Heights Doubles its Pleasure Versus Wood-Ridge

Hasbrouck Heights baseball and softball teams took on their neighborhood rivals on Tuesday and came home with a pair of upsets.

First, the Lady Aviators defeated the Wood-Ridge softball team, 6-5, in 11 innings at home for the first time in at least four years.

And down the street off of Terrace Avenue, Heights baseball team handed Wood-Ridge its first loss of the year of the season with a dominating 10-2 victory.

Softball

The Hasbrouck Heights softball coach and the senior parents knew that their team had not defeated rival Wood-Ridge in the four years of being on the team.

Before that it is hard to tell, but these seniors like Julie Sheridan can now say that they have never defeated their neighborhood foes as the Lady Aviators won a thriller, 6-5, in 11 innings on Tuesday afternoon in a North Jersey Interscholastic Conference Meadowlands B division battle.

"The win will give us a lot of confidence going forward," said Hasbrouck Heights head coach Jackie Ferranti.

The win raised Heights record to 4-5 on the season as they look to have at least a .500 record by May 1, the cutoff for the Bergen County Tournament.

After tying the game in the 10th inning at five, Heights pitcher Julie Sheridan shutdown the Lady Blue Devils in the top of the 11th.

In high school softball starting with the 10th inning, the team at-bat gets a runner at second base to start the inning.

With Sheridan at second base Heights first baseman Stephanie Pagan bunted Sheridan over to third with Carolyn Clites coming up to bat.

And Clites came through by slapping a pitch between second and first base as Sheridan came strolling home for the win. "I just wanted her to hit the ball as hard as she could," said Ferranti. "She's a very aggressive hitter and I even wanted a deep fly ball."

For the game Sheridan did it with her bat and her arm. In the circle the senior hurler allowed only two earned runs and struck out eight. "She had a real good curve ball in the game," said Ferranti about Sheridan.

With her bat Sheridan went 2-for-5 in the game with a home run and a double along with two RBI.

The senior's solo home run came in the third inning that gave the Lady Aviators a 2-1 lead.

After Wood-Ridge took a 4-2 lead, Hasbrouck Heights received a key hit from freshman Natalie Garcia who brought home two runs to tie the game at four. "That was big for us especially coming off the bat of a freshman," said Ferranti.

After the Blue Devils took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 10^th inning, Daniella Castellanos slapped a base hit to score Diana Torres to tie the game at five.

Baseball

Heights travelled to Wood-Ridge sailing high after a 7-0 start, but the Aviators gave them a wake-up call in the 10-2 victory.

Behind the pitching of starter Ray Espinosa and a dozen hits from the Heights offense, the Aviators were able to pull away in the top of the fifth inning with six runs. Espinosa shut down the Blue Devils offense for most of the game to get his second victory of the season.

A pair of juniors led the way for Heights as shortstop Joe Crabbe and catcher Gabe Toledo with three RBI each. Sophomore second baseman Rob Klenk added a pair of RBI in the NJIC Meadowlands B division battle.

The two teams will face each on the last scheduled regular season game, May 18, in Hasbrouck Heights.

Outdoor track and field

Hasbrouck Heights girls took home their second relay title in back-to-back weeks when they nipped Ramsey, 78-77, at the Aviator Relays on Friday.

The previous weekend Heights travelled to Lyndhurst for the Lyndhurst Relay and both the boys and girls came home with first place finishes.

For the Aviator boys there were two dominating teams at the Aviator relays, themselves and Ramsey. But for Heights they just missed out defeating the Rams, finishing second with 80 points, eight behind Ramsey.

For the girls their depth won out against Ramsey as only two Heights relay teams took home gold, the 1,200 meter intermediate hurdle relay in Jen White, Haleigh Machtemes and Jenna DiGiacinto took first with a time of 3:33.5. In addition the pole vault team of Maggie Filja, Danielle Cannici and Kristen Delcalzo tied with Verona for first with a mark of 24-feet-6-inches.

The girls took second in four events, triple jump, shot put, 400-meter shuttle hurdle and 3,200-meter relay.

On the boys side Heights registered more first place finishes compared to Ramsey, 7-2, but the Rams' overall depth across the events won out.

The Aviators dominated in the field events taking gold in the javelin, discus and shot put along with the jumps, high jump, long jump and triple jump along with take first in the 440-meter shuttle hurdle relay.

Roland Gamez led the way in helping four relay teams to first place finishes, shuttle hurdle and all three jumps.

Junior Anthony Seidel helped all three throws to first place while Sven Nielsen took home gold in three relays, shuttle hurdles and the long jump and triple jump.

Hasbrouck Heights varsity schedule

Wednesday

Golf - Heights vs. Glen Rock, Darlington Park, Mahwah, 4 p.m.

Outdoor Track - North Arlington, Queen of Peace, St. Mary at Hasbrouck Heights, 4 p.m.

Thursday

Baseball - Secaucus at Hasbrouck Heights, 4 p.m.

Golf - Heights vs. Dumont, Valley Brook Golf Club, 4 p.m.

Softball - Heights at Secaucus, 4 p.m.

Boys Tennis - Leonia at Hasbrouck Heights, 4 p.m.

April 20

Outdoor Track - Hasbrouck Heights at Bergen County Relays, at River Dell, 3:30 p.m.

Baseball - Hasbrouck Heights at Pascack Hills, 4 p.m.

Golf - Hasbrouck Heights vs. Hawthorne, Overpeck Golf Course, 4 p.m.

Saturday

Outdoor Track - Hasbrouck Heights at Bergen County Relays, at River Dell, 9 a.m.

Monday

Baseball - North Arlington at Hasbrouck Heights at Bergen County Relays, at River Dell, 4 p.m.

Softball - Hasbrouck Heights at North Arlington, Allen Field, 4 p.m.

Boys Tennis - Hasbrouck Heights at Queen of Peace, 4 p.m.

Tuesday

Golf - Hasbrouck Heights vs. North Arlington, Overpeck Golf Course, 4 p.m.

Outdoor Track - North Arlington, Secaucus at Hasbrouck Heights, 4 p.m.

Boys Tennis - Hasbrouck Heights at Cresskill, 4 p.m.

Softball - Hasbrouck Heights vs. Waldwick at Bergenfield High School, 7 p.m.

Wednesday

Boys Tennis - Glen Rock at Hasbrouck Heights, 4 p.m.

Baseball  - Hasbrouck Heights at Queen of Peace, Breslin Field, 7 p.m.

Softball - Hasbrouck Heights at Queen of Peace, 7 p.m.

Thursday

Golf- Hasbrouck Heights vs. Leonia, Overpeck Golf Course, 4 p.m.

Boys Tennis - Ridgefield at Hasbrouck Heights, 4 p.m.