There is white smoke coming from Varsity Aces HQ, it must be the start of spring sports here on Varsity Aces. (Of course, don’t forget, All-County pictures tonight at Garret Mountain Plaza from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.).
Even though softball is not my beat any more, I stay on top of things as best as I can. I am happy to present you with my first softball blog of the season. The season begins April 1st, already the forecast for that day is rain (just kidding). Actually, I always look forward to that Opening Day. I always try to see a game with some team on the rise or a team with something to prove.
We can talk about that some too.
But first, the nitty gritty stats and information.
As a refresher course, last season, IHA won the triple crown, league, county and state and finished 32-0. I think by the end of the year Greg Tartaglia and I had figured out there had been like 5 other Bergen County teams who had gone unbeaten in history.
The Blue Eagles return the bulk of their line-up, including junior P Steph Thomas who has a chance to become just the 2nd player to ever win three Bergen County titles in the circle this season. Thomas has already committed to….Lafayette where will be the first softball scholarship player. IHA senior catcher Ally Vergona (belated Happy Birthday to her) has committed to UNC-Greensboro and senior 3B Cassidy Trause is committed to Temple. I honestly can’t remember a team with 3 college commitments in one line-up before. Anyway, the theme at IHA, if you pay attention to Twitter and stuff like that is “protect the zero.†Finishing unbeaten again would be a heck of an accomplishment. I saw the Blue Eagles come really close a few times last year to losing. I say this much, if someone is gonna beat them, it better be early in the year, because if they get some big wins and momentum going, they just could finish unbeaten again.
The defending champs in Passaic County are the DePaul Spartans. DePaul is one of those teams who actually had IHA all but beaten last year in the sectional final. The Spartans also have an outstanding junior P in Ashley LaGuardia.
All right, but who after that?
Then comes the I-teams. Immaculate Conception made the Non-Public B state final last season. The Blue Wolves bring back 7 starters, and look like will use 2 young pitchers. Another pitcher they had transferred back to Wallington, but the Blue Wolves are good.
Then Indian Hills. I got an email about 4 years ago telling me about this young pitcher, who threw very hard. Her name was/is Shelby Allen. The email raved about her. Well, she may be in the circle for Indian Hills this season. Actually, Indian Hills has a bunch of options in the circle…Devin Durando is one, Kristen Waters another.
By the way, can you kind of tell that pitching is kind of a big deal in softball?? It can’t be overstated. However, to me, all successful teams have another common ingredient – defensive efficiency. Since the circle was moved back to 43 feet, its true, more balls get put in play. Girls have to make throws and get outs. In other words, teams that throw the ball away, lose games.
Who else am I interested in?
Pequannock as always….if no other reason just to see who the next great P is in the Pequannock pipeline.
Remember, the best story of last spring was Hackensack making the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament. The Comets have pitcher Taylor Farro back and it will be interesting to see if the Comets success last season carries over.
Some more…Park Ridge, which got a huge gift when former Midland Park starting P Emily Kline moved to Park Ridge. The Owls have some serious P depth, especially for a Group 1 school.
Of course, Saddle Brook has set the standard for Group 1 softball in North Jersey and the Falcons will be strong. Again…they have pitching.
And the last one….Northern Highlands. They have a freshman pitcher Sarah Gunderson who is supposed to be the Real Deal.
All right, how about new coaches this spring??
Well, now this list is not 100 percent complete. I have kept us as best as I can. If you see/know someone new, don’t hesitate to let me know.
Clifton has a new coach in Ron Shekitka. Since I have been doing my phone list, I believe this is the Mustangs 4th coach in the last 8 seasons.
Garfield has a new coach in Kelly Falce.
Hawthorne has a new coach in Jackie Turco. Jackie was a star at IHA in the mid-2000s.
Wallington has a new coach in Brian Staples. You know, the Panthers might be all right this season.
Wayne Valley wins the record for most coaches since I have been at The Record: 5. Aurora Schneider is the new coach for the Indians. She has some young talent on the roster, but I think I heard correctly that Indians P Niki Carillo messed up her knee and probably won’t play.
