Sports Recap: Lady Braves Advance to BCT Semifinals

Indian Hills softball had a huge week that culminated with a 3-2 win over Ramsey in the quarterfinals of the County Tourney on Saturday. Sunday's semifinals were rained out but will be made up next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Indian Hills.

The baseball county tournament got underway this week, and Ramapo opened up with a first round victory.

MONDAY

Softball

Lady Braves 11 – Mahwah 1

With the win, the Braves clinched their sixth straight division championship. The victory gave them the title outright in the Big North Patriot Division.  Catcher Nicole Paiotti and outfielder Carey Houston both had 2 hits and 2 RBI.  Senior Kelly Strittmatter had 2 hits, 1 steal, and 3 runs.  JV earned a 6-0 win over the T-Birds.

Lady Raiders 14 – Northern Highlands 0

Ramapo finished off the Highlanders quickly, getting 12 runs in the fourth to mercy their opponent in five innings.  Caitlyn Hickey, Sil Imbimbo, andAlyssa Nacco all knocked in 2 runs and Tori Sobel got the win to improve to 9-3 on the year.

Baseball

Raiders 3 – Northern Highlands 2

Ramapo trailed by two but scored two in the fifth and one in the sixth to edge past the Highlanders.  The Raiders took advantage of some NH mistakes and Chris Thompson added an RBI to keep TJ Hunt (6-0) undefeated.

Braves 4 – Mahwah 3

Pitcher Austin Solecittoimproved to 5-1 as IH slipped past the Thunderbirds.  Tommy Cancalosi and Peter Fiumefreddo provided the offense with an RBI each.

Boys Tennis

Braves 5 – Mahwah 0

Indian Hills shutout was highlighted by 6-0, 6-0 wins in second and third doubles by Mike McGuire and Kevin Cheetham.

Golf

Raiders 164 – Ridgewood 168

Ramapo earned a tight victory over Ridgewood at Preakness Hills.  Erick Regojo shot a team best 39 to help raise the Raiders’ record to 8-6

TUESDAY

Boys Tennis

Braves 5 – Dwight Morrow 0

Hills earned a second consecutive shutout as Mike McGuire and the teams of Craig Stanson & Harry Green and Joe Perry & Sean Reischel lost their first set but came back and rallied to take the match.

WEDNESDAY

Softball

Lady Braves 20 – Westwood 1

Pitcher Ashley DeYoung helped herself big time at the dish with 3 hits and 4 RBI.  Kelly Strittmatter was a great table-setter with 3 hits and 3 runs, and Nicole Paiotti had 2 hits, one of which was mashed over the fence for a homer.  JV also took it to Westwood, winning 10-0.

Lady Raiders 17 – Teaneck 0

Ramapo also earned a huge victory on Wednesday with a 17 run thrashing of the Highwaywomen.  Christine Boylan, Emily Brown, Lexi Graber, JK McAvoy, and Melanie Psota all recorded 2 RBI to help Caitlyn Hickey go to 5-0 in the circle.

Baseball

Raiders 7 – Teaneck 2

John Gandolfo hit 2 taters and had 4 RBI to help Chris Liquori win his second game of the year for Ramapo.

Tennis

Braves 5 – Westwood 0

Indian Hills made it three straight days of 5-0 victories as they have not lost a single match all week.  All matched were won in straight sets including a 6-0, 6-0 win by the team of Joe Perry & Sean Reischel.

Raiders 5 – Teaneck 0

6-0, 6-0 wins by first singles Jonathan Carcione and third singles Daniel Lee as well as first doubles Jake Kaplan & David Brooks sparked the shutout for Ramapo.

Girls Lax

Lady Braves 20 – Wayne Valley 3

Monster win for the Braves as they got big games from Katie Taranto (4 goals, 1 assist), Natalie Carti (5 g, 6 a), and Nicole Kopyta (6 g).  Katie Viducic had a great game in the cage, turning away 15 shots.

Boys Lax-

Braves 8 – Wayne Valley 7 (OT)

Indian Hills earned an exciting overtime victory over Wayne Valley.  Tyler Walker had 4 goals, Jordan Smith had 2 goals and 4 assists, and goalie Eric Heinowitz finished with 18 big saves to get the win.

THURSDAY

Girls Lax

Lady Raiders 15 – Fair Lawn 2

The seniors came through big time on senior day for Ramapo.  Read about it .

Baseball

Raiders 17 – Bergen Catholic 7

Ramapo wasted no time jumping on North Jersey’s #8 ranked team on Thursday, scoring 8 runs in the first and cruising to a 10 run win.  Ari Kaufman was not as dominant as he has been, but he got great run support to improve to 5-0 this year.  Chris Liquori and Nick Madormo went deep for the 6^th ranked Raiders and 7 different players knocked in runs.  Ryan Dougherty, Liquori, and Chris Thompson all knocked in 3 apiece.

Braves 13 – Hackensack 1

Pitcher Jason Haddy (3-3) got back to .500 with a 2-hit gem against the Comets.  Haddy did it at the dish as well, knocking in 3 runs to help his own cause.  Kurt Strittmatter had a double, triple, and 2 RBI and Nick Apostoldu and also added 2 RBI.

FRIDAY

Softball

Lady Braves 15 – Ridgefield Park 3

The Braves warmed up the bats for their big county game on Saturday, putting up 10-plus runs for the third time this week.  Sophomore Nicole Paiotti had 3 knocks and 4 RBI and junior Ashley DeYoung had a double, triple, and 3 RBI.  After her second consecutive 3 hit game, senior Kelly Strittmatter became the all-time career hits leader at Indian Hills.  The mark was previously set by Kristen Zimmerman in 2001.

SATURDAY

Softball

Lady Braves 3 – Ramsey 2 : Bergen County Quarterfinals

The Braves trailed 2-0, but fought back to tie it then take the lead in the sixth when freshman Madison Levine drove in the go-ahead run with an infield single.

IHA 2 – Lady Raiders 0 : Bergen County Quarterfinals

Tori Sobel gave up just 6 hits, but runs in the first and second for IHA proved to be the difference as Ramapo could only muster 4 hits against Steph Thomas.

Baseball

Raiders 5 – Ridgewood 3 : Bergen County Tournament- 1^st Round

It was the right place and right time for junior Joe Scaglione’s first varsity big fly as the catcher hit a 3-run bomb in the fourth that would prove to be the game winner.  TJ Hunt gave up three runs in the fifth and sixth, but finished off the game for the complete game victory for his 7^th win of the year. John Gandolfo and Chris Liquori each added RBIs for the Raiders.

In the second round Ramapo draws North Jersey's #2 team in St. Joseph (18-3-1) on Saturday May 21 at 2:30pm at Demarest.

Boys Lax

Raiders 12 – Braves 3

Corey Steimel and Dan Smitheach netted 4 goals for Ramapo in the win over in-district rival Indian Hills.  Chris Colaneri added 2 goals and 2 assists and Sal Sassano led the Raiders with 3 helpers.  Mike Turpan saved 8 for Ramapo and Eric Heinowitz stopped 15 for the Braves.