Although the final score could have been better, the Raiders took a first step in the right direction.
In the home opener against Ridgefield Park, Englewood took the field with enthusiasm and it immediately showed with a couple early runs, but as the game progressed the bats were silenced in an 11-2 loss.
"We didn’t get 10 run ruled and played one of the top teams competitively," said coach Shannon McGowan. "This season we won’t be looked upon as an easy win and opponents will know that we come to play."
The Raiders looked sharp in the first two innings. The cold weather didn’t seem to dampen the fire and intensity Englewood possessed.
Pitcher Becky David opened the season by striking out the first batter she faced, but then gave up two singles. A bouncing ball was hit to third baseman Rita Johnson and she stepped on the bag to get the lead runner out.
David surrendered another hit to load the bases with two outs. On a 3-1 count, Scarlet catcher Stacy Sinclair smacked a screaming line drive, which David deftly snagged to end the inning.
"It’s definitely necessary to have a good start because you can carry that momentum and keep building on it," said David. "I was just trying to stay calm and focus on the task of pitching strikes."
The Raiders began the bottom of the inning with lead off hitter Nicole Chen taking four straight balls. As opposing flame-thrower Nadine Ciraolo struggled to find the zone, Johnson bunted the speedy shortstop to second. Catcher Brielle Klein slapped the ball to the left side of the infield, advancing the runner, but was thrown out at first.
Behind in the count, center fielder Nenna Young got a hold of a Ciraolo fastball and powered it past an outstretched Scarlet to put the Raiders up 2-0.
"We hit the ball, made contact and it was the first time ever we were on top," said Klein. "It’s because we were aggressive."
David cruised with a perfect second inning, but then ran into trouble with a mix of crucial errors and consecutive base knocks.
"On defense we wanted to keep our errors down, but we’re a young team, [so] we’ll make some here and there," said McGowan. "We made one at a critical time."
The brunt of the damage came when third baseman Danielle Monforte blasted a grand slam to put the Scarlets up for good 4-2.
"We just got a little too comfortable and less aggressive," said Klein. "We didn’t make the key plays we needed to."
Ridgefield Park tacked on a five spot in the fourth inning and finished strong with two to end the game. The Raiders put the bat on the ball but could only manage infield pop flies and nubbed grounders.
"We need to work on our quickness and timing at bat," said McGowan. "We have good discipline, but we can’t pass up good pitches."
A bright spot for Englewood was Chen, who is only a freshman, in her first varsity game. The Raider effortlessly gunned down runners with pinpoint accuracy and contributed with five putouts.
"We all played pretty well in the infield," said Chen. "My whole mentality was to stay confident and I went into the game thinking positive."
Even though Englewood didn’t come away with the victory, the Raiders are optimistic.
"We may not have won, but we have to start somewhere and this game tells us what we need to improve on," said David. "Despite the errors, we communicated really well and did some good things on the pitching side."
