Cally Young ripped a two-out double down the left field line in the bottom of the sixth to score Kirsten Savage and Old Tappan topped Fair Lawn 5-4.

"My throwing hand was pretty cold," said Young, "and the batting glove didn’t do much. I saw the ball and I was thinking it was going to hurt when I swing the bat. When I saw it go past the third baseman I was running as hard as I could.

"The hit felt really great. It was good to put my team up and get another win for the season."

Young’s sixth inning heroics salvaged the game for the Golden Knights, who lost a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning.

Sophomore pitcher Jen Capazzi had been sailing along on a four-hitter with seven strikeouts, when Fair Lawn scored four runs on only two hits. In the inning Capazzi walked two and the Golden Knight infield made three errors.

"I am very confident in my fielders," said Capazzi. "If I just get it over the plate they make the plays."

"They (Fair Lawn) have speed and speed is always a threat in this game," said Old Tappan coach Melissa Landeck. "It unsettled us in the field and we paid the price. It got them back in the game."

A four-pitch walk, bunt single and wild throw gave the Cutters their first run. After a full count walk and stolen base put runners on second and third, a second infield throwing error made the score 4-2 and moved runners to second and third. Chelsea Benjamin plated both runners with a base hit up the middle to tie the score.

"You have that inning where you lose your momentum and get out of sync a little bit," said Landeck. "That was certainly the case."

"Sometimes we go back to our old ways," said Young. "We have been playing together for a long time and back in the day we would get a little sloppy. Last year or the year before we might have given up, but on this team everyone works hard and will not give up."

Old Tappan had taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Sophomore third baseman Mia Assante led off with a base on balls and Savage, who is also a sophomore, singled to left.

Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and the only senior on the team, first baseman Alexis Kral, drove both home with a single to center.

"We have left a lot of people on base this year," said Kral, "but we are getting more timely hits as we did today and we got more runs. We are hitting the ball well. You have to get people on base in order to score them."

The Golden Knights scored two more in the home third inning. Kral walked and Capazzi blasted a triple to left.

"I looked for a pitch I could put in play," Capazzi said.

A sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Lisa Rinaldi scored Capazzi.

"We are really starting to put hits together and move runners around," said Landeck. "And with people in scoring position, capitalizing is important."

Capazzi settled down for the final two innings. She struck out the side in the sixth inning and got the Cutters 1-2-3 in the seventh to preserve the win. She finished with 11 strikeouts for the game.

"That’s a lot," said a surprised Capazzi. "I hope to get that many."

"It was a great experience for a sophomore pitcher," said Landeck. "To be in that pressure situation and succeed is huge. That has to give her a big lift."

With the win the Golden Knights move to 2-0 in the tough NBIL.

"We overcame that one inning and Jen came through," said Young. "Every one worked hard and it worked out really well. We are starting off the season right."

"I’m proud of us today," said Landeck. "We didn’t pack it in We kept fighting for that last run. These kids did a great job of just believing in themselves."