Extra Bases: “Ugly-number” inning a thing of beauty for Northern Highlands

This was exactly who Northern Highlands was, and as coach Chris Broking said afterward, the Highlanders weren’t going to change who they were no matter what the situation was.

Shut down by Immaculate Conception’s Sarah Piening for 4.2 innings (one hit, eight strikeouts) in Saturday’s Bergen County tournament quarterfinal, Highlands’ Christine Griffith stepped to the plate with two outs and no one on, locked in a scoreless tie, and delivered the signature moment in the sixth-seeded Highlanders’ 5-2 upset win over the third-seeded Blue Wolves.

The underrated junior leadoff hitter — one who has been a bit overshadowed by Highlands’ RBI machines like Fiona Walley, Katie Duncan, Sarah Gunderson and Madison Bialkowski — hit a slicing liner to right field, cutting away from IC right fielder Ashley Cantone.

Cantone made a valiant effort on a diving attempt, but the ball bounce just short of her glove and rolled deep into right-field corner. From there, Griffith was on the move… and moving so fast she nearly missed second base and actually had to stop momentarily… and still had time to reach home with relative ease, igniting a wild celebration at home plate.

“Yep, I almost missed it,” Griffith said with a laugh after getting razzed about the play by Broking and her teammates in the postgame huddle. “I thought I hit it with the side of my foot, but the ump was right there. I was had to make sure, then I was like, ‘Okay, okay, time to go to third.’ Off the bat, I thought it’d be a double. Once it got by, I was like, ‘Is this a joke?’ Now it’s a triple? Maybe a home run? I was freaking out.

“It was just a lot of excitement. I was glad I could start a rally for the whole team at a time when we needed a spark. I’m happy to have started that spark, and from there, it just blew up.”

Indeed it did, as Northern Highlands — which strives for “ugly-number” innings, according to Griffith, put up an ugly 5, which — to the Highlanders — was a thing of beauty in the momentum-changing fifth inning.

“Christine is just tough as nails,” Broking said. “The way she plays shortstop, her attitude… she wants the ball hit to her every time, and is going all out all the time. That mentality carries over to what she does as a leadoff hitter. Even when she doesn’t get on base, she has quality at-bats, goes deep into counts, makes defenses make plays. When she does that, others in the lineup want to do it. It’s nice to see her get some of the spotlight. She really has just been an amazing player for us. She’s a big reason why the girls behind her have so many RBIs, so it’s nice to see her have a day like today.”

The five-run fifth-inning rally all started with two outs and no one on and was just another example, in a season filled with many, of the Highlanders’ dangerous and quick-strike offensive abilities. Northern Highlands handed Immaculate Conception its first loss to a New Jersey opponent this season.

Following the fireworks from Griffith, Sasha Brown walked and Fiona Walley singled. Katie Duncan followed by reaching base for the 11th time in a row (back-to-back 4-for-4 games, then started Saturday with two walks) with an RBI single to give Highlands a 2-0 lead. Duncan is batting .532 on the year with 22 RBI and 16 extra-base hits.

Sarah Gunderson followed Duncan’s at-bat with a walk to load the bases for Madison Bialkowski… and Bialkowski laced a three-run double (thrown out at 3rd, but by then the damage was done) to the right-center gap to give Highlands a 5-0 lead.

“We’re going to approach games the same way every time out,” said Broking, who, in 1984, played one season of football at River Dell for the now-legendary Don Bosco coach Greg Toal.

“We’re not going to change who we are for any event, for any situation, for any team. We’re just going to keep playing the way we’ve been playing all year. Like I was telling them after the game, that’s how we play. We keep it close, we stay confident, and I know the second, third time through the order we’re gonna get the bat on the ball.

“We’re averaging 7.5 runs per game and only giving up 2. These kids exude confidence in these situations now, and really it’s every kid on the team, not just the kids that get the headlines. They all believe in each other, they all play together and there’s not one selfish kid on this team.”

For a prime example of that, look no further than in the circle — as Duncan and Gunderson have essentially split starts all season, and even come on in relief of each other at times, just as they did on Saturday, as Northern Highlands advanced to the county semifinals for the first time since 2005 and just the third time in program history.

Gunderson didn’t even find out she was starting until noon on Saturday when she arrived at the school and spoke with Broking in the parking lot. “I wanted to sleep on it,” he said with a laugh. The super sophomore tossed six strong innings, allowing one run on eight hits with 10 strikeouts and Duncan came in for the seventh to close things out. Gunderson improved to 13-1 (suffering only a loss to Indian Hills on April 3) with 92 strikeouts and just eight walks this season.

“The unselfishness of this team starts with those two, definitely,” Broking said. “They just want to win. Whether it’s Katie that starts and Sarah finishes, or Sarah starts and Katie finishes, or either one goes the distance, they’re both like, ‘Whatever, coach. We just want to win.’ And to have kids with that kind of ability now taking a personal backseat for what the team needs, that kind of attitude just flows down to everyone else. It’s really great to see and it makes my job easier.

“Then when the results start coming in like they have been for us, they all buy into it even more and that’s what makes special years. And this really has been a special year.”

Said Gunderson: “He told me I was going today and I was just like, ‘Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go.’ I was pumped up because this was a big game, and I was pumped because we were playing against girls I’ve played with before on my club teams. Defensively, I knew that if I did my job, my defense would do the same and help me out, and they did. I was proud of this team today. Thankfully Katie came in at the end and got the job done, too.”

Because of the competitive nature of the Big North Freedom (Indian Hills, Ridgewood, Highlands, Paramus, Ramapo, Hackensack), and I alluded to this in the days leading up to the game, but Highlands couldn’t have looked more prepared for Saturday’s matchup with Immaculate Conception because of the competition they have played this season. It was obvious the disparity in strength of schedules played a factor in the outcome.

“If you can get through our league and play well, when you’re playing great teams like Ridgewood and Indian Hills and Paramus and Ramapo, you kind of get used to those big moments, those big games,” Broking said. “You get used to being in those situations. If you have a schedule that you just cruise through, you’re not getting better. And we have a lot of moving parts. We’ve got two pitchers, one goes to first when she’s not pitching (Duncan), one goes to center field (Gunderson), and we don’t usually strike out a lot of people, so we have to make plays. We’ve made plays under pressure this season, we did it today, and when you do that, you’re going to be in every game, which we have been.”

Said Griffith: “It definitely helps. We all said to each other how we’ve faced Indian Hills, we beat Ridgewood, Indian Hills beat us 1-0 on one home run. We knew we were a tougher team because of that.”

The toughest of tests awaits Northern Highlands in the BCT semifinals, as a showdown with three-time defending champion and undefeated IHA  is up next. As I was walking away from Broking on Saturday, I said, “See ya Monday,” to which he replied, “Yeah, we’re playing the Yankees.”

No matter what team lines up across from Northern Highlands, you can bet they won’t change their approach that has led them to a 21-3 record this season.

“I’ve known a bunch of these kids for a while now,” Broking said. “This has always been an OK program, but to be in this position is what teams should always strive to be in. Even going back to my football days, with Greg Toal at River Dell, I learned you don’t back away from any situation, from any opponent, and nothing will stand in your way if you’re willing to work hard and have a positive attitude.

“These kids have done that from the beginning. I knew they had the ability to have a season like this, but everyone had to buy in and believe they could make some noise.”

And now, Northern Highlands is making noise… one ugly number at a time.