Ramsey softball lives up to billing as North Jersey’s No. 1 team by Greg Mattura of The Record
EMERSON – Ramsey looked every bit like a softball team worthy of the No. 1 ranking in North Jersey.
The Rams, No. 1 in the NorthJersey.com Preseason Top 25, opened their season Saturday with an authoritative 10-0 victory in five innings over No. 16 Emerson.
Junior Victoria Sebastian tossed a one-hitter with one walk and 11 strikeouts surrounded by a defense that only committed one error and supported by an attack that struck for 16 hits.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start,” Ramsey coach Chris Caserta said after earning his 200th career victory.
“We just want to be humble and hungry, and we just want to play together and see how far it takes us,” Sebastian said.
Let’s start with Sebastian. The left-hander hit her spots, changed speeds and kept Emerson off balance. After junior Alyssa Mattera broke up the no-hitter in the seventh inning with a leadoff single to right, and moved to second on an errant pickoff throw, Sebastian answered by striking out the next three batters.
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“Honestly, we had a really good game today,” said Sebastian. “Early on in scrimmages, we faced a little adversity and didn’t play our best. But today we really pulled it together and played as a team and did really well, and I’m really happy with how we performed.”
Ramsey produced 13 singles and three doubles. The defending Bergen County champions got two hits and an RBI from Sebastian, three hits and two RBI from senior Gabby Marchisin, and three hits and an RBI from junior Emma Cunningham.
“Today we really came out and showed them that we have so much depth in our lineup,” Sebastian said. “It’s not just a few batters who can get the bat on the ball, and that a team has to be worried about one through nine. And even our bench can come in and get hits when we need it.”
Leading 1-0, Ramsey broke it open in the second inning with six runs on eight hits. Seven Rams contributed at least one hit in the second, with sophomore and No. 8 hitter Kaitlin Houser contributing a double and a single. The Rams teed off on a lot of low fastballs.
“I thought we did a good job working the count, and putting the ball in play, and pushing the runs across,” said Caserta, who has earned all 200 wins over 10 seasons with Anna Wiezik as an assistant. “And kind of like a chain reaction, when we get a couple of those solid hits on the ground, up the middle, found a couple of holes – and we’ll always take them – and we were able to push them across.”
Emerson deserves respect for scheduling top-ranked Ramsey on opening day. Senior right-hander Jenna Cooper, minus that second inning, pitched respectably for the Cavaliers. Their hitting and defense needs to get better.
“In a way, it magnifies the things you need to work on, kind of personalizes it,” Emerson coach Nancy Graf said. “So it’s good to have a tough game like that in the beginning of the year, and I think we’re going to grow as a team because of it.”