IHA stays unbeaten with victory over Ramsey by Greg Mattura of The Record
WASHINGTON TWP. – Immaculate Heart lived up to every bit of its billing as the No. 1 softball team in the NorthJersey.com Top 25.
Junior right-hander Ryleigh White and the unbeaten Blue Eagles were outstanding in a 5-0 victory over defending Bergen County champion and No. 3 Ramsey in Thursday’s Big North Conference showdown.
“A great showing against a very good team,” IHA coach Diana Fasano said.
White was great, tossing a three-hitter with 12 strikeouts to out-duel Ramsey senior left-hander Victoria Sebastian, who allowed five earned runs on five hits and struck out four. Their defenses were error-free.
White had a stellar riser and screwball and aided her cause with a two-run home run in the third inning to extend IHA’s lead to 4-0. Her blast was an opposite-field shot to right.
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The Blue Eagles led 2-0 in the second on a two-run triple by freshman Cara Kochakian. They expanded their margin to 5-0 in the sixth on an RBI double by freshman Gabby Park.
“They have a girl who’s hurling it, she’s slinging it this year, and she’s back and she’s really got it going,” Ramsey coach Chris Caserta said of White. “And she’s got a nice supporting cast around her. So we knew we’d have to play almost perfect, and obviously we weren’t perfect. I don’t think we played poorly, a couple of little things here and there, and they’ll capitalize on that.”
What it means
Immaculate Heart (11-0) maintains the inside track on the No. 1 seed for the Bergen County tournament, and the all-girls parochial school is slated to play four more games before Tuesday’s seeding meeting. Ramsey can still earn a top-four seed.
“We knew that they were good competitors,” White said, “and we definitely knew that they were a rivalry, and Sebastian is a good pitcher, so we knew we had to come out ready to hit, and we did.”
Key play
Kochakian is a freshman and the No. 9 hitter and her two-run triple in the second was an opposite-field liner to right that came with two outs.
“Cara, unbelievable, for a freshman to come in, and to hit the ball where it was pitched,” Fasano said. “She did a great job, it was a great at-bat, and I’m happy for her.”
“I just believe in my team, and Cara, or anybody in that position, I would have believed that they would have gotten those two runs,” White said. “And I’m very happy that my teammate got that for me.”
By the numbers
Ramsey earned its three hits via Sebastian leading off the game by legging out an infield single, senior Katie Novak’s single up the middle in the second, and sophomore Astrid Corcoran’s single to center in the fourth.
White retired all five batters she faced with runners in scoring position, featuring a second inning in which Rams were on first and second with no out and she induced a 6-5 force-out, a 5-4 sac bunt and a 1-3 putout on a bunt.
“She had control of the zone, and pitching well against a very good offensive team,” Fasano said.
“Definitely having Ryleigh as a pitcher is amazing,” Kochakian said, “and she just fires up the whole team and gets us going.”
They said it
“Your prepping now to get into conference play, county play, we’re prepping for the state [tournament].” Fasano said, “So it’s always great to play great competition and play well.”
“If we’re lucky enough and fortunate enough to see them again, we’ll have to try to clean it up a little bit,” Caserta said. “We’ll have to play as perfect as we can, or as close to perfect as we can.”