Dodgers Softball Sqaud Falls to Parsippany

Against the toughest opponent it has faced yet this season, the Madison High School softball team was defeated by the Parsippany Red Hawks on Monday afternoon, 12-5.

"I don't know what happened. We knew they were a good team, but we always come out to win," said Madison right fielder Stephanie Riveros.

With the loss, the Dodgers dropped to 0-3 for the season, while the Red Hawks improved to 2-0. Despite missing two starters, Parsippany's first win came against Jefferson, a perennial softball powerhouse.

"They are still missing two starters, and they even beat Jefferson without them, so they are a legit team," said Madison head coach Hector Martinez.

Senior pitcher Briana Rossi led the charge against Madison for the Red Hawks on both offense and defense. The Dodgers could not stop her – she struck out six in the game, went 4-for4, drove in two runs, and scored three runs.

"I knew we needed to step up at the plate," Rossi said. "Coach told us after the game against Jefferson that if we got two hits, we would need to get three or four in the next."

Madison, who despite losing their first two games had been hitting well, scoring eight runs against Kittatinny and sixteen against Butler, struggled more at the plate on Monday than they have yet this year, but a few Dodgers were still making good contact.

Shortstop Nikki Caruso peppered right center field with hard-hit line drives throughout the game for Madison, going three for three with a walk and an RBI. One hit was a ground rule double and might have been a triple if it had not made its way through a hole in the right field fence. She had a ground rule double for the same reason last Thursday against Kittatinny.

Dodgers catcher Juliana Vezza started the game off with two straight hits, the first a double coming in the bottom of the third on a hard hit ball to left center. Vezza's second hit was a single to shallow center, and she ended up going two for three in the game, scoring one run.

Left fielder Kelli Scotti energized the crowd with a tricky catch in the top of the fourth, a grab that probably saved the Dodgers another run.

"We are trained to go back first, and with the wind we have to play deep, so I had to charge in. I saw Nikki wasn't going to get it, so I went to my knees and grabbed it," said Scotti. "It was instinct."  

The Dodgers will try for their first win of the 2010 season at Boonton on Wednesday.