The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 164

S-20 THE SUNDAY RECORD Normi JERSEY SPOUTS JUNE 12, 1994 iscnae cot SFompton title i7 i By JOE CKESSARI Correspondent TOMS RIVER The look on their faces told the sad story. stares. Expressionless. It was minutes before any of the Pompton Lakes players could summon tears. The crushing blow had struck so swiftly, so unexpectedly; One moment Bound Brook had senior Debbie Klecz at second with one out, and an instant later v-the Lady Crusaders were mobbing -their teammate after she scored the winning run.

Compounding the agony for Pompton, the run was the result of defensive mis- cues. Bound Brook (24-2), which managed only one clean single off senior Allison Moyle, pushed across the run in the seventh in- ning, breaking a scoreless tie, and securing its first New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Grup 1 Softball championship Saturday afternoon at Toms River North High School. "We had nothing to lose. If I didn't score, we were headed for 4 extra innings," Klecz said follow- ing the 1-0 victory. Pompton's fateful seventh inning began with Klecz reaching on One of the Cardinals' four errors.

She was bunted to second by pitcher Trisha Ulibarri-Rowley, who, like Moyle, threw a one-hit- GROUP 1 SOFTBALL 1 ter. Ulibarri-Rowley also fanned eight. With junior Chrissy Allenovitch at the plate, Klecz dashed for third, where no one was covering the bag. Catcher Rebecca Hoe-flinger's throw sailed over the base and into left field. Klecz made the tum and raced home to set off Bound Brook's celebration.

Many of Pompton's players walked slowly off the dirt infield, barely managing to glance at the Lady Crusaders, who piled on top of their shortstop. "My coach didn't send me, I went on my own," Klecz said of her steal of third. "I noticed their shortstop wasn't near the bag, and their third baseman was too far up to get back in time to take the throw. When I saw the ball leave the catcher, I also saw their left fielder wasn't moving up to back the play, so I just ran home." "It's a tough way to end the season," said Pompton Lakes coach Eileen Allan. "We didn't make the plays in the field.

To come all this way, and to come up short is a disappointment." The Cardinals, Passaic County semifinalists and undefeated champions of the Bergen-Passaic Rebecca Hoefllnger of Pompton Lakes Is safe In the Group 1 final when Scholastic League Carpenter Divi- was Pompton's first trip to the sion, finish the spring with a 26-2 State final since 1986. record. They defeated Whippany The Cardinals had six baserun- Park in the State semifinal, 2-1. It ners, with junior first baseman BETH BALBIERZSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER the ball gets by Bound Brook's Eleana Calderone. Melissa Karas gaining the lone hit, committed two errors.

Pompton a sixth-inning single to center threatened in the sixth, but field. Ulibarri-Rowley walked stranded Medino (walk) at third three, and the Lady Crusaders and Karas at second. West Mi Iford eatie State final beat can around, scoring five times. "I guess we kind of fell apart," Pawol said. "It was just one bad inning.

But our goal was to make it here, to get to the State finals, and we did. I think we can do it again next year." The Chiefs scored on Katay Klawiter's bloop single to right, when Stephanie Green came home on a wild pitch, on senior shortstop Andrea Wilkerson's two-run single to deep short, and on Debbie Klawiter's sacrifice fly. West Milford's best chances to score came in first and fourth innings. Sophomore Leisha Space led off the Highlanders' half of the opening inning by lacing a single over Wilkerson. Space stole second, and was moved to third on Pawol's groundout to the right side.

But another groundout ended the threat. In the fourth, Pawol ripped a one-out single to right field, and junior Jenn Mill-ward cued a shot through the first baseman's legs. But Klawiter induced consecutive popouts. "We weren't expected to get this far," said Klawiter, who said the last time her pitches were clocked at 55 mph was three years ago. "No one gave us a chance.

Three of our four States games were on the road. We kept beating teams we expected to beat." struck out seven, using mostly straight fastballs with deceptive movement. She retired the Highlanders, Group 4 finalists in 1991, in order four times. "It looked like she was either throwing them real high or almost in the dirt," said West Milford catcher Jen Pawol, who was 2-for-3. "She's a good pitcher.

She throws hard, kind of like Clifton senior Dana DeVito or the kid from Bloomfield Kris-ten Gengaro." Karin Kolatac, West Milford's sophomore right-hander who also pitched a four-hitter, was impressed with Klawiter's gas but not her predictability. "She's fast, but I didn't see much move- By JOE CHESSARI Correspondent RIVER Not all the State's best sophomore pitchers are in the Bergen-Passaic area. Cherokee unveiled a JOth-grader Saturday afternoon that had people, especially college scouts, drooling. Right-hander Debbie Klawiter caught attention of fans at Toms River North High School with the type of heat rarely by a sophomore. She certainly caught the attention of West Milford, which fell to the Chiefs, 6-0, in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group 4 Softball final.

