Scoops: Softball Season Review, Part 1

When we started the blog, like, three years ago today, one of the first things I did was post recaps of all of the softball games I had seen that spring. Well, I guess its a tradition then.

To be honest, I haven't counted all of the games yet. We will do that now, and also go over what we (me) were thinking then, and what we know now.

First, hey, remember when it was March and the weather was nice and warm and it didn't rain? Yeah, me neither. But I went to several scrimmages: in order, Rutherford and Hawthorne (Rutherford was winning 7-1 when I left); Midland Park vs. Ridgefield Park (to see if Carolyn Bryan was pitching yet for MP) Bogota vs. North Arlington (long year for the Bucs); IHA vs. Cedar Grove (pouring down rain); Caldwell vs. Pompton Lakes (Jen Homcy was going to have a good year); Ramapo at Saddle Brook (rematch of 2008 county final, plus Julie Shaw had gotten hurt, Saddle Brook won 4-3) and North Bergen vs. Hackensack (Hackensack was better, but not in North Bergen's class).
Then the games started.

I started my season in Demarest for Holy Angels vs. Clifton. Clifton won 6-1. At the time, I figured, well, it can't possibly rain any more that this (hahaha). Clifton looked solid - no more, no less. Holy Angels looked good too. I liked HA freshman catcher Erin Dubee.  
Now: Well, Clifton was just that, solid. Monica Barhorst had a good season, the Ferrara sisters played well, but the Mustangs were not a factor in the county or state tournament. Dubee had a good season behind the plate, and HA senior P Danielle Cuglietto batted .452, won 10 games and a scholarship to St. Peter's.

Game 2: Ramsey scored two runs in the seventh to edge Pascack Hills, 3-2. Well, I learned I didn't know how to spell Poracky, she had the game-winning hit, but was spelled Peracky in the paper. It looked like Brittany Palish would bat .800 but the Cowgirls still needed some seasoning.
Now: Ramsey finished one game over .500 and pitcher Brooke Garlick got injured and is out for the summer I hear. Poracky had a very good season, Palish did not bat .800, but somewhere in the .400s.

Game 3: Wood-Ridge beat Newark Academy 7-1 in the Bergen vs. Essex Challenge. I guess this was my first impression of WR and it was strong. I kept them in the Top 25 most of the year even though they were a team people kept asking me about. 
Now: W-R won the league. Newark Academy got beat by Dwight-Englewood in the State Tournament. The Blue Devils should be good again next year. Im interested to see how they do this summer.

Game 4: Saddle Brook beat Nutley 4-0 in the Bergen vs. Essex Challenge. This may have been the oddest game of the year as the Falcons won without getting a hit. Nutley looked like one of the better teams in Essex County. Lauren LaCass told me she was going to cosmetology school, and Kim Prevedel threw really hard.
Now: Nutley was one of the better teams in Essex. Saddle Brook was just starting on its way to a Group 1 final....and I think LaCass is still going to cosmetology school.

Game 5: Cedar Grove beat St. Mary in the Bergen vs. Essex Challenge. Then: This was the only time I saw St. Mary all year, and they did not look good. Cedar Grove looked very strong.
Now: St. Mary actually bounced back and had a pretty good year, finishing 2nd in the league, while Cedar Grove went to the Essex County Tournament final. So at the time, it looked bad for St. Mary, but it wasn't really, because Cedar Grove was pretty good.

Game 6: IHA beat Livingston 4-0 in the Bergen vs. Essex Challenge. Then: IHA was clearly the better team, Carly Piccinich was batting ninth, and Juliette D'Ambrosio wasn't even in the order. Christina Miquel looked strong.
Now: Hey, now looking back on it, its hard to believe IHA won games when they didn't score 3 runs in the last inning.

Game 7: Ramapo beat Mt. St. Dominic, 3-0 in the Bergen vs. Essex Challenge. Then: Julie Shaw had her first big performance of the season, striking out 7, while Lana Auerbach hit a long HR. It was a good win for the Green Raiders, who had come back from Florida a little shaky.
Now: This win just looks better and better over time. Mount didn't impress me in this game, but was a much better team later in the season...and so was Ramapo, obviously.

Game 8: River Dell beat Tenafly 8-1. Then: It was Chloe DeSanctis' 16th birthday and she had a pastry in a box after the game. Tenafly couldn't touch her as they fanned 14 times. After the game, I told (Tenafly P) Jessie Shevins' parents that I probably wouldn't see them again this season. I was right.
Now: This was the first sign of the changing of the guard in the BCSL American as River Dell won the league. Tenafly did not play well that day, but finished strong, I think they finished 13-8 and they should be a contender next season.

