RIDGEFIELD – For a few moments, longtime Rutherford coach Helen Antzoulides could only find one word to describe Leigha Goldsack’s performance Saturday.
“It was a gem,” she said.
Goldsack, a sophomore, notched the first no-hitter of her varsity career Saturday, striking out 13 in the process, to lift the 17th-seeded Bulldogs to a 1-0 victory over No. 16 Ridgefield in the first round of the Bergen County softball tournament. Rutherford will face top-seeded Immaculate Heart, a 10-0 winner over Ramapo on Saturday, in the second round next week.
“All I was thinking was that I had to do my job and get the outs,” Goldsack said. “I knew I had a good defense behind me and they’d make the plays.”
But for a while, it was all Goldsack. Making just her second start for the Bulldogs since becoming eligible under the state’s transfer rule, the right-hander got eight of her first nine outs by strikeout.
She also retired the side in order in the fifth, all looking, as seven of her 13 strikeout victims watched a called third strike go by.
“Mostly my rise and my cutter were working,” said Goldsack, who only allowed three Royals to reach base in seven innings.
“I haven’t seen a better-pitched game by a Rutherford pitcher in a while,” Antzoulides said. “And to do it in a county game. She can battle with any one of her pitches.”
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/h-s-softball-rutherford-s-leigha-goldsack-tosses-gem-1.1324442