Klawiter scattered four singles, and GROUP 4 SOFTBALL i ment, no changes," said Kolatac (28-3), who displayed excellent control by finding the corners with off-speed pitches and drops. "She kept it low a lot, and when we hit it, they came up with the plays. I think that's why they won." Cherokee (24-5) committed only one error, but it wasn't costly. Two of West Mil-ford's errors, however, either set up a run or enabled the Chiefs to score. The Highlanders struggled through a forgettable seventh inning when Cherokee batted is no match for Rancocas Micucci, Lauterhahn sign Cubs contracts Mike Micucci of Montclair State and Mike Lauterhahn of William Paterson College have signed contracts with the Chicago Cubs and reported to minor league teams.

Micucci, a junior catcher from Emerson, is with Williamsport, in the New York-Penn By RON FOX Staff Writer TOMS RIVER In his fare-t well address to the press Saturday, retiring Passaic Valley softball Jim Ferretti likened the haracter and work ethic of his team to the people who reside in regional sending district. "They're in the image of their community Little Falls, Totowa, nd.West Paterson," he said. "They work really hard." Saturday for Ferretti and his was an extremely difficult day at the office. Rancocas Valley of Mount Holly scored five times in the first inning, PV didn't have a hit until the fifth inning, and Rancocas Valley ran off with the oi.i. -U- 10 LOCAL GP0HTS CALErTIDAH Chris Sweeney (21-1) had a perfect game working until PV right fielder Kara Cullen hit a hard, two-hop single through the right side of the infield with one out in the fifth.

Hornets pitcher Kris Innocent (25-5) had the other hit when PV staged a mini-rally in the sixth before Sweeney notched her 10th strikeout and 11th shutout of first, and Sortino hit a two-run double in the second inning. Outside of the two singles, Passaic Valley hit only one other ball to the outfield. Charissa Roan opened the sixth with a long shot that was taken in over the right shoulder by right fielder Beth poppler. "Our kids should be proud of themselves," Ferretti said. "The people shouldn't look at this game like we lost the State championship.

We won the sectional game, and the community should be proud of us." Pacers win twice in Allentown event The North Jersey Pacers won their first two games at the annual Haldeman Classic, a 16-and-under fastpitch softball tournament in Allentown, Pa. SOFTBALL The Pacers downed Lehigh, 5-2, behind Laura Gurgick's six-hitter. The Northern Highlands sophomore fanned two and walked one. Pequannock shortstop Tara Wisz was 2-for-4 with a run batted in. In a 6-1 victory over Project Pride of Newark, Pascack Hills sophomore right-hander Andrea Taliaferro pitched a two-hitter and fanned two.

Wisz tripled in a run, and Ramsey sophomore catcher Lacey Harraka, who had eight hits in a tournament last weekend, had a two-run triple. The tournament concludes today. Charmers 3-0 in Delaware The Clifton Charmers emerged from their bracket with a 3-0 record Saturday at the 16-and-under Midway tournament in Newark, Del. The Charmers downed Talley vllle 4-1, with seventh-inning homers by Adrienne Lyman and Caroline Patrick leading the way. Clifton also hammered Lyonsvllle 25-1, in second-round action.

The Charmers were tested by the Virginia Blast before taking a 2-1 decision. Clifton pushed across the winning run in the fourth inning when Lyman, who singled, came around to score on Patrick's bunt single that was turned into a two-base error. East Brunswick's Vickie Prevette pitched a three-hitter with two strikeouts. The Charmers will nJay in the single-elimination round today. GROUP 3 the season in a game which ended due to the 10-run deficit rule.

Sweeney and Danielle Lake had three hits to lead a 17-hit attack, and PV's defense a'dded to it with five errors. The Hornets also committed several other errors of omission such as holding the ball while Rancocas runners beat out hits or blatantly took extra "They definitely were the better team; there were no questions here," Ferretti said. "We've done a good job defensively this season, but not today." The Red Devils (26-1), who have lost only to State Group 4 champion Cherokee, won many of their games with late-inning fluor-ishes. But they scored from three to five runs in the first inning of each of their tournament games. On Saturday, they had a five-inning explosion, on Bix hits and three Passaic Valley throwing errors.

"We didn't play defense like we should," said Innocent, who threw first to completota double ploy In SOFTBALL five no-hitters her senior year. "I'm not mad, just upset. I wish we'd played well." A breakdown of the Rancocas hits shows that Innocent allowed seven liners into the outfield, three hard-hit shots up the middle two of which deflected off the pitcher's glove plus one bloop hit and six infield hits. On two of the infield hits, fielders slipped and fell in the dirt; and on two others, fielders handled the ball but either hesitated or did not throw the ball at all. Innocent struck out five and walked eight.

