FORTLEE - Emily Beck wasn't thinking perfect game.
"Definitely not," said the Tenafly right-hander. "I knew they had beaten Dumont and River Dell and I was going against someone I had never seen before. I was a little nervous coming in."
But for the fourth time in her high school career, Beck was perfect as the Tigers blanked Fort Lee, 9-0, Wednesday. Beck's 96-pitch performance included 15 strikeouts - 14 swinging - five groundouts, and a flyout to end the game.
"She had a nice control of the game and she felt confident because we had some runs early," said first-year Tenafly coach Megan Williams. "She had such a great performance."
"I think she had great control of her pitches, no matter what I called," said senior catcher Ashley Thompson. "She is confident in what she is pitching, so that makes me confident back there. She is smart, she's always on top of her game."
Beck gave the credit right back to Thompson.
"Everything that happens in the game wouldn't happen if she wasn't there, and she doesn't get enough credit for what she does," said Beck, who signed Tuesday to play volleyball and softball at MethodistCollege in North Carolina. "Any pitcher is nothing without a phenomenal catcher."
Fort Lee (5-7) has shrugged aside its status as cellar dwellers in the BCSL American. It has a talented freshman pitcher in Alyssa Gouvouniotis and posted several impressive victories earlier this year.
"We came into this game really expecting a competitive match because our league is so balanced," said Williams. "Every game for us is a big game, so we knew we had to be more aggressive than we have been."
The Tigers (9-2), ranked 14th in The Record's Top 25, put two runs on the scoreboard in the first inning and Thompson slugged an RBI double in the third to make it 3-0.
By that point, Beck already had struck out seven and the notion of a perfect game was in the air - but unspoken.
"No one was saying anything," said Williams.
"Not about a perfect game, never," said Thompson.
Beck went to a full count on just three batters, including the last of the game, Grace Lee. Beck said she was nervous when Lee lofted a fly ball to center field, but Kim Alper corralled it and started a stampede toward Beck in celebration.
"I think she is one of the better pitchers in the county, top five, top three maybe," said Fort Lee coach Robert Aughey. "She's lights out."
Aughey said he was happy with his team's aggressiveness at the plate and thinks the club is on the right track.
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Publication: THE RECORD / Date: 05/04/2006
Day: Thursday / Page: S09
Edition: All Editions / Section: SPORTS
Dateline:TENAFLY / Byline: By DARREN COOPER, STAFF WRITER
Source: North Jersey Media Group
Tenafly's key win courtesy of Cohan
TENAFLY - In a two-strike hole, with a chance to win the game, Tenafly sophomore Brigette Cohan felt right at home.
"I like having a situation with two strikes on me," said Cohan. "For some reason it makes me a little anxious and I know that I have to put the ball in play."
Cohan singled on the next pitch, knocking in Ashley Thompson with the winning run as Tenafly edged Rutherford, 1-0, Wednesday to forge a tie with the Bulldogs for first place in the BCSL American.
"This is a huge win," said Tenafly coach Megan Williams. "Especially because we lost to Rutherford in the beginning of the season, and I think being able to compete with them makes us feel like we have improved. For the girls, I think that is the most important thing."
"The ball found a hole," said Rutherford coach Helen Antzoulides. "And that's going to happen. Two tough teams, sometimes it's the little breaks here and there. That's what it's all about because it was a great game."
Neither team had any real chance to score until the bottom of the seventh. Thompson lofted a ball into shallow right field that two Rutherford infielders couldn't track down, enabling her to get to second.
Megan Birch was the next batter to face Rutherford lefty Veronica McGorry, and she grounded out to second base, a nifty piece of hitting since it advanced Thompson to third.
"We practiced that specifically yesterday against a left-handed pitcher, trying to hit to the right side," said Williams. "We have been trying to improve on executing with runners on the bases, and I had faith in my girls that they were going to come through today."
In last year's game between the two teams at Tenafly, Cohan had the winning hit on an 0-2 count in the Tigers' 1-0 win.
"Brigette is a great hitter," said Thompson. "I think we were all confident when she was up there."
The game was a brilliant pitching battle between Tenafly senior Emily Beck, who allowed two hits while striking out 11, and McGorry, who battled through pain after jamming her fingers sliding into second base in the third inning.
"I'll take a game like this, any game where the kids play tough and give it all they have," said Antzoulides. "I have said this 100 times, when you leave here and give it everything you have, then you go home happy."
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EXTRA SPECIAL
Tenafly, RP win thrillers to advance
OLD TAPPAN - After 10 innings of intense softball, Emily Beck couldn't catch her breath Saturday afternoon. And for good reason.
