Undefeated No More

Senior day at Roy C. Ketcham High School proved to be an eventful one on Monday as the Ketcham Indians beat a previously undefeated Harrison team, ending a long Husky winning streak on the very last game of the regular season.

Before the game the home team honored their seniors for all the contributions they made to the program. Each Ketcham senior was greeted on the first-base line in a pre-game ceremony with flowers, balloons, pictures and a few kind words from their teammates.

"Senior day always brings out the best in the players," said Ketcham Head Coach Melissa Zehr. "The girls wanted to give our seniors a good day and we were able to accomplish that with the win today."

For the first time this season the Harrison softball team lost a game. It was a hard fought pitcher's dual between the Indians and the Huskies that left Harrison on the wrong side of the 1-0 final score.

Harrison pitcher Ashley Marino may not have had her best stuff, but she certainly pitched well enough for a win. In the fifth inning the Indians got a few well-placed hits and the Harrison defense may have failed to make the plays behind the senior pitcher.

The inning started with a seemingly meaningless fly ball by Ketcham's Hofstra bound senior, Nicole Orefice. But the fly ball landed in the Bermuda Triangle between the centerfielder, shortstop and second baseman giving Orefice a leadoff single. Marino struck out the next batter and the plan was for Indians leadoff hitter Maggie Tierney to sacrifice bunt Orefice to second base. But the Huskies could not find an out on defense and both runners were safe. Marino was able to get the next batter to strike out, giving Ketcham runners on first and second with two outs.

Ketcham hitter Chelsea Boyes then hit a fly ball to left-centerfield. The ball was not incredibly deep and it appeared as if both the leftfielder and centerfielder each had a good chance to catch the ball. But a lack of communication between the two Huskies allowed the ball to fall and the Indians scored the only run of the game.

"We usually are in a lot of low scoring games," said Zehr. "We always would love to score more, but we have no problem winning a game 1-0."

Marino went the complete game, striking out eight and only allowing five hits and three walks.  

Marino's counterpart, Abigail Canning, was pitching lights out for the majority of the game but in the forth inning Harrison missed an opportunity to make something happen offensively.

Canning was perfect through the first three innings but she hit the leadoff batter in the forth, giving Harrison's Ally Brabant first base. After a strikeout, Canning gave up her first hit of the game when Jenna Webb hit a hard single to left field, then GiGi LoDolce reached base safely when the Ketcham shortstop bobbled the ball trying to throw out Brabant at third, loading the bases with only one out.

The umpire's strike zone was inconsistent all day for both teams and though no one is blaming the umpire for Harrison's loss, the official certainly made it hard for some of the taller players by calling an extremely low strike zone.

The zone was most apparent in the forth when Harrison's Alijah Webb came to the plate with the bases loaded and took the first strike looking, the second strike appeared to be inside and well below Webb's knees putting her in the hole early. The Ketchum pitcher then wisely used the umpire's strike zone to her advantage. She set up Webb with an inside pitch then got the Harrison first baseman to strike out swinging on a ball on the outside half of the plate. The next batter grounded out to second, ending the Harrison threat. The Huskies would not pick up another hit until the seventh inning.

Canning was clearly the star of the game. The quiet sophomore took her place in the circle at the beginning of every inning and worked well by changing her pitches and location to keep the Harrison hitters off balance tall afternoon.

"Abby was in the zone today, very focused," said Zehr. "When she knows it is an important game she always rises to the challenge."

Canning pitched all seven innings for the Indians. She struck out thirteen Huskies and only allowed three baserunners on two hits and one hit batter.

"This game was a good character builder for us, and I don't think this loss will hurt us in the future," said Harrison Head Coach Dean Marino. "We lost to a very good team in double A and if we were going to lose I am glad it happened now and not in the playoffs."

This game ended the regular season for both teams and the squads will learn their playoff fates later in the week.