Around the Bases

If you get a chance, make the trip to Pearl River Friday as Eastchester meets up with Pearl River in what could be a preview of a sectional matchup.

Should you make the trip, I suggest you leave early, between 2-3 p.m., or you will be stuck in Friday traffice heading west on 287 and across the TZ.

With two weeks remaining in the regular season one thing is certain, there is no clear-cut favorite for the Class AA title.

I know this is going to anger North Rockland fans, especially Rockland Softball and Pick’r Off.

I agree that North Rockland is playing excellent ball right now and has one of the best 1-2 windmilling combos in Samantha Welsh and Krystn Benson, but as I have seen before, strange things happen during sectional. In 2005, John Jay-East Fishkill entered sectionals off of a sub-par regular season in which it played a killer schedule. John Jay was either a 12th or 13th seed,if I remember corretly, and it stormed to the title, beating John Jay and Ali Gardiner in the title game.

Based on this, don’t ever count out John Jay-EF or fellow Dutchess County schools Arlington and R.C. Ketcham because they are always tough and these three teams beat up on each other during the regular season.

These three teams, along with North Rockland, Suffern, Clarkstown North, White Plains, John Jay-Cross River, Carmel, and, let’s not forget defending sectional champ Yorktown, will al be in the mix. Add in Scarsdale and Yonkers, which have all but clinched sectional berths, and I think Mahopac is either close to one or has already stamped a sectional ticket.

There will excellent games from the opening round right through to the final. It will come down to what team executes better and gets the breaks.

And this weekend, defending champion Tappan Zee, Yorktown, Brewster and John Jay-East Fishkill will head to Binghamton for the prestigious Morabito tournament.

Double AA is wide open, especially with Yorktown being swept by Lakeland recently. Don’t ever overlook the Ducthess County teams – Ketcham, John Jay-EF and Arlington – because they are always tough.

Fans, do not go by Varsity Central for these three teams because they are not in our coverage and all of their games do not appear on Varsity Central.

The best way to find out their records is through the Poughkeepsie Journal or through the respective coaches. However, we don’t know if the records are accurate because there are times when games are not reported to the paper.

Also, when one of the area teams plays one of these three teams, sometimes the home (area) coach does not get their record.

We will know for sure what their respective records are at the sectional seeding meeting on the 28th.

Kaity Goldrick pitched a one-hitter and struck out nine in her first varsity start in Pearl River’s win over Irvington. Kelly McMorrow went 3 for 3 including a double, scored a run and had an RBI.
Over at North Rockland, Krystn Benson struck out 13 in a 8-0 win for the Red Raiders over Harrison. Heather Hansen went 3 for 4 and had two RBI in the game.
At Clarkstown North, Danielle DeStaso went 1 for 3 and had three RBI on offense. Then from in the circle, she struck out 12 in a 4-0 win for Clarkstown North over East Ramapo. Joanna Fonseca got the only hit for the Titans in the fourth inning.
Jenna Alburger drove in Katie Maher as the lone run for Naunuet as they lost to Hastings 5-1.

What started off as a good pitchers duel turned ended with a 13 run fourth inning with the Indians winning 14-3 at Tappan Zee High School. Last Thursday at John Jay, the Indians won 2-1.

After the Dutchies get out to a three run lead; the Indians sent up 16 to the plate capped off by a three-run home run to left center field by Indians second baseman Jackie Finn. She had an RBI single earlier in the inning.

The Indians six through nine hitters were extremely productive. They went a combined 4 for 10 with four runs scored, five RBI, and a double.

Gaby Torzilli was her usual productive self allowing one earned run, three hits, and struck out nine. She also was able to help herself at the plate going 1 for 5 with an RBI in that fourth inning.

The Dutchies did have the lead early thanks to Brittni Alexander’s 1 for 2, two runs, and stole another three bases. Right as the game began Alexander’s first at bat of the game proved to be big cause she was able to sneak the ball past short and third. Then she came around to score on a Kayla Meyer ground out.

After that fourth inning, it was good to see Tayla Gardner finish her day in the fifth innning on her own terms with the strikeout of Julie Kilmberg. Kellie Yano did a good job of not letting the Indians score pitching two scoreless innings and striking out two.

In other Rockland News: North Rockland avenges the April 30 loss to Suffern by winning 2-1 over at North Rockland, Samantha Marshall and Megan Jacob each had an RBI while Heather Hansen was the only Red Raider to have any hits and one of them was a triple. Samantha Welsh had another strong outing allowing a run, three hits, three walks, and struck out 10 for the win. Danielle Conklin drove in the lone run for the Mounties.
In the Clarkstown North vs. South rivalry game, Lauren DiBarba and Jordan Kapnick each had an RBI for the Rams in the 4-2 win over the Vikings. Katie Morelli who has pitched very well as of late allowed two earned runs, eight hits and struck out seven for the Vikings.

The fireworks came in the sixth and seventh innings before Harrison thwarted Ursuline’s final comeback attempt.

Harrison’s Gianna LoDolce doubled home two runs with two outs in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 tie.

Harrison entered the game off of consecutive shutouts from ace Ashley Marino – three-hitters over Ursuline and Scarsdale. This made it 19.1 innings of scoreless ball from Marino and Breanne Arlotta, who got the start today. Arlotta kept Ursuline scoreless through 5.1 innings before Ursuline countered with a two-out two-run sixth inning. Lauren Iorio tripled and scored on a Cristina Fletcher, and Fletcher scampered home on a Nina Curto single, evening the score at 2-2.

Harrison regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out rally as Gianna LoDolce doubled in Ashley Lepino and Samantha Lagana. Ursuline drew to within, 4-3 on pinch hitter Meg Smith’s two-out RBI double.

In other Westchester/Putnam games of note Tuesday: Nicole Knox doubled in the top of the eighth inning to give Good Counsel an 8-7 win over Our Lady of Victory. … Lauren Sputo threw a no-hitter and struck out 15 in White Plains’ 3-0 win over Mamaroneck. … Yonkers swept Roosevelt behind pitcher Michelle Smith and Tasha Escobar, who hit a grand slam, and Maggie Roche, who clubbed a two-run shot. Lakeland beat Yorktown for the second consecutive day, 8-7, on the strength of a seven-run fifth inning. Cassie Kardias had two RBI and scored twice. Yorktown’s Cassie Reilly-Boccia drove in three runs. … Kennedy’s Devon DiSiena tossed a five-hitter and struck out 13, and also had two doubles and two RBI in a 9-1 win over Briarcliff. … Edgemont defeated Byram Hills, 9-8 behind Christine Salmon who went 3 for 3 with three RBI. … Scarsdale defeated New Rochelle for the second time this season, a 9-7 verdict as Kaitlin Silkowitz had four hits and three RBI. … Port Chester’s Kelsey Maloney had a grand slam and Jessica Forgione went 3 for 3 with three runs scored in a win over Poughkeepsie.

It was brought to my attention that C.W. Post, led by senior windmiller and former Suffern standout Samantha Yodowitz qualified for the Division II World Series. Good luck to Yodowitz and her teammates.

In Division III, someone posted that former Tappan Zee standout Diana Perez has helped bring Cortland to the World Series. Ithaca, also a World Series participant, has three local players on the team—Brewster’s Jessica Stangarone, Carmel’s Kerry Barger and Westlake’s Samantha Corrado.

And when the Division I World Series begins, Stanford’s Maddy Coon and Florida’s Ali Gardiner will lead their respective teams.