Wood-Ridge sort of/kind of has a new coach in Rock Rendzio. Rendzio had been the assistant for a long time and took over the team at the end of the season when previous coach Jill Clementi ran into some trouble. I’ll just leave it at that.
Again, if there are some other new ones, don’t hesitate to email me. I’m sure I am missing some.
All right, speaking of coaches….let’s segue into the All-Time Coaching Wins list for North Jersey.
This list is as accurate as I can make it.
In North Jersey – heading into 2013 season
Tom Eagleson, North Bergen (active) 544
Jim Dransfield, West Milford (retired) 541
Jeff Horohonich, IHA/Elmwood Park/IC (active) 497
Rich LaDuke, Clifton (retired) 470
Debbie Paul, Ridgewood (retired) 463
Frank Baldino, Ramsey/Park Ridge/Paramus Catholic (active) 454
Suzanne Murden, Queen of Peace (retired) 441
Brenda Canal, River Dell (retired) 408
John Galante, North Arlington (active) 408
Darren White, Saddle Brook (active) 394
Paula LaSalandra, DePaul (retired) 391
Leslie Stephen, Ramapo/Hawthorne (active) 380
Frank Venezia, St. Mary (retired) 379
Jack Weaver, Paramus/Emerson (retired) 378
Craig Nielsen, Pascack Valley/Mahwah (active) 362
Joe Leicht, Indian Hills (active) 337
Maryann Goodwin, Wayne Hills/Pequannock 328
Barbara Barlow, Emerson (deceased) 321
Jack Smithlin, Fair Lawn/Park Ridge (retired) 285
Ron Merrill, Cliffside Park (retired) 251
Anthony LaRezza, IHA.MKA (active), 245
Sue Liddy, Holy Angels, (active) 241
Maureen Fister-Donatien, Midland Park (retired) 231
Tina Salute, Paramus (retired) 226
Ralph Lilore, Lyndhurst (retired) 216
Brian Hay, Paramus (active), 214
Richie Aponte, Teaneck (active), 208
Here are a few more on my list
Karyn Albanesius, Pompton Lakes, 196
Mondo, Emerson/St.Mary, 196
Melissa Landeck, Old Tappan, 174
Of course, I put them on the list because obviously both Karyn and Mondo are pretty close to hitting the 200 milestone.
Saddle Brook Coach Darren White can hit 400 pretty soon, and H is very close to 500. All of that could/should happen early in the year.
Of course, I still have a wish list of people who aren’t on this list, anybody over 200 I would like to know. Included on that list is…
Al Taliaferro, Pascack Hills
Eileen Allen, Pompton Lakes
Bob Aughey, Fort Lee – 33 years (on his preview sheet this year, Aughey wrote “Irrelevant†next to the listing for career record. Remember, Aughey is still just about the only SB coach in North Jersey who applauds kids for making great plays AGAINST his team).
Sue Parler, DePaul
Maria Alia, Saddle Brook 77-94
Art Erickson, Glen Rock/W Hills
Art Christensen, Mahwah 86-94
Nick Delcalzo, H Heights 77-02
Stan Kaminski, Ramapo 77-94
Frank DeLuise, No. Highlands 73-96
Diane McDermott, Park ridge 73-90
So when can you see all these teams play?
One of the best things about softball, and something I always enjoyed is that, well, no one ducks anybody. There are these tournaments on the weekend and each one is bigger and better than the next. They all feature some great match-ups statewide.
2013 Softball Tournaments
IHA Invitational
Saturday, April 6
IHA vs. Hillsborough, 10 a.m.
Mount St. Dominic vs. Allentown, noon
DePaul vs. Middletown South, 2 p.m.
Sunday, April 7
Caravel Academy (Del) vs. Indian Hills, 10 a.m.
Raritan vs. Saddle Brook, noon
Livingston vs. St. John Vianney, 2 p.m.
