskill to move to 11-1. As they would say, #PROnation is back… but I don’t think it ever left. It’s hard to stay unbeaten, and, really, the Owls had just one bad inning Saturday and it ended up costing them. The streak was nice, but what really matters is winning a league, county and/or sectional title… all three of which are legitimate possibilities.

It came in a losing effort, but Park Ridge 2B Martina McGee made the best play I’ve seen all year (also in contention: Indian Hills SS Nicole Leocata‘s game-ending play in the hole with a runner on 3rd to preserve a 1-0 IH win over Pascack Valley, Fair Lawn RF Brittany Meerholz‘s mutiple-run saving catch in the Cutters’ 2-1 win over Lakeland, and DePaul CF Abby Symons sick running catch in the left-center gap in the Spartans’ win over Clifton). With one out and the bases loaded in a game tied at 2, McGee dove to her left on a bullet one-hopper, scooping it cleanly. She calmly got up and fired a strike to the plate to get the force out at home and keep it tied at 2. Mook even said that was one heck of a play.

Then I went and saw Indian Hills-Rutherford and I was a bit surprised at the 10-2 final. Devin Durando was solid in the circle, but really it was the Braves’ offense that shined most on Saturday — striking for 4, 3, 2 and 1 runs in the first four innings. It was included in today’s notebook, but Braves catcher Nicole Paiotti is on the verge of breaking several Indian Hills career records. Her next home run will make her the Braves’ all-time leader in that category and she’s close to the RBI mark, too — in addition to a few more. IH coach Joe Leicht said she could break six records.

The losing pitcher in that one was Rutherford’s Julie Sosnicki, who Leicht spoke highly of after Saturday’s game (“She’s fabulous,” were his words). I don’t know too many pitchers that would have slowed down the Indian Hills offense on Saturday, though… they were all on fire. And after the first three innings, Sosnicki really settled down, too. Anyway, Sosnicki is heading to Division II St. Thomas Aquinas College next year to continue her career and on the verge of breaking some significant Rutherford school records. She’s a few wins away from the 64-win mark set by Allison Weist in 1996 and just off the strikeout mark of 618, also set by Weist. She’s very good and one of the big reasons why the Lady Bulldogs feel this is their year to finally win that coveted and elusive sectional championship.

Then I saw Immaculate Conception win its 14th game to start the year in a 10-0 six-inning win over Hasbrouck Heights (9-2) on Monday. Freshman Sarah Piening threw a no-hitter (her first of the season, which I was surprised at) to move to 8-0 on the year, but was mad at herself for making an error on a play she makes more times than not on a grounder right back to her in the 6th. She struck out 14 and has 80 of them in eight starts.

One more IC note… they just got a nice midseason “acquisition” with Gabby Slade becoming eligible after having to sit out the early parts of the season because of transfer rules. She came to IC from Pascack Valley, where she earned honorable mention honors in the highly-competitive Big North Patriot last year… as a freshman. She had the game-winning home run in IC’s comeback 8-7 win over Our Lady of Mercy (N.Y.) on Sunday and added another two hits Monday, and ripped a liner back to the pitcher, which was caught, in another one of her at bats. So, the sophomore RF will be another big bat in the middle of the IC lineup the remainder of the year. She’ll have a few games under her belt before some pretty big game coming up on Saturday…

Top 25 Talk (and who’s on the brink)

This was the hardest week to do the Top 25 and while doing it, all I was thinking about was how good this year’s Bergen County Tournament is going to be. Making the biggest jumps this week were Ramsey (from No. 20 to No. 8) and Midland Park (from No. 21 to No. 12) after their perfect weeks. Ramsey’s Abby Triglia had one of the clutchest hits of the year — a 6th-inning go-ahead grand slam to beat Pascack Hills.

No major changes at the top with IHA and Immaculate Conception, both cruising along with undefeated records against ridiculous schedules. No. 3 Indian Hills and No. 4 Pequannock (now 9-3 after Monday’s win) switched places, only because of Pequannock’s one loss on Saturday, even though it was the fourth game of day on Saturday to Pope John. Saddle Brook joined the Top 5 after a perfect week coupled with Park Ridge’s loss. And DePaul slid into the 6-spot, winners of six straight after Monday’s win. North Bergen continued slowly creeping up the rankings, coming in this week at No. 15. I promise to see NB’s Jessica Feria pitch this season, before she heads to Mercy College to continue her career next year.

We had three new teams enter the rankings — Hasbrouck Heights, Lyndhurst and Ridgefield Park — replacing Bergen Tech, Secaucus and Pompton Lakes. Neither Secaucus or Pompton Lakes really deserved to be outed from the rankings, but 1. It was hard to ignore Hasbrouck Heights’ 9-1 record (which is now 9-2 after a 10-0 loss to Immaculate Conception on Monday) and 2. How could Ridgefield Park not be in the Top 25 after handing previously No. 5-ranked Park Ridge its first loss of the year?

And Lyndhurst (which just got a five-inning perfect game from Casey Zdanek on Monday in the Bears 10-0 win over Dwight-Englewood) beat Secaucus and New Milford last week (making up for a loss to Bergen Tech on Monday), so the Bears rejoined the Top 25 and are now 9-2. And by the way, congratulations to Secaucus’ Danielle Roesing and Lauren Guillen, both who joined the 100-hit club in Monday’s 11-9 loss to New Milford. Julia McClure tweeted Roesing’s 100th hit was a grand slam, and I’ll take her word for it.

