Page 12 Thursday, September 9, 2004 The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION

BALESTRIERE, SAPIENZA, PEROTTA NAMED TO LEAD

Raider Soccer Girls Return 9Starters, Seek WC CrownBy DAVID B. CORBIN

Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

After last year’s showing, the mapof New Jersey girls soccer hotspotsnow includes Scotch Plains-FanwoodHigh School. The Raiders broke thetop-20 several times, won theWatchung Conference (WC)title with an 8-0-2 record (de-feating Westfield early in theseason and tying them once)and finished 13-3-3 overall.With only two starters hav-ing graduated, this seasonlooks very promising.

Senior Tri-Captains JennaBalestriere (last year’s teamleader in scoring), LaurenPerotta and Jessie Sapienzaare expected to lead this stillyoung but experienced squadto another fine season.

“Those three will get a lotof playing time. Jen andJessie. Playing both forwardand halfback and Laurenbeing the outside markingback,” said Raider HeadCoach Kevin Ewing. “Weare going to expect a lot ofscoring to come from Jenna.She’s a very fast, very strong

athlete. She can play any position onthe field, outside of goalie. Jesse alsois very strong and fast. Getting Laurenback who got some good personalrecognition last year, she’s probably,if not the best, she’s one of the bestmarking backs in the county. Having

her back there is a definite asset.”Returning starters, juniors Kelly

Rigano and Hallie Mintz will offerstrength and experience in the midfield.Junior Allie Hambleton, “we plan onher controlling our center midfield.She’s probably one of the best players

to come to ScotchPlains in a long time,”expressed Ewing.“She has great legstrength, great aware-ness of what to do withthe ball and she under-stands the game.”

Senior Carley Wellsgot a lot of time lastyear at fullback andjunior Kristen Zylawill also add punch.Sophomore goalieLauren Mains, whoalso plays basketballand softball, allowedonly nine goals all sea-son in 19 games andposted 12 shutouts asa freshman.

“I don’t know whatsport is Lauren’s fa-vorite, but I have seenher in all three sports.She is an outstanding

goalie. She’s greets the ball in the air,she’s aggressive, she’s not scared togo out and attack someone and she’snot afraid to dive for balls. She’s gotgreat hands,” emphasized Ewing.

Sophomore sweeper Allie Zazzaliand Lauren Weisbroad will move fromdefense to midfield and LisaCarmarda will add depth.

“Our defense is going to be an-chored by Allie. She knows the gameof soccer very well. She has greatfield awareness. She’s a leader outthere and, as a sophomore, that’s say-ing a lot,” said Ewing.

The local competition will be quitestiff with Westfield, GovernorLivingston, Union Catholic, Cranfordand Oak Knoll. Aiming at anothervery successful season, Ewing said,“We would like to go back and getanother shot at winning the WatchungConference. We have a good chanceto do well in the counties, but thereare a lot of good teams in the countythis year. We would like to get to thesectional finals.”

The Raiders open at Bayonne to-morrow at 4.p.m.

GORDON, RAPHAEL, REISBERG RIP 3 HITS APIECE

St. Kilian Dethrones St, AnneIn St. Bart’s Title Game, 7-4

By DAVID B. CORBINSpecially Written for The Westfield Leader and The Times

First-year entry St. Kilian, winnerof the Angel’s Division, dethronedreturning champion and Saints Divi-sion champion St. Anne, 7-4, to layclaim to the Bartholomew’sOldtimers Men’s Softball Leaguetitle on Labor Day at BrooksidePark in Scotch Plains. In the pres-ence of a surprise visit from U.S.Congressman Michael Ferguson,both teams exhibited strong de-fense, and it was only fitting thatKilian right-centerfielder LouBalestriere snagged a difficult linedrive with the tying run on first topreserve the victory and to markhis fourth-straight personal cham-pionship.

Feeling the pressure,Balestriere commented, “