In a few hours, I will be officially on vacation for about 10 days. I'll do some traveling, have an anniversary (the gift is already purchased) and maybe catch up on some sleep.
The summer softball season is also nearing an end, I think most teams wrap things up this weekend or next. I am ready to wrap a few things up myself.
The 2nd (well, maybe annual) Blazer Bash softball tournament will take place this weekend in Ridgewood. There will be 24 teams (12 in a U-16, 12 in a U-18) in the event which will be part showcase and part tournament.
There will be plenty of good pitchers and players competing. The Blazers are mostly Ridgewood (along with Demarest P Jessica Iuliano), there is the North Jersey Sting, the Pascack Valley Angels, the Sparks (Pequannock) and the North Jersey Rangers. Plus there are teams from the Shore, Central Jersey and all over. Its free admission...they will be selling food and cold drinks. And it should be a good time. I have put the entire schedule down below.
There are our McGill winners, Samantha Kee of Lakeland, Charlie McGill, and Nicholas Abruscato of Lyndhurst.
All photos by Leslie Barbaro.
We held the annual Athlete of the Week dinner last Thursday night at The Landmark II in Wood-Ridge. The food was good (I thought) the host was fantastic (I am biased) but the star of the show was someone who hasn't scored a touchdown in about 50 years.
Here are the final softball stats as reported to us here at the Record.
Here is my usual disclaimer. Every coach received an email (except for the 2 who dont have email, and one of them phoned his stats in) asking to send in their final stats. Not every coach keeps stats or likes to see them printed. If you don't see a certain team listed...that's why.
Also, with the new stats central, we can only print the stats based on the box scores called in to The Record, so that means we only have HR, RBI, doubles etc.
At 3:30 Monday, I updated this with Pascack Hills stats (they just came in) and some missing IHA numbers that were left out.
Before I throw out my first 2009 pre-season softball poll, I thought I would give you 2 for the price of one. Hey wait, actually, this doesn't cost anything at all.
And a reminder, the All North Jersey softball team will be out on the 23rd. I am working on the final complete stats and will have them up here on that day as well.
Before I get started with the North Jersey Top 50 in softball. Yes, 50. My congratulations to DePaul senior Patti Meringer (the North Jersey Swimmer of the Year) who won the Stan Levine Award for Swimming Excellence presented by the "Old Timers Athletic Association of Greater Paterson." How can I become an Old Timer?
Also, we have a new crop of JV Aces starting out. They have some new stuff up. If you are going to be a high school student next year and want to be a JV ace, contact me here.
I also just found out there will not be an Associated Press All-State softball team this year. That disappoints me, but I really can't do anything about it. Maybe in 2009.
Ok, everyone loves polls....
Brittany Baiunco of Ramapo. Is she the only pitcher to ever win three Bergen County championship games? I would love to know the answer for sure, but probably.
This goes out to Saddle Brook assistant coach Charlie Hofsaes, who is still laid up with this torn quad. I bring to you my memories from the 2008 softball season. And....I can finally tell the story about Park Ridge and the french fries.
It is almost official, the Varsity Aces blog is now two years old. My first blog post, way back in the day (although its still findable, God Bless the Internet) was on Chelsea Ott, the Pompton Lakes pitcher, who was just a sophomore back then.
Chelsea's high school career is now over, she will go on to U. Penn and be a tremendous success I have no doubt. I wonder if she will ever get a chance to strike out Stefan Bondy though.
But she is gone, so is Brittany Baiunco, and Andy and I are the ones left with deciding the final softball Top 25 and All North Jersey teams.
Photo by, well, by me. John Gojdycz, left, was the winner of the Barney Finn award, while Pete Lukach took home the Ray Farricker Memorial Award at the Bergen County Umpires Association dinner Friday night at The Landmark.
I was happy to be an honored guest at the dinner. These guys put together a good time.
Continue reading "The Third Team; A Night With Ken Kurnath" »
I thank Charlie for his updates....and everyone here at VA headquarters wishes him a speedy recovery after he tore his quadriceps playing basketball against kids 50 years younger than him!
Full, final scores below. Plus a complete recap of IHA-Paramus Catholic.
Also, All County pictures (for 1st team All Bergen and All Passaic kids) are:
Wednesday, June 4 at The Herald News, Garret Mountain Plaza, West Paterson
Thursday, June 5 at The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack
Monday, June 9 at The Herald News
Tuesday, June 10 at The Record
Wednesday, June 11 at The Record
Any time between 5:30 and 8:30 p.m.
The VARSITY ACES cover local sports for The Record and Herald News.
The JV ACES are your friends, your students, your kids. They are teens blogging about sports at their schools.
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