Passaic Valley is a team on fire right now and one more big week could lead them into the Top 25. The Hornets will get their chance to get that signature win they’re currently lacking on Wednesday when they head to No. 11 Lakeland. After a 12-1 win over Passaic on Monday (where Kate Kallert had another 18 strikeouts), PV is 8-3, on a six-game winning streak. Kallert is averaging over two strikeouts per inning this season. The Hornets have given their best two opponents — Fair Lawn and Lakeland — good games earlier this year, but fell both times by two runs, each low-scoring games (3-1, 2-0).

River Dell, which ended last week at 5-3, is right on the brink, too. RD is one of two teams this year to beat Ramsey (on Opening Day, 4-2). They just lost to Ramsey in the rematch on Monday, 4-2, and now three of their four season losses are to Top 25 teams (Mahwah, Pascack Hills and Ramsey). Its’ other loss is a 1-0 defeat to Northern Highlands (more on Highlands in a bit).

Paramus Catholic, at 5-5, is not quite ready for the Top 25 just yet, but the Lady Paladins are certainly playing well after an 0-3 start. They just took down the sixth-ranked team in New York City on Sunday, Fontbonne Hall, 6-5. Samantha Buse was the hero, with the game-winning hit in PC’s four-run 7th, but it was Janelle Marchesani‘s three-run double that tied the game prior to Buse’s game-winner. The Paladins also beat Pascack Valley earlier in the week, so this is a team definitely on the brink of returning to the rankings. Big one vs. DePaul coming up on Friday.

As for Pascack Valley, what an interesting last eight days for the Indians. The 1-0 loss to Indian Hills last Monday is nothing to hang their heads about, but the lopsided loss to Paramus Catholic was surprising. A loss to Ramapo on Sunday would have dropped them from the Top 25, but Pascack Valley came through with a huge 5-3 win over the Raiders. But then, yesterday, PV fell to unranked Hackensack, 4-2, surrendering three runs in the 6th. So it seems inconsistency is an issue for Pascack, but as shown in the loss to Indian Hills and win vs. Ramapo, when the Indians put it all together, they can play, and beat, anyone.

Two more teams that aren’t there yet, but certainly appear to be on the rise — Northern Highlands and Demarest. The Highlanders started 0-3, then 2-5, but then went a perfect 4-0 last week, capped by a 6-4 win over Holy Angels on Saturday. They won their fifth straight game Monday, beating Holy Angels again, 3-1. Highlands is now 7-7 with a huge three-game stretch coming up this week — Ridgewood, Indian Hills and Mahwah. This is a team that plays a brutal schedule, as four of its five losses are to current Top 25 teams (Ridgewood, Indian Hills, Paramus, Ramapo). It won’t get any easier next week either, with Paramus, Ramapo, Pascack Hills and Hackensack on the schedule, but this is a team that will be seriously battle-tested come tournament time. A big week this week could push Highlands back into the rankings.

Demarest’s biggest win of the year came Monday (an 8-7 win over Paramus, thanks to Gabby Garcia‘s go-ahead two-run homer in the 6th), so now the Norsemen are on the radar, too. I spoke with Demarest coach Keith Johnson Monday night after the big win and he said he has a young team, but when they put it all together they can hang with some of the top teams around. “I said to them, ‘If you can get some wins against Top 25 team, you can put yourselves on the map.’ ” Like Highlands, Demarest has a big week coming up with Indian Hills, Pascack Valley, Westwood and New Milford on the slate.

And one more I’m keeping an eye on… Hackensack (7-6). The Comets started 2-5, but are 5-1 in their last six games, including a huge 4-2 win over Pascack Valley on Monday, which I got like six different tweets about. We’ll find out more about Hackensack over the next two weeks with upcoming games with Ramapo, Ridgewood, Indian Hills, Paramus, Northern Highlands and IHA from now until May 7.

Some more interesting teams: Dumont (6-5, but 5-0 in division with a win over Ridgefield Park), Eastern Christian (P Ashley Manger and SS Carly Veenstra are both very good), Westwood (P Dana Klarer keeps this team in games, like in Monday’s 3-2 10-inning loss to Ridgefield Park), and Teaneck (junior SS Deijah Lee-Caroll is having a great year)

Current North Jersey players with 100 hits

– Sam Vradenburg, Park Ridge
– Lorena Alvarez, Saddle Brook
– Christina Martinez, DePaul
– Alexis Bush, Fair Lawn
– Marissa Spinuzzi, Fair Lawn
– Angela Coughlin, New Milford
– Carly Lesko, New Milford
– Cassidy Trause, Immaculate Heart/Cedar Grove
– Mary Wiley, Old Tappan
– Danielle Roesing, Secaucus
– Lauren Guillen, Secaucus

This was done pretty much off the top of my head from what I could remember from this year and a quick archive search of last year. Who else is currently playing and has 100 hits? I know there’s missing players on the list. E-mail me (conrad@northjersey.com), tweet me (@VarsityAces) or leave a Facebook comment at the bottom of the page. You could even mention if someone’s getting close to 100.