HS Sports Recap: Bergen County Tournaments Kick Off

Here's a recap of the high school sports action over the past week as the local baseball and softball teams continued to stack up victories.

MONDAY

Golf:

Raiders 154 – Ramsey 164

Old Tappan 158 – Braves 172

The Raiders (5-3) defeated the Rams at Darlington thanks to a tremendous 3-under 33 by Erick Regojo and a 39 from Alex Fodi.  The Braves dropped their second match of the season, falling to 5-2.

Track:

Braves 79 ½ - Bergenfield 60 ½

Northern Highlands 73 – Raiders 67

Indian Hills earned a victory as Pete Tuohy and John Prizzi had Top 5 finishes in North Jersey on the day in the 400 meter.  Ramapo’s Ryan Zauk also finished in the Top 5, but the Raiders lost a close one to the Highlanders.

TUESDAY

Baseball

Raiders 11 – Bergen Tech 1

Braves 9 – Northern Highlands 3

Ramapo got homeruns from Justin Gartner (4 RBI) and TJ Hunt and 3 RBI from John Gandolfo to help Ari Kaufman to improve to 3-0 on the season.  Indian Hills also put up big runs thanks to 4 RBI from Tommy Cancalosi and 2 apiece by Andrew Sariyan and Kurt Strittmatter to help Austin Solecitto earn his third win on the year.

Girls Lacrosse:

Mahwah 15 – Lady Braves 14

DePaul 9 – Raiders 8

Both IH and Ramapo suffered tough one goal losses on the day.  The Braves came back from an 8-3 deficit in the first, but could not pull out the win.  Natalie Carti, who leads Bergen County in scoring, netted 5 goals in the loss.  Nicole Kopyta also had 5 scores for IH and Shannon Larson of Ramapo scored 5 but also in a losing effort.

Tennis:

Braves 4 – Pascack Valley 1

IHimproved to .500 on the year (2-2) with the win over the Indians.  Peter Eiseman and Mike McGuire got singles wins and the teams of Kevin Cheetam & Craig Stanson and Harry Green & Joe Perry swept the doubles matches for the Braves.

WEDNESDAY

Softball:

Lady Braves 7 – Pascack Valley 2

Congratulations to Coach Joe Leicht, who with the win earned his 300^th career victory.  The Braves were led by Kelly Strittmatter who had 4 hits and 2 RBI and Carey Houston who had 2 hits and drove in a run.  Ashley DeYoung pitched a 3-hitter to earn the win.  Both the JV and Freshmen had shutout victories as IH made it a clean sweep over the Indians.

Lacrosse:

Raiders 8 – Don Bosco 7

Lady Raiders 14 – Bergen Tech 9: Bergen County Tournament

The boys earned a huge win against the Ironmen in an exciting one-goal game.  Dan Smith had a monster game with 4 goals and an assist and Sal Sassano netted a hat trick to lead the Raiders’ attack.  Mike Turpan had a spectacular day in the net with 19 saves.  Ramapo has won six of seven and hasn’t allowed an opponent to score in double digits this year.  They are now 7-3 and are ranked second in the Top 5 behind only Ridgewood.

The girls won their first round Bergen County Tourney game against Bergen Tech as Shannon Larson (5 goals) led a Ramapo attack that had 7 scorers.

FRIDAY

Softball:

Lady Braves 8 – Tenafly 1

Pitcher Ashley DeYoung and outfielder Kara Pepper each drove in 2 runs to lead the Braves.  JV was also victorious with a 13-0 victory.

Baseball:

Raiders 11 – Paramus Catholic 2

Ramapo flexed their offensive muscles against the Paladins, hitting three dingers to help TJ Hunt move to 4-0 on the year.  John Gandolfo (1 RBI), TJ Hunt (4 RBI), and Nick Madormo (1 RBI) all homered and Ryan Dougherty added 3 RBI.

Track:

The Braves had a strong showing at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, the most prestigious invitational race in the country.

SATURDAY

Softball: Bergen County Tournament

Lady Braves 10 – Cresskill 0

Indian Hills showed why they are the defending county champs as they opened up the 2011 Bergen County Tournament with a big win over Cresskill.  Freshman shortstop Nicole Leocata had a double, triple, and 2 RBI and pitcher Ashley DeYoung struck out 9 in a complete game 1-hitter.  The Braves advance to the round of 16 where they will take on Pascack Valley on Saturday May 7 at 2:30pm at Emerson High School.

The Freshmen advanced to the championship in the Bergenfield Freshman Tournament by avenging a loss earlier in the season to beat Dumont 11-5, then taking down Wayne Hills 12-3.  The Braves are the defending champions of the tourney and will take on Paramus on Saturday May 7 at 12:30 at PAL Field in Bergenfield.

Lady Raiders 2 – Ridgefield Park 0

Tori Sobel was dominant, pitching a 2-hit, 9 strikeout gem to help Ramapo advance to the sweet 16.  Christine Boylan and Emily Brown recorded the RBIs for the Raiders.

Girls Lax: Bergen County Tournament

Lady Braves 17 – Northern Highlands 15

IHA 18 – Lady Raiders 11

Indian Hills advanced to the semifinals with a win in a high scoring battle against the Highlanders.  Natalie Carti lit up the score sheet with 7 goals and 2 assists to help her team advance.  Ramapo was sent home by #2 seed IHA despite 5 goals by Kiara Boswick and 3 goals and 4 assists from Shannon Larson.

SUNDAY

Boys Lacrosse: Bergen County Tournament

Raiders 9 – Glen Rock 2

Ramapo’s defense completely shut down the Panthers, giving up just one goal in the first quarter and one in the fourth.  Mike Turpan had 13 saves in the win and Corey Steimel, Sal Sassano, Zach Hirsch and Dan Steimel all had 2 goals each for the Raiders.