But unfortunately for the Lady Wildcats, they could not fulfill that goal on Saturday.

Becton came from behind at Demarest, but still fell 5-4 in the first round of the county tournament. The Lady Wildcats’ record dropped to 10-4.

"We always set the goals of getting into the county tournament and winning a game," said Becton head coach Dwight Hall.

With their top pitcher in the first five innings, Becton could only muster two hits against Demarest’s top hurler, Jessica Iuliano.

But after that the Lady Wildcats almost came from behind to upset the 11th seeded Norsewomen. Senior first baseman Jessica Knapp hit the second pitch of the at bat and smacked a grand slam in the top of the sixth inning to cut the game to a one-run deficit. But Becton could not get the equalizer and the Lady Wildcats were ousted.

Knapp had a pair of hits and four RBI in the contest and leads the team in several categories. She has shown plenty of power this season including three home runs in the April 29th victory over Hasbrouck Heights.

"They were legitimate shots that were hit up the gap," said Hall about Knapp who is leading the team in hitting at .522 while cracking five homeruns so far in 2008. The senior leads the team in RBI with 25 and has stolen seven of eight stolen base attempts.

Along with Knapp, the offense has been steered by the likes of sophomore Alysa Banca and senior Lauren Cosentino who leads the team in on-base percentage and is hitting .410 for the season. Banca is a perfect seven-for-seven in stolen base attempts and has hit. 449 while compiling 22 doubles and hitting two homeruns.

Despite throwing a good game, Becton pitcher Andi Nunziato gave up seven hits and settled down after a slow start. "She did a very nice job," said Hall. Nunziato has a 2.10 earned run average for the season along with 89 strikeouts. She is also hitting with the bat with a .410 batting average.

Coming into the game Hall feels that his team should have received a higher bid. "The only thought was that going to the seeding meeting that I thought we would have gotten a higher seed," said Hall whose team was 8-2 at the cutoff, but would not make that as the excuse for the loss. "I told them that no matter what your seed is that you have to beat them."

The next goal for Becton will be to get the best record for the state tournament cutoff date on Friday while also winning the BCSL National.

As of last week, the Lady Wildcats were in first place despite a 9-2 loss to Secaucus. Becton was ahead by one game over St. Mary’s, Secaucus and St. Mary’s.

"The league is very tight this season," said Hall. "Everybody is beating everybody else."

It will be a double this week for the Lady Wildcats as they face St. Mary’s, Wallington and Emerson. "Our biggest goal is challenging for the league title," said Hall.

In the loss to Secaucus, the game was tight for most of the contest, but the Lady Patriots scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning. The Lady Wildcats added two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but could not come back.