Beck had just finished off the finest win of her high school career, pitching Tenafly to a stunning 1-0 victory over defending champion Ridgewood in the quarterfinals of the BergenCounty tournament.
"This is amazing," Beck said. "I'm out of breath."
The release of nervous energy and excitement was visible, but Beck was as cool as could be in the circle only moments earlier.
With tension and pressure running high in the bottom of the 10th, Beck stranded Ridgewood's courtesy runner at third base and recorded the final out on a pop-up that was caught by second baseman Laura Ackerman.
"No one expected us to do anything against Ridgewood," said Beck, who finished with 10 strikeouts and allowed three hits against the tournament's No. 2 seed. "I have never seen our team come together like this. We came into this game saying we had nothing to lose. It's not like I came out and struck everyone out. I had a lot of support behind me."
No. 10 Tenafly will take on BCSL American rival RidgefieldPark in Saturday's semifinal.
After nine scoreless innings, Tenafly pushed courtesy runner Brigette Cohan across the plate on Julia Barrett's single to shallow right field to take a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the tenth.
Ridgewood leadoff hitter Jackie Tyler (3-for-4) was on third base twice - once with no outs, and again with one out - but the Maroons failed to bring her home.
"We just never got going offensively," Ridgewood coach Debbie Paul said. "You have to tip your hat to them, they were the better team."
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Cinderella wants to keep dancing
Park Ridge, Tenafly, RidgefieldPark hoping that midnight will never come
Saturday's BergenCounty softball semifinals would be better named, "Cinderella's Ball."
For the first time in the history of the 33-year event, three teams in the semifinals have double-digit seeds: 10th- seeded Park Ridge, 12th-seeded Tenafly and 22nd-seeded RidgefieldPark.
All three coaches agree it's been an amazing run.
"We definitely feel like Cinderella," RidgefieldPark coach Mook Iannacone said. "It's not like we're shocked, but no one gave us a shot being the 22 seed. We wanted to win a game at least, and then see what would happen. We are loving it."
"Every game for us has been a huge game," Tenafly coach Megan Williams said. "We had big goals at the beginning of the year, we knew we wanted to get to the County and the States, but getting this far has been a big surprise."
Park Ridge coach Frank Baldino, who won three County championships while at Ramsey (the last coming in 1994), resisted the urge to call his team a true Cinderella.
"We go out there and compete hard and when you do that, anything can happen," Baldino said. "We carry that attitude wherever we play. I think we are at the point where our kids really believe in themselves. They are excited, but not totally satisfied."
The Owls have relied on senior pitcher Steph Pascale and a fleet of fast-footed batters to get this far. They will face the dominating stepmother, in this case top-seeded Ramapo, in one semifinal.
"It is going to probably be our ultimate challenge," Baldino said. "We are going to go there and do our very best to be successful."
Already conference rivals, RidgefieldPark and Tenafly will square off for the third time this season Saturday. Tenafly won the first two meetings.
"We just have to play clean softball," Williams said. "It has to be a game of making plays, not committing any errors and coming to the plate ready to hit the ball."
"[Tenafly pitcher] Emily Beck is first-team All-County in my eyes," Iannacone said. "She's tough. We know her strategy and they probably know ours."
Before they can even get to Saturday, Tenafly and Park Ridge each have league titles to play for. The Owls need to beat Leonia and Emerson to claim at least a share of the BCSL Olympic title, while Tenafly has three league games left it needs to win to take a piece of the BCSL American title.
"I talked to the kids about crunch time all at once," Baldino said. "We have meaningful games this week, then this weekend with the County, then the State tournament coming up, it's three different seasons within one. We have to take it one day at a time."
Williams gave her team Monday off to start the week, but Park Ridge and RidgefieldPark were each practicing indoors, glass slippers optional.
"This past weekend was surreal," Williams said. "I feel like I had chest pains. Since then we took one day to enjoy it. The girls handle the excitement so well it takes the pressure off of me. "
"People are calling us George Mason right now," Iannacone said. "Making the final four as a high seed, anything is possible. We have four good teams here. You've got to be pretty good to get here."
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The Tigers' tale
Thompson, Beck show Tenafly heart
FRANKLINLAKES - Tenafly catcher Ashley Thompson once took hitting lessons from RidgefieldPark coach Mook Iannacone.
She learned well.
Thompson homered and had an RBI single as the Tigers beat Iannacone and his RidgefieldPark team, 2-0, Saturday in the BergenCounty baseball tournament semifinals at Ramapo.
"I am sure she would have hit it anyway, she is a great player," Iannacone said. "I wish we had one of those back, but hey."
The 22nd-seeded Scarlets had been one of the darlings of the tournament, making an improbable run to the semifinals, but they met a familiar adversary in 10th-seeded Tenafly, which had beaten the Scarlets twice already this year.
Thompson gave the Tigers (21-3) a 1-0 lead in the first, roping a single to left field to score Kim Alper. In the fourth, Thompson lofted a solo home run over the left field fence.
"I have been in a slump, so it felt good," said Thompson, a senior. "I thought it was hooking foul, but I was happy to see it go far."
"I thought it was real close," Tenafly first-year coach Megan Williams said. "It was definitely a sky ball, but she got the whole thing."
Ridgefield Park (17-9) threatened in the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but Emily Beck struck out the last two batters of the game and finished with 11 strikeouts.
Beck also finished in tears. The senior has been pitching with a bad back all season, and she strained it again Saturday running to first base in the first inning.
"I leaped to try to get that final step in and normally I land on my right leg and this time I landed on my left and it locked," Beck said. "I was trying to hide it for the rest of the game, but the last inning was a lot of pain."
Beck called the pain an 11 on a scale of 1-to-10 and said she would have physical therapy after the game in preparation for today's final against Ramapo.
"You could tell her back was bothering her a little bit, but she was able to rise to the occasion," Williams said.
A tournament full of Cinderella stories is now down to one: Tenafly.
"It's the best feeling I have ever felt," Thompson said. "I love it. Who would have thought?"
"I think the girls believe it now," Williams said. "They have played against teams that everybody thought [were] better than us, but you never know what a day is going to bring. If we play our best, it will be a good game. I think we have a chance."
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Tenafly's Thompson gets hot at the right time
Sunday, May 21, 2006
By Jim McConville
NJS.com Staff Writer
FRANKLIN LAKES -- It is difficult enough to beat a team three times in one season, let alone shut them out for 21 straight innings. At some point, you have to figure that the odds would finally go against the pitcher.
So there was RidgefieldPark, the Cinderella of the BergenCounty softball tournament, with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the seventh inning against Tenafly and Emily Beck. If the bubble was going to burst, here was the chance.
Ten pitches and two strikeouts later, Beck and her tiger teammates were relishing their spot in the championship game, having completed a 2-0 win in dramatic fashion. Tenafly (21-3), the 10th seed, will now face top-seed Ramapo on Sunday at OldTappanHigh School for the title.
“It’s the best feeling I’ve ever felt,” Tiger catcher Ashley Thompson said after the game. “The county finals, who would have thought. I love it.”
Amber Doran allowed just 5 hits and a walk while striking out six for RidgefieldPark.Thompson played a major role in the victory, driving in both runs and going 3 for 3.
“Ash hadn’t been hitting the last couple of games, and I think she really wanted it,” said Tenafly head coach Megan Williams. “She’s one of our best hitters overall, and if anyone is going to come through in a clutch situation, its going to be Ashley.”
Clutch came about in the first inning, as Kimberly Alper drew a one-out walk. Nicole Morano sent a screamer down the third base line that the home plate umpire initially called foul but then quickly reversed and pointed to fair territory. It went for a double, putting runners at second and third.
“He did call foul, and then he said at the last second it went over the corner of the base,” Scarlet head coach Mook Iannacone recalled of his conversation with the umpire. “He’d already called foul, but he overturned it. Those are the breaks.”
That brought up Thompson, and she promptly flared the first pitch to left field for a base hit to score Alper. RP pitcher Amber Doran came back to strike out the next two hitters, but the damage was done.
“We’ve been going extra innings a lot, and to get the run early was key. I just got up there and I was ready to hit today,” Thompson said.
Emily Beck struck out 11, including the last two hitters of the game, to move Tenafly into the county final.Beck was in command through the first six innings, but she did give her team a bit of a scare in the bottom of the second inning. Running out a ground ball to third, she came up holding her back after crossing the bag.
“You could tell her back was bothering her a little bit today, but it was also the emotion of the game,” Williams noted. “She rose to the occasion, and had nice control. Now that we’ve been in a couple of close games, the team helps her stay calm.”
She also smacked a double in the fourth inning, and appeared to pull up a bit as she got to second.
“I’m always a little nervous when she runs, but she has such a nice bat, I don’t want to take her out of the order,” Williams related. “If anyone is going to battle through a little pain, she’s the one.”
It was Doran who felt a bit of pain in that fourth inning, when Thompson led off with a long fly ball that landed five feet beyond the fence in left field for a home run. A jubilant Thompson sprinted around the bases on her first fence-clearing homer of the year.