Tenafly pitcher Jessie Shevins tossed her best game of the season and the Tigers got just enough offense to get past Fort Lee 3-0.

"We came back from Florida 2-0 and this is our second home win," said Tenafly coach Megan Williams. "Today was the best the girls have looked so far. It was a big defensive day for us.

"Jessie was really strong on the mound. She’s recovering from an injury and today is the best she has looked all season."

In the fourth inning senior shortstop Megan Birch was safe on an error in the scoreless game. Williams asked sophomore Michelle Koles to sacrifice Birch to second and Koles did one better.

She beat out the bunt and Birch ran all the way to third on the play. Koles stole second and junior second baseman Marisa Silber plated both runners with a bomb over the Fort Lee right fielder’s head.

"I just tried to hit the ball and come through for the team," said Silber. "From last year she (Fort Lee junior pitcher Alyssa Gouvouniotis)) really improved a lot. Most of the time we put the ball in play, but they made some good plays.

"Finally that one inning the ball got through and we put it together."

Silber made it to third on her blast and scored when sophomore Tiger first baseman Ana Brown grounded out to second.

"We were able to come up with a big inning," said Williams. "That was what the girls needed to see – we can do it once, so we could do it again."

With a 3-0 lead the team turned to Shevins. She had come out strong, striking out five of the first six batters she faced, and she ended the game with her 13th strikeout.

In between she yielded only three hits and issued no walks.

"She has a focus that I have never seen," said Tenafly senior catcher Brigette Cohan. "In Florida she would get three balls on the batter and [come back] and strike them out. She is relentless. She gets is a zone."

Shevins injured her ankle near the end of basketball season and is being brought along slowly by Williams, who is not allowing her to bat as yet.

"With the ankle we don’t want to take any chances," said Williams. "She is actually a strong batter. She did well for us last year. I want to make sure she gets back from her injury. She can focus on pitching and when she’s ready we’ll get her back in the lineup."

Shevins believes that the layoff after her basketball injury helped because, "My legs got a rest," she said.

"From basketball season my legs get tired and I got a good rest."

The team spent some time in Florida in late March and early April. Players say that it allowed them to bond together, even though several of them say they are already best buddies.

"We’re like best friends," said Shevins. "We get along well, hang out with each other, bond really well. In Florida we bonded really well. We’ve been friends throughout the whole school year. It’s really nice."

"We get along great," Silber added. "We’ve always been very close. A lot of us play soccer and basketball and there is really good team bonding. We are all best friends."

Shevins started off slowly during the Florida trip, pitching a couple of innings in each game and building up her strength.

"I [eventually] pitched a whole game for the first time," she said. "After that I pitched a game every day. It really got me into it. They had some really good teams. Our team fielded well, our team batted in the clutch. We really got our bats going against good quality pitching."

"There was excellent competition," said Williams. "We were 5-2 overall with scrimmages and games. The losses were almost better than our two victories. We got into national tie-breaker rules. There was quality pitching. It was good for the girls to see pitch selection since at home we weren’t getting the scrimmages in due to the bad weather.

"It was a very valuable trip."