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Sports

Dodgers Softball Fights, But Falls to West Morris

Emily Klein went 4-for-4, helping to reignite Madison's offense.

The Madison High School softball team were hitting better on Saturday against West Morris Central than they had Friday night against Parsipanny, but despite scoring two runs and amassing eight hits, Madison dropped to 5-10 with the 6-2 loss. Emily Klein went four for four in the game, scoring one run and batting one Dodger in to lead Madison on offense.

"I haven't been hitting so well. I think I went 0 for 7 in the last few games," said Klein. "It helped that we came early and went to the batting cages, it was really nice to have that and clearly it helped a lot."

Madison's other run was scored by Maggie Dalene, who normally plays third but does not hit. She batted on Saturday because the designated hitter was not present, and ended up hitting a single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to keep the Dodgers alive.

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Her hit was followed by a walk from Nicole Iannarone, then Klein's fourth hit of the day, a single, but after a walk from catcher Juliana Vezza Madison was stopped on a pop-out to right field.

The Dodgers most promising rally came in the fourth inning and was started by a double from Klein. After singles from Nikki Caruso and Mackenzie Ellis, Klein scored, leaving Caruso on second and Ellis on first with one out, but the next at-bat was a double-play – West Morris Central's second baseman Danielle Pellerin fielded the ball, stepped on second for the force out, then tug Caruso for the third out.

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Coach Hector Martinez, as well as many Madison fans, did not agree with the call, and Martinez argued with the umpires that Caruso was on second still when the tag was made.

"Well, I wasn't going to change their mind," said Martinez.

The inning ended on the play, stranding two and deflating the Dodgers just as they were picking up some steam.

With the loss, the Dodgers have slipped from 5-6 to 5-10 in the last four games, but they are thinking positively about the rest of their season. With seven games left, they just want to win as many as possible to end the year.

"Seven more games, and four teams we already beat," said Martinez. "If we walk out with four more wins, I'll be happy…nine wins is not a bad season."

"We just want to win the games that we know we can win, and to play to our potential," said Klein. "And we want to have fun while playing cohesively as a team."

The Dodgers go to Pequannock (14-3) on Monday to face one of the toughest teams around. When Madison faced the Golden Panthers earlier this season at home Pequannock ten run ruled the Dodgers, ending the game 14-0.

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