Ricker Tournament at Wood-Ridge
Saturday, April 6
Saddle Brook vs. Bergen Tech, 9:30 a.m.
Elmwood Park vs. St. Mary, 11:30 a.m.
Park Ridge vs. Wood-Ridge, 1:30 p.m.
Mount St. Dominic Lions Softball Invitational
Saturday, April 13 (2 fields)
IHA vs. Livingston, 8:30 a.m.
Caravel (Del) vs. Toms River East, 8:30 a.m.
Mount St. Dominic vs. Pequannock, 10:30 a.m.
Immaculate Conception vs. Pennsbury, 10:30 a.m.
Caravel (Del) vs. Livingston, 12:30 p.m.
IHA vs. Toms River East, 12:30 p.m.
Mount St. Dominic vs. Pennsbury, 2:30 p.m.
Immaculate Conception vs. Pequannock, 2:30 p.m.
Raritan vs. Bloomfield, 4:30 p.m.
Dondero Classic at Back Beach
Saturday, April 13 (2 fields)
Manchester vs. Passaic, noon
Kennedy vs. Eastside, noon
Passaic Tech vs. Hawthorne Christian, 2:30 p.m.
Pompton Lakes vs. Wayne Valley, 2:30 p.m.
Eastern Christian vs. Passaic Valley, 5 p.m.
DePaul vs. Clifton, 5 p.m.
West Milford vs. Lakeland, 7:30 p.m.
Wayne Hills vs. Hawthorne, 7:30 p.m.
EDSAF/Emerson Schedule
Saturday, April 13
Bergenfield vs. Secaucus, 10 a.m.
Fair Lawn vs. Park Ridge, noon
Indian Hills vs. River Dell, 2 p.m.
Old Tappan vs. Midland Park, 4 p.m.
Sunday, April 14
Westwood vs. Northern Highlands, 10:30 a.m.
Saddle Brook vs. Ridgewood, noon
St. Mary vs. West Essex, 1:30 p.m.
Demarest vs. Emerson, 3 p.m.
Blake Tournament at Northern Highlands
Saturday, April 20
Pascack Valley vs. Ramapo, 9 a.m.
Bergenfield vs. Emerson, 11 a.m.
Indian Hills vs. Rutherford, 1 p.m.
Northern Highlands vs. Holy Angels, 3 p.m.
Blue and Gold Tournament at Pequannock
Saturday, April 20
Pequannock and Raritan and 2 teams TBA
Coaches vs. Cancer at Park Ridge
Saturday, April 20
At Memorial
Bogota vs. Dwight-Englewood, 9 a.m.
Ridgewood vs. Fair Lawn, 11 a.m.
Saddle Brook vs. Westwood, 1 p.m.
Ramapo vs. Mahwah, 3 p.m.
At HS field
Ridgefield Park vs. Park Ridge, 9:30 a.m.
Becton vs. Fort Lee, 11:30 a.m.
New Milford vs. Paramus, 1:30 p.m.
Englewood vs. Old Tappan, 3:30 p.m.
Clifton Classic
Saturday, April 20 (2 fields)
Clifton vs. Pope John, 5 p.m.
Pequannock vs. West Milford, 5 p.m.
Clifton vs. West Milford, 7 p.m.
Pequannock vs. Pope John, 7 p.m.
7th Annual John Czeterko Highwaywomen Softball Classic at Teaneck
Saturday, April 27 (2 fields)
Ridgefield vs. Teaneck, 10 a.m.
Queen of Peace vs. Princeton, 10 a.m.
Championship, 12:30 p.m.
Third place, 12:30 p.m.
HOFS Classic at Saddle Brook
Saturday, April 27
Saddle Brook vs. Paramus, 10 a.m.
Indian Hills vs. Lakeland, noon
Immaculate Conception vs. IHA, 2 p.m.
Rutherford vs. Mt. St. Dominic, 4 p.m.
Sunday, April 28
Ramapo vs. Paramus Catholic, noon
Ramsey vs. Midland Park, 2 p.m.
Westwood vs. Belleville, 4 p.m.