Fierce postseason for Tigers

It had been almost two weeks since the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy (RKA) softball team had seen any action. Eleven days since the Tigers suffered their lone defeat of the season in a loss to JFK Campus. So would the long layoff and the memory of that loss affect RKA in its playoff opener versus Health Opportunities High School (HOHS) on Monday?

Um, no.

The Tigers took out their pent-up frustrations on the Pythons by sending 16 batters to the plate in the first inning and scoring 12 times, and ace Samantha Torres limited HOHS to just a pair of meaningless runs in the fifth inning of the mercy-rule shortened game as RKA rolled to a 19-2 shellacking of HOHS at Riverdale Playground.

The Tigers (15-1) were scheduled to play its next playoff game on Wednesday, after The Press went to print, versus an opponent to be determined.

“It’s always nice to put up a 12-spot in the first inning,” RKA coach Rob Dicanio said after his team’s latest lopsided victory. “It’s the playoffs. You can never underestimate your opponent because you never know what they bring to the table. We hadn’t seen anybody outside of our division all year and I don’t have time to go scout so we didn’t know much about that team.”

The Tigers really didn’t need to know all that much about them because they know plenty about themselves and how they’ve managed to put teams away early in games this season. It’s the formula the Tigers have used to roll to the Bronx ‘B’ Division title this season and the one they plan to use for a long run in the postseason.

“When we come into practice we have this mentality where we want to work on our weaknesses and we never want our offense to be a weakness so we work on that constantly,” said Torres, who was her usual, masterful self as she struck out 10 Pythons in the victory. “We never sleep on the other team no matter what the score is because that keeps us in the same mentality. It’s the same with our defense. We have to be ready on every pitch. We just have to have that focus.”

The Tigers had laser-like focus in the first inning when RKA sent a conga-line of batters to the plate and proceeded to bludgeon a parade of HOHS pitchers. The big blows in the inning came on a pair of triples by Delilah Delgado, who knocked in four runs in the inning and five for the game. In all, the first eight Tigers reached base safely — and each eventually scored — before HOHS could record the first out of the inning. Once it did, the Tigers answered with four more runs in the inning and the wind was sufficiently sucked out of the Pythons’ sails.

“Delilah had some good at bats,” Dicanio said. “She had been struggling at the plate for a while now so it was nice to see. Hopefully she can try and build on that.”

Torres was happy to see her teammate break out and help give her a huge early cushion to work with.

“She’s amazing. I’m lucky to have her on my team,” Torres said.

With their first playoff win now under their belts, is this Tigers team, which is ranked third in the playoffs behind Monroe and South Bronx High Schools, confident it will be a major player in the postseason this year?

“I hope so. That’s how I coach them,” Dicanio said. “I coach them to play every single pitch like it’s your last because any single pitch can determine the outcome of games. I don’t ever focus on who the opponent is. We just play our game.”

Which has been a winning formula for all season for RKA.

“I know what we’re capable of,” said Torres, the stellar senior righthander. “We’re a really good team. We just have to continue staying focused and playing hard and smart. Everyone is having fun out there.”