River Dell sweep gives Hawks a league title by Tyler Drakeford special to northjerseysports.com
ORADELL – When Pascack Hills hosted River Dell on Monday it had a one-game lead in the loss column in the race for the Big North Conference – Patriot Division title. After the rematch, which was rain-delayed until Thursday, the league title race was over and River Dell is the champion after a dominating performance by senior right-hander Mike Walker.
Three days after Aidan Tucker threw a complete game gem, Walker turned in an impressive outing of his own. He allowed just four hits and struck out six in a River Dell 3-1 win on Thursday evening.
“I was locked in from start to finish. I knew this Pascack Hills teams had revenge on their minds, and I wasn’t going to allow them to get into a rhythm,” said Senior Mike Walker. “My main goal was to stay focused, throw strikes, and allow my arm to speak for itself and I was able to hit my spots today. Coach told me if I threw strikes against a good hitting team like Hills I was going to be successful today, and I took that approach with me from start to finish. I knew from the first inning when I got the first three batters out that I was locked in.”
Walker did get into some trouble in the third inning when he loaded the bases, but he never flinched. He took his time continued to throw strikes and, on a 3-2 count, got a pop out to right to get out of the jam. That was Pascack Hills’ best opportunity, but Walker remained cool, calm and composed throughout the game.
“Walker is a battler, he is a fighter and he never seizes to give up,” said River Dell head coach Brandon Flanagan. “We give our seniors a lot of space and they always seem to impress us. They take control, they show leadership and they make our jobs so much easier. We don’t have just one but we have a few who go out there and give it their all every single play, and this helps mold our young guys. They are a group of kids who play like there is no tomorrow. That is the main reason for our early season success.”
It has been an early season full of success for River Dell, which has started the season 11-2 and 7-1 in the league.
“I stress to our guys every day in practice before games how important these games are,” said Flanagan. “We have a bounty over our shoulders and every team is going to give us their best shot, every single game. We just must continue to stay locked in, stay focused, and continue to stay level headed. We must play every game like there is no tomorrow. Our guys do a very respectable job at doing that.”
“Hard fought game for us, but we just came out on the short end of the stick,” said Pascack Hills head coach Kevin Kirkby. “I know how badly our guys wanted to beat a very good and disciplined River Dell team but we just didn’t bring our A game today. We didn’t hit the ball well and we didn’t give our pitcher any run support. He pitched a very well game for us, but the scoreboard just doesn’t reflect that. We must go back to the drawing board get some good swings in practice and prepare for our next contest. We have some fighters on this team and they won’t let a game like this slip past them. This will give them added motivation going into the County and state tournaments.”
Runs were at a premium for this tightly contested matchup. River Dell took advantage with a single to leadoff the fourth inning and eventually broke through for their first run on a passed ball. River Dell would then capitalize on another Hills mistake in the fifth when a strikeout got by the catcher and allowed the Hawks player to advance to first. The runner would eventually come around to score on a sacrifice fly to right, giving the Hawks a 2-0 advantage.
A league championship is nice, but it is still April and the big trophies are played for in May.
“We know that the battle is not going to end here, we will continue to stay focused for the remainder of the season and let these two games serve as momentum,” said Flanagan. “This is a long, grind-it-out season, but I love the start. I could not have asked for a better start from my guys and I know they will focus on the goals we set out in the beginning of the season.”
Pascack Hills will use these two losses as a reminder that nothing is going to be given to them.
“We are going to have to work hard for wins with such a tough schedule,” said Kirkby. “We don’t have long to reminisce on a game like this a have our heads down with such a quick turnaround against a parochial powerhouse like Paramus Catholic. I scouted them and they are a talented team from 1-through-9, we will have a great day of practice tomorrow and see what Saturday brings.”