Sports Report: RHS Softball Gets Reprieve, Garners Eighth Seed in Tournament

The Ridgewood varsity softball team most likely would have received a wild card bid to the Bergen County tournament, but the Maroons did not want to take a chance and also get a lower seed. Ridgewood went from possibly waiting to get the wild card bid to getting the eighth seed after taking care of Old Tappan, 10-0, on Monday at home at Veterans Field.

On the Bergen County Tournament cutoff day, the Lady Maroons needed to beat the Golden Knights at home to get an automatic qualifier with a win. The victory gave Ridgewood a 5-4 record on the cutoff. The loss would have dropped them under the required .500 winning percentage to get the automatic qualifier.

Not getting the automatic bid would be a let down for a team that made the finals of the 2010 Bergen County Tournament, only to lose 3-2 to Indian Hills in eight innings.

The Lady Maroons host 25th-seeded Lyndhurst on Saturday at 4 p.m. A win would send them to the quarterfinals, possibly against ninth-seeded Glen Rock. A victory over the Panthers could set up another game, this time against rival Paramus.

Pitcher Nicole Hroncich and the rest of the Maroons would make it in grand style with the shutout win. Hroncich fired a three-hitter while striking out five.
Ridgewood clinched it with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with the help of Claire Dennis, who smacked a three-RBI triple to put away the Golden Knights.

Hroncich knows that the team can not look past Lyndhurst or anybody else in the county tournament.

"We're trying to not think of last year (county tournament),” said Hroncich. “We know that everybody is shooting for us.”

Before the Bergen County opener on Saturday, the Maroons defeated Fair Lawn, 4-2, on the road in a Big North contest on Wednesday.

After the game was tied at two, Ridgewood put a run on the board in the sixth and seventh innings to get the victory against the Cutters. Lauren Tom smacked a home run to lead the Maroons offense. Courtney Pedalino added an RBI to support of the pitching of Nicole Hroncich.

With the victory Ridgewood was 6-4 on the season.

Boys lacrosse

In another Bergen County tournament seeding, Ridgewood's boys lacrosse team garnered the top spot in their county tournament. The Maroons will host the winner of Fair Lawn/Pascack Valley on Sunday at noon at River Dell High School.
The second seed in the tournament is Don Bosco Prep. The semi-finals are May 8 at Indian Hills and the title game is May 15 at Mahwah High School.

Ridgewood raised its record to 6-3 with a 14-6 victory at Kinnelon on Tuesday. Vann Jorgensen led the way for the Maroons offense with four goals while Max Luing contributed three goals. Garrett Clarke, Connor O'Shea and Jack Allard chipped in a pair of goals each.

After Kinnelon cut the Ridgewood lead to two, 10-6, heading into the fourth quarter the Maroons shut down the Colts.

Boys baseball

Ridgewood lost only its second game of the season as everything fell apart in the top of the seventh inning.

The Maroons were only down 5-2 when Fair Lawn scored six times in the top of the seventh inning to sink Ridgewood, 11-2 in a Big North battle on Wednesday.
The loss dropped the Maroons to 10-2 on the season. Cooper Byrne took the loss on the mound while Ridgewood could only get six hits against the Cutters pitcher Coby Kerr. Tyler Welence had an RBI for Ridgewood.

It was a different story on Monday as the Maroons defeated Old Tappan, 3-2, on the road. It was the pitching of Tucker Rekucki and Wayne Herzog who limited the Golden Knights offense to three hits. Byrne and Welence had an RBI each for Ridgewood.
   
Girls lacrosse

Ridgewood continued its incredible 2011 run as it raised its record to 9-0 on the season with a 21-11 victory at Bergen County rival, IHA on Tuesday. It was the highest offensive output for the juggernaut Ridgewood squad.

Kelci Smesko led the way offensively with six goals while Jess Miller added four and Lauren Beausoleil chipped in three goals. Samantha Giordano led the Maroons with three assists. Ridgewood led 8-3 at halftime and scored 13 in the second half.

Boys tennis

Ridgewood's team continues to dominate its opponents as the squad raised its record to 10-1 on the season after defeating Fair Lawn, 5-0, on Wednesday.

All of the Maroons won in two straight sets led by number one singles, Chris Hu, who defeated Cutters Willen Feygin, 6-1,6-0. Charlie Gundeck and Griffin Kurzius won the in the second and third singles matches.

In doubles first doubles Jason Linker-Aaron Sacks defeated Fair Lawn's Max Perlman/Justin Magcarenhas and second doubles of Derrick Eng/Andrew Motzer took care of Cutters Dan Ragolsky/Dan Sapoznikov, 6-3, 6-2.

Track and field

The Ridgewood boys and girls track and field members started competing in the annual Penn Relays, one of the top meet of the year.

On Thursday, the 1,600 Lady Maroons team of Charlotte Criqui, Anna Caffrey, Moriah Jennings and Andina Toscano came in seventh in the race against some of the top relay teams in the northeast. The team finished with a time of 4:12.01, three seconds behind Dunbar High School of Washington, D.C.

In the 400-relay the girls team came in seventh in their heat with a time of 51.60. The group of Jennings, Criqui, Caffrey and Toscano finished in 110th fastest time out of 265 schools in the event.

The relays continue on Friday and Saturday with Ridgewood athletes competing for boys in the 400 relay, distance medley. On Saturday the boys will compete in the 1,600 relay and the 400 hurdles relay.