Now that the spring season has officially begun, most of the teams at High School North and South seem, for the most part, to be off to a good start. Both softball teams kicked off their seasons with open-day victories. The Pirates annihilated Trenton, 13-0. Alyssa Kelman allowed only one run and struck out nine opponents in five innings. Liz Huttner and Kelman both had three hits a piece.##M:[more]##
The Knights soundly defeated Allentown 9-4 on April 1, under the leadership of pitcher and captain Christie Jensen, who also batted in two runs, and Danielle Parisi, who hit a home run. The following day, Jensen pitched six shut-out innings in the team’s win over Lawrenceville.
Meanwhile, the South baseball team, the North boys and girls lacrosse teams, North and South tennis teams, and South boys’ golf, South girls’ track, North boys track, and North volleyball teams all boasted opening day victories. The North girls track team split its tri-meet, 1-1.
In the March 21 edition the News previewed the boys’ baseball and lacrosse teams. Here is a look at the rest of the spring teams.
North Softball
The defending Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division champions are looking for their third straight division title this season, and with a lineup that returns many players from last season, coach Jason Petrone says that should be a pretty attainable goal.
After last season’s 17-8 record, and the team’s venture to the state playoffs for the first time, captains Christie Jensen, Molly Shevlin, and Danielle Parisi are hoping to lead a slew of returning players down a similar path, despite losing two of its best players last season to graduation, including Lindsay Gargano, and that its number one pitcher, Liz Chudzik transferred to High School South. Among the other returning players are Brianna Taft, Courtney Carnivale, Alexandra Nicoforo, Alexandra Forsell, Sarah Disimini, and Alexandra Spiegel.
“I’m optimistic to have a winning season and make the state playoffs again this year and defend our division title,” Petrone says. “Last year was pretty much our first winning season. We’re hoping we can keep the ball rolling in the right direction there.”
South Softball
This year the Pirates will be returning two seniors, Sarah Tedesco and Amanda Terebey, and juniors Liz Huttner, Alyssa Kelman, and Emily Orlikoff to the team.
Coming off a 9-12 record last season, second-year coach Nicole Arias says the team, again, is very young. “We only have two seniors and a lot of underclassmen,” she says. “It will be challenging to group together the younger players with some of the more experienced players.”
But, having a young team has it’s advantages, she says. “We are young and have a lot of unknowns,” Arias said. “Other teams will know from the previous season who your stars are and what to look for,” but in this case, they won’t.
“Last year was my first year being the head varsity coach, so the transition for the team to make with a new coach can be challenging,” she said.
This year, Arias says, the team wants to make it further in the county tournament and make a good run to earn a C.V.C. title. She says she is looking to improve the team’s hitting and pitching. The team does get a boost with Liz Chudzik joining the team as a pitcher and shortstop.
“It was tough to go through a whole season with one pitcher, and a few hitters that were consistently hitting,” she said. “So this year, we look to be a better team offensively than in the past.”
North Girls Lacrosse
Coming off an 11-8 record last year, the Knights return six of their senior players, in Caitlin Barry, Kerry Pehnke, Katie Slonaker, Katie Cummins, and Kelly Troianello, and Bridgette Wasco, and two juniors in Deeksha Taneja and Kimmy Collins, and sophomore Denise Pyfrom.
Even though the team lost five seniors last year, Coach Beth Mitchell says the team had a pretty large junior and sophomore class who returned with more experience this year. She says the team this year looks very strong. And the Knights kicked off their season with a win against South Brunswick, 18-8, on April 1. “We did have some beautiful plays, but we did have a slower first half.” It was in the second half, she says, where the team really started to play some good lacrosse. Being consistent in every game is one of the things she said she hopes to see the team do this season.
South Girls Lacrosse
This year, the Pirates will have a blend of experience and new players to help them make up for last year’s 3-10 season, and to help them reach their goal of making it to the state tournament.
Among the returning seniors and key players are Kelsey Borup, on attack, Lauren Ruta, in midfield, Amanda Yates, on defense, and Liz Qian, goalie. But the Pirates will also return 13 juniors, including Stephanie Dontas, who is captain along with Borup, Ruta, and Yates, on defense, and three sophomores.
“It’s really a good group of girls that have turned into a cohesive unit, and if they continue down that path,” Coach Brooke Parrott says she anticipates the team will have a really good chance to far surpass last season’s record.
North Boys Tennis
High School North returns several players, including sophomore Tim Wu, who will return at first singles. Senior Scott Weinreb and sophomore Brandon Frank will round out the second and third singles spots, said Coach Albert Paulsson. Seniors John Cheng and Guaraz Verma, and juniors Jun Yoshitake and Amit Penmetcha will also be among the key returning players for the team.
Last season, the team finished with a 13-4 record. “We won our division, and we made into the second round of the state tournament, so it was a good year last year,” said Paulsson. “Expectations are to improve upon last season, go farther in the state tournament, and hopefully place in the top three at the Mercer County tournament. That would be nice.”
Among the strengths is the team’s depth, he said. “We have a good range of experienced players and young players,” Paulsson said. “I think our singles players are going to have a great year, but for the second and third singles, it’s going to be their first year playing singles.” Nonetheless, he said he expects them to do well.
South Boys Tennis
The Pirates, who were last year’s Central Jersey Group IV champions before losing to Westfield in a nail-biter, have been a number one team in the area for the past four years, and despite losing five of its top eight players from last season, they hope to continue their success this year.
“We have our work cut out for us this year, but we’re going to try to stay among the top teams in the area, and hopefully remain in the top 10 teams in the state,” said Coach Jim Giovacchini.
Returning to the team is top player Leland Richardson, who made it to the state quarterfinals last year with an individual record of 28-5 last year. Senior Jungiro Mori will also be key for the Pirates this year. Leland’s younger brother, Julian, a sophomore, also returns.
North Boys Golf
Defending Mercer County champion Dan Trink and Simran Charan, who made a hit with the varsity team as a freshman — both sophomores — return to the Pirates this year. The team, which finished 10-6 last year, also returns juniors Andrew Chismar and Joe Pierro, and sophomores Garrett Yung, Matt Kelly, Miles Eisenman, Rob Dunne, and Neil Bebi.
South Girls Golf
With seven returning players this year, including junior Saira Dar, the team’s captain, seniors Stephanie Tabor, Sonal Behare, Ashita Gopal, juniors Chelsea Cheatham and Emily Deamond, and sophomore Michelle Change, coach Patricia McDermott says the team is focused on improving its skills and win a few more matches this year. Last season, the team went 5-11.
North Boys Track
Many of the key players who led the Knights to second place at the Mercer Meet in the indoor season will be returning this spring. Some of the familiar faces include senior John LiPuma, sophomore Tyler Corkdale, Barnett Wu, Steve Au-Yeung, and Joe and Jim Rosa, all of whom should keep the Knights in the spotlight this season.
South Boys Track
The Pirates will once again be returning all-time county indoor 3,”200 champion Brian Leung — and the county’s best long distance runner — this year. He’s also joined by Sam Macaluso, Joe Brown, and Keith Griffith, all of whom add to the powerful lineup the team has this year.
North Girls Track
Junior Trish Reilly, who also had great fall and winter seasons, will return for the Knights this year, along with hurdler/jumper Cassie Ireland. Last year, the team finished as co-champions of the Patriot Division, and despite losing two key players, Julia Xu and Holland Thomas, the team is looking to keep up its reputation and perhaps even build on it.
South Girls Track
After stellar seasons in the fall and winter, star senior distance runner Katie Kellner, and star senior high jumper Sammy Howell, both indoor county champs, will be among the many talented Pirates returning this season. Others include Ting-Ting Zhu, Becky Barclay and Tiffany Hsieh.
North Volleyball
Coming off a 7-9 season last year, the Knights will return two seniors, and Anthony Sung, and only one returning starter, junior Brian Foster, who will help lead the young team this year.
South Volleyball
The Pirates return this year with six returning seniors, including Andy Cheon, Andrew Tam, Liam Callahan, Peter Yang, Jake Bae, and Vachan Manchanda. Last season, the team lost in the second round of the state tournament to St. Joseph, Metuchen.
