The snow has finally melted, and just in time — the spring sports season is starting, and High School North and High School South squads are eager to get outside. The crosstown rivals won’t have to wait long to see how their athletes compare as several teams will face off during the first days of the season.
Baseball: South and North will meet twice this spring, in an early-season matchup on Tuesday, April 1, at South, and again on Saturday, May 17, at North. North went 5-14 last year with a young team and returns its star pitcher, senior Christian Waters. South hopes to build on a 16-9 season that included a trip to the Mercer County Tournament final, where the team lost to Notre Dame, 7-3. The Pirates also advanced to the Group 4 quarterfinal, though they will be working through losses of ace Paul Balestrieri — now pitching for Cornell — Mark Sitek, and Pat Boyle, all of whom graduated in 2013.
Softball: The softball teams are working with similar goals. North went 4-13 last year, and South finished just above .500 at 10-9. Pirates starting pitcher Rachel Gagliardo had a solid 2013 and returns this spring to finish out her high school career. The softball teams will also bookend their seasons with crosstown matchups. North plays at South on Tuesday, April 1, and at home on Thursday, May 15.
Golf: Both schools’ boys’ and girls’ golf teams followed their trend of success last season. The North boys went 10-4, and the girls went 9-6 with then-freshman Saachi Bedi as one of the team’s keys. The South boys finished 12-3, while the girls had the best finish of them all, an undefeated 13-0. Jessi Musumeci led the squad as a freshman and should continue her dominance this season. The boys’ golf teams meet Tuesdays, April 1 and 29. The girls’ golf teams meet on Wednesdays, May 7 and 14.
Lacrosse: In boys’ lacrosse, North finished at 6-12, while South finished at 12-5. The Pirates made it to the quarterfinal round of both the Mercer County and Group 3 tournaments. The North girls had a stellar 2013 season, finishing at 17-2 and handing crosstown rival South (8-10) a 21-7 defeat in the quarterfinals of the Mercer County Tournament. North ended its season with a loss in the Group 4 tournament quarterfinal. Both teams face off on Saturday, April 12. Senior star Olivia Harpel returns to lead the Knights.
Boys’ Tennis: The perennially successful boys’ tennis teams will meet twice in 2014: at South on Wednesday, April 2, and at North on Monday, May 5. The North boys’ tennis team finished 12-8, including two losses to South, while the Pirates ended the season at 20-2. North placed fifth in the county tournament and South came out on top for the ninth time in 10 years.
Kristian Dudchak was North’s youngest player last season as a sophomore and went further than any other North player in the county tournament. Much of the team returns this year, as seven of the nine starters were juniors last year. Just one player, Nihal Narsipur, graduated.
South lost Thomas Weng, last year’s county second singles champion, and Dan Vaysburd, half of the first doubles county champion team, but Michael Song, Martin Malik, Raymond Fan, and Yuefeng Zhu will be back.
Boys’ Volleyball: North plays at South on Tuesday, April 1, and plays host to the Pirates on Thursday, April 17. The Knights were 11-8 last year, and the Pirates were 7-14.
Track & Field: All four track and field teams ran, jumped and threw to solid seasons. The South boys finished second in the county, and North followed at third. The North girls placed seventh in the county meet, while the South girls also came in second. The Knights will look to senior standouts Simone Counts and Pati Dziekonska — both of whom recently committed to college track programs (see above) — to lead the way. The teams will compete head-to-head in a tri-meet at Hopewell Valley on Wednesday, April 30.