Game 9: Pompton Lakes beat Eastern Christian 8-6. Then: This was a wild game and EC really had its chances, Lauren Spoelstra hit a long two-run HR. But Pompton could bash with the best of them, Steph Pasquale led off with a HR (of course) and Kay Foote homered to put it away for Pompton. Also, the big question was whether one P would step up and be the ace for the Cardinals.
Now: We know that the 2 pitcher set up worked just fine for Pompton...and they could still find a way to score runs on anyone.

Game 10: West Milford over Mount St. Dominic 8-6. Then: I will say this a lot, but this was truly one of the oddest games I saw all year, the teams combined for 7, maybe 8 errors, not what you would expect. West Milford 3B Sarah Zambelli hit a ball about 9 miles.
Now: Strangely, this one could have been one of the highlights of West Milford's season, as they lost to Mount the 2nd time around, and Mount won the league. Zambelli can still hit though, wow.

Game 11: Saddle Brook 3, Midland Park 0 in the Friends of Sara night game. Then: This was a game SB Coach Darren White was really worried about, he kept telling me, "Midland Park is going to pull one off" meaning an upset. He shouldn't have worried, Kim Prevedel outdueled Carolyn Bryan, holding the Panthers to one hit. This was also a great game because we had Vic Shack behind the plate, and a couple of wise cracking coaches (who will remain nameless) were giving him grief about a dead ball play that should have given SB another run.
Now: Those 2 coaches are still wiseguys, Prevedel was really racking up big numbers when it came to strikeouts.

Game 12: The Varsity Infant made his one and only season appearance at the Black and Gold Tournament in Cedar Grove. IHA downed Sparta 6-0 in the first game. Then: Christina Miquel is now batting lead-off, Carly Pic is batting 7th, and Juliette is batting 8th. Alicia Daniele pitched a heck of a game against a good team. She was perfect through 4 and finished with a 1 hitter.
Now: Daniele was really an important player for the Blue Eagles, but that line-up sure went through some changes...and Sparta turned out to be a good team too, making noise in Group 3, North 1.

Gamee 13: This was a long day, as I left Cedar Grove for Wallington for the final 3 games of the Friends of Sara Tournament. I saw Queen of Peace beat back Becton, 3-2 in eight innings. Then: It seemed like it was Queen of Peace's biggest victory of the year and Suzanne Murden told me she was about 75 percent retiring.

Now: It was Queen of Peace's biggest victory of the year, and I still don't know if Murden officially retired or not.

Game 14: Wood-Ridge downed St. Dominic's of Jersey City 11-2. Then: The St. Dominic coach is just one of the nicest guys in the sport, can't remember his name, oh, Dave Majewski, just a real good guy. St. Dom's played well early but W-R jumped all over them late. It was the 2nd game of the day for W-R who had lost earlier in the day to Clifton.

Now: It was another good performance by the Blue Devils.

Game 15: Paramus Catholic over MKA, 5-3 in the finale of the Friends of Sara. Then: It seemed like it was the start of something big for PC, which had just come back from its trip to South Carolina (and had the worlds longest bus ride). Also, by far the longest ball hit of the season was slugged by MKA senior DP Danielle Donatiello. 

Now: PC just never quite got another big win like this, losing to Pascack Valley, Ridgewood and IHA twice. MKA went on to win Non Public B for the 8th time.

Game 16: Indian Hills beat River Dell, 4-1 in the EDSAF Tournament. Then: Katie Enright looked unhittable, just pumping strike after strike, and RD was not a bad hitting team. I remember this game for another reason, RD catcher Erin Cameron bashed a long homer in the 7th and came to the bench all fired up. This girl Cameron was a heck of a player.

Now: It was a match-up of two eventual league champions, and Enright (who has already been offered a scholarship by Iona) was pretty much unhittable for much of the season.

Game 17: Ridgewood beat Saddle Brook, 3-2 in 8 innings. Then: It was a showdown of 2 of the top teams in Bergen County and it was the first loss for Saddle Brook. It was kind of a sloppy game, each team had a couple of errors, Kelly Hommen had a long double in the 8th to break the tie.

Now: This was one of Ridgewood's best wins of the year, for Saddle Brook, it was a Sunday, and the Falcons were still unbeaten Monday-Saturday, 0-1 on Sundays.

Game 18: Fort Lee beat Ridgewood, 4-1. Then: This is the infamous "Thunder" game, and by the way, you do realize that this game indirectly had an impact on the BCT finale, because we had thunder in the bottom of the 7th (even though none of the umps heard it) when we heard it in the BCT final, everyone knew what to do. But aside from that, this was Fort Lee's biggest win, maybe ever, as they scored 3 runs in the 3rd, Alexa D'Angelo went 4-4 and this was also, perhaps, the best ice cream trip of the season to Ice Cream Charlies in Rutherford.

Now: Fort Lee would go on to have its best season ever. I would not make it back to Ice Cream Charlie's however, but I wish I had.

Game 19: Hackensack defeated Wayne Valley, 13-3 in 6 innings. Then: It was time to check in on Hackensack as the Comets were angling for a berth in the county tournament. This was a close game for a while, but WV came undone in the 6th inning and Hackensack scored eight times. If I had an All-Freshman team (which is a nice idea) Hackensack freshman 2b Jaclyn Allegretta would be on it.

Then: The Comets ended up kinda scheduling themselves out of a chance to make the county tournament. But they may have a shot next year.

Game 20: This was one of the hottest, sunniest days of the year, I was at the DeBlasio all day, first game was Saddle Brook 6, Glen Rock 0. Then: This is a great event, its the only tournament where for each of the last 2 years I am literally in the field of play. I heard the umps even talk about me during ground rules, that I was in the field of play (off of the 3b line, kinda set far back, but still). Even though SB won rather easily, I thought Glen Rock played hard. This is also the only game all season where I got hit with a ball, ironically, not during the game (again, I was in the field) but in warm-ups. I haven't forgotten you Kei Thurber! You will be hearing from my attorney. (just kidding). Also, since I was in the field of play, I took it upon myself to become an unpaid tournament official, coordinating the coin flip between the coaches before each game. Seriously, that way I didn't have to screw up my score book putting the wrong team under Home and the other under Away. I hate when that happens.

Now: Glen Rock was much improved from last year, they were in the league title chase to the last day. Kim Prevedel continued to rack up big strikeout numbers.

Game 21: The second game of the DeBlasio, Ridgewood edged Ramsey, 1-0. Then: Amy Tartini got the start for the Rams and really did a good job, the story here was the Ridgewood defense, both good and bad, the Maroons made 4 errors, but every time they needed to make a play, they did, or Ali Vagianos got a big strikeout. After this game I had a delicious sausage sandwich from the grill (but I must say I thought they were better last year). In fact....of the tournaments, the best food winner is......IHA, the steak sandwiches were great, runner up is Wallington, Kupkake had some special cheese and pepperoni in the parking lot, I could eat that all day.

Now: Ridgewood's defense would be superb for the rest of the season. Also, they were starting to get adjusted to playing without Alex Scibetta in the line-up.

Game 22: Pascack Valley beat Paramus Catholic 2-1. Then: Well, this one was one of the biggest surprises (for me) up to that point of the season, but you could start to see that PV had something good brewing. It must be noted, however, that PC was playing without Erin Trippi in this game. She was ill.

Now: Amazing as it seems, but in this game, PV had the late-inning rally to take the game. Of course, that would not be the theme for them the rest of the year.

Game 23: Pascack Hills beat Hackensack, 4-1. Then: This win clinched a spot in the county tournament for the Cowgirls (I dont care what it says on there uniform, I like calling them the Cowgirls). Brittany Palish led off the game with a HR. The other thing from this game, I still have a tan/burn line on my right leg. It was hot out there.

Now: The Cowgirls would go up to upset Tenafly in the county tournament first round.

Comments

[unsure]

Im just curious how Enright and Beards were offered scholarships already..Especially Beards..Its been posted for a least a year shes been offered 1 from Maryland i think...In her sophmore year it was announced..How can that be???

[GT]

If you like the Cowgirls, then you should enjoy the nickname I came up with for DP Meredith Hryczyk: "The Cowgirl Without a Vowel." (yes, I stole this from Temple's Bill Mlkvy, "The Owl Without a Vowel". Sue me.) Coach Mills can vouch for it, too. But... no mention of the Line of the Year? I even think it was spoken at the Ramsey/Ridgewood DeBlasio game.

[Information]

Those players are not the only kids that have been offered scholarship. The kids that travel all summer are playing in front of college coaches from from June 13th until the middle of August. These kids travel as far as California, CO, and etc.. and have been playing travel ball for Gold 18U showcase teams since 9th grade. A lot different playing against the Gold teams, 43ft, etc...

[Softball Nut]

Agreed, I do think the summer tourney's and showcases at the Black and Gold level mean a lot in the world of College recuruting ,etc.. Takes nothing away from the accomplishments of the above mentioned and they too have also most likely put much time in to summer travel and summer clubs.

[biggreen23]

As a non-revenue generating NCAA sport, softball's recruiting budgets for travel are very limited. No one really gets too excited about Bergen and Passaic softball except for local schools; so if players want to be seen, it is incumbent for them to be seen at national level events where college coaches can maximize their recruiting.

[biggreen23]

The NCAA allows each Division 1 softball program 12 scholarships (compare that to 11.7 NCAA D1 baseball scholarships); and in Division 2, 7.2 scholarships are available. There are 262 Division 1 and 253 Division 2 colleges that offer softball scholarships.

Obviously the math is not very favorable for earning a scholarship to play at the next level.

It is far more likely that college coaches who attend National, Regional and State fast pitch tournaments "track" players they get to see at these higher profile events.

The Bergen and Passaic tournaments are simply not on major college coach's list of "must see" events.