Ridgewood Falls to West Milford in Tense Extra Innings

The varsity baseball team found itself on the losing end of a thrilling extra innings battle that saw multiple lead changes on Thursday, dropping 5-4 to the visiting West Milford Highlanders.

Boasting a 9-1 record, the Maroons got off to a quick start with a leadoff double from Frankie Paleno followed by a single by shortstop Tyler Welence and a sharp double by Russell Tanner. The Maroons notched a 1-0 1st inning after the offensive onslaught. Things continued to look like the other nine victories in the second inning with two walks and another Paleno hit, tacking on another run.

Matt Granski was sailing along early in the game, striking out 4 batters in the first couple frames. But then trouble struck the Maroons starting pitcher in the 3rd inning.

After leading off the inning with a walk, the Highlanders strung together hits by Nick Orioco, Alex Bogart and John Quazza that produced three runs to put West Milford in front, 3-2.

Conversely, as Granski was losing his groove, opposing pitcher Tim Scott was just finding his, holding the Maroons flat until the 6th inning.      

In the 6th inning, Yuki Kawahara delivered a clutch base hit for the Maroons to plate Doug Licitra, who had also singled, tying the long affair at three.  

After each team went down quietly in the seventh, West Milford second baseman Alex Bogart delivered an RBI single to give the Highlanders a 4-3 lead in the 8th. That lead however, was short-lived as the Maroons battled back yet again.

Ridgewood responded with second baseman and coach's son, Kurt Hommen Jr. clubbing a two-out, two-strike single up the middle to score Russell Tanner. The see-saw battle continued with a leadoff single for the Highlanders in the 9th inning and a Brady Pevny shot that sped past Wellence at short.

Johnny Quazza's footprint on home plate would prove to be the game-winning run, though Ridgewood certainly gave the Highlanders quite a scare.

The Maroons loaded up the bases against relief pitcher Eric Sajban before Sajban recorded the final out, stranding all three Ridgewood runners.

At the end of the game, Ridgewood coach Kurt Hommen said that he felt that his team squandered several chances they had during the game.

“We had some opportunities where we didn’t come up with the big hit to break it open,” said the second-year coach. “I thought we had a couple of chances early, but we just didn’t come through. We came up short today.”

After losing only their second game of the season, the Maroons will look to get back to their winning ways when they travel to Franklin Lakes to face North Jersey power Ramapo High School on Saturday, April 23 at 11:00 a.m.