This is a rebuilding year, or as we like to say at South, ‘We are reloading,’” says High School South softball coach Nicole Arias, whose team lost seven starters from its 2011 squad.
South will play its home finale against Steinert on Wednesday, May 30. The game was postponed one week because of rain –– one more adjustment in a season filled with new beginnings at South.
The team has just two seniors and three juniors. Three freshman girls are starters: Gina Demilt, Emily Vena, and Sandhya Kaul. A fourth freshman, Rachel Goldner, is also on the team.
“Having our girls playing in their freshman year, even starting as freshmen, has driven them to take on leadership roles. That builds confidence that they can play at the high school level,” the coach says.
The two seniors have brought stability to South. Arias comments that Elizabeth Mendez, her senior captain, has pitched well throughout the year. Arias adds that center fielder Tiffany Gagliardo taken a leadership role by developing less experienced players along side her.
Arias says that junior Anjelica Sitek has been a standout this season. Demilt, the freshman, has worked well behind the plate as the catcher.
“(Junior) Hye-Jin Kim has played all-out solid defense for us at shortstop, and with Vena at second base the infield has given us an ultimate effort this season,” Arias says.
Arias has six sophomores contributing to the team: Jessica Bizenov, Caroline Brooks, Rachel Gagliardo, Alissa Julius, Lindsay Philbin, and Mariel Sullivan.
For Arias, the biggest strength her new group of players brings to the table is an eagerness to learn. “They’re like sponges right now. They want to learn everything they want to know everything and they want to improve.”
The coach says her team’s signature win this season was against Allentown, which was undefeated at the time. “We were down in the game and ended up winning. It was a huge win for us.”
Heading into the NJSIAA tournament, Arias felt that the keys for her team were solid defense, making minimal errors, and coming up with timely hitting.
A similar strategy applied at High School North. The Knights struggled to get runs on the board, but the team compensated with its pitching and defense. Head coach Jason Petrone says his 12-9 team has had an up-and-down year.
“We avenged two losses earlier in the season to South by knocking them out of the Mercer County Tournament with a 2-1 win. It was 1-1 most of the game and we scored the winning run late in the game,” he says. North also beat Steinert in a 2-1 come-from-behind victory earlier this season.
On May 16, North’s run in the Mercer County Tournament ended with a 7-2 loss to Allentown.
North and Steinert took a 0-0 tie into extra innings on May 17. North eventually scored the game’s only run in the 10th inning.
Like South, North has seen a breakout performance from a freshman. Petrone says center fielder Madison Bloom has played exceptionally well.
“She’s a speedy freshman outfielder, and she gets to a lot of balls. She can hit for power and she can bunt as well,” he says.
Kaitlin Perrine, North’s senior pitcher, has earned over 50 career victories. The coach said Perrine was on pace for 500 strikeouts in her high school career. She will attend Lafayette College in the fall.
Petrone also mentioned his shortstop, Emily Weinberg, who leads the team in hitting, batting over .600.
North’s season will continue, as it defeated Freehold, 5-0, on May 23 in the first round of the state tournament.