Conversely, Sweeney had a perfect game until Cullen's hit. "I heard their catcher and shortstop Chris Vicari and Kara Mancini were good hitters, so I tried not to throw them anything fat," said Sweeney, who is bound for St. Joseph's in Philadelphia. "I don't really know how I do it because I don't throw very hard. I guess the curve helps a lot." Chrystal Mount and Jaime Sor-tino had run-scoring hits in the -l r-v BBTH IALBIERZSTAFP PHOTOORAPHE loss to Audubon.

Story on S-; 20 I League. Lauterhahn, a junior center fielder from Wellington, is with Huntington, W. in the rookie league. Both players were drafted and signed by Ed Ford of Jersey City, the Cubs' regional scouting supervisor. OOLF MGA Net Team sectional qualifying round (NJ) at Cherry valley CSGA Amateur Championship at Tor-rlngton WQA Caddie Scholarship Pro-Am at Stanwlch WTCQA Winnie Holman Plnehurst at In-nls Arden WMGA Match Play Championship at Knickerbocker CWGA Championship at New Haven WOMEN'8 80FTBALL North Jersey Shllohs 18s at REE-Gals (2), 5:30 p.m., Fair Lawn Clifton Cobras 16s at Staten Island Saints, 7:30 p.m., ASA Complex, Tra- vlafleld RUNNING Couples Run, 2 4 6:30 p.m..

South Mountain Reservation, South Orange. 376-0231. Wednesday HARNE88 RACING The Meadowlanda Racetrack, East Rutherford. Post time: 7:30 p.m. GOLF CSGA Amateur Championship at Tor-rlngton Mlttlemark Invitational at Fenway WMGA Match flay Championship at Knickerbocker CWGA Championship at New Haven WOMEN'S 80FTBALL North Jersey Shllohs 16s at Newark Protect Pride (2), 6 p.m., Branch Brook Park Clifton Cobraa 16s at Clark Wildcats (2), 6:30 p.m., Clark H.S.

RUNNING Race Judicata, 6K, 6:30 p.m., Pis-cataway. 376-0231. Thursday HARNE88 RACING The Meadowlanda Racetrack, East Rutherford. Post time: 7:30 p.m. OOLF MGA Public Links sectional qualifying round (N.J.) at Farmstead CSGA Amateur Championship at Tor- rlngton LIGA Amateur Championship at Meadow Brook U8QA Open Championship at Oak-monl, Pa.

WMGA Match Play Championship at Knickerbocker CWGA Championship at New Haven WOMEN'S SOFTBALL Clifton Cobras 18s at North Jersey Shllohs 18s (2), 6 p.m., DePaul H.S. Sunday GOLF Sunnehanna amateur tournament at Johnstown, Pa. Buick Classic at Westchester -North Hills pro-am Invitational at North Hills RUNNING Lodl Anti-Drug Run, 5K, 1 8:30 a.m. 778-7401. Woodclltf Lake Run, 5K, 10K, 9 a.m.

391-8113. Westchester Halt Marathon, 9 a.m., New Rochelle, N.Y. (212) 860-4455. Run For Mental Health, 5K, 9 a.m., Cedar Qrove. 744-6522.

Sprlntln' Clinton 5 Mller, 6:45 p.m. (908) 236-6331. Portugal Day 10K Race, also 2 9 a.m., 589-7876. WOMEN'S SOFTBALL Staten Island Salnte at Raybestos Bra- kettes (2), 4 p.m. Clifton Cobras 16s at Haldeman Classic Allentown, Pa.

Clifton Charmers 12s and 16s at Midway tournament, Newark, Del. Clifton Charmers 14s at Edison Shootout, Edison Complex North Jersey Pacers 16s and Rockland Yearlings 18s at Clifton Charmers 16s, 10 a.m., Main Memorial Park. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Rldgewood Lady Spartans at Albany Classlo at Siena College Maroon team vs. Hudson Valley, 10 a.m. Maroon team vs.

N.Y. Southern Tier, 1 p.m. White teem vs. West Milford. 8:15 a.m.

White team vs. West New York, 1 p.m. Monday OOLF MQA net team sectional qualifying round (Long Island) at Nlssequogua tournament at Garden City Golf Course CSGA Amateur Championship at Tor-rlngton LIQA Amateur Championship at ow Brook New York Open qualifying at Waccabue WMGA Match Play Championship at Knlckarbocker CWGA Championship at New Haven RUNNING Shore AC Summer Series, 6K, 6 p.m. Long Branch. (908) 264-2140.

Tuesday HARNESS RACING The Meadowlanda Racetrack, East Rutherford. Post time: 7:30 p.m. 1 i Kvln Batista of rmerion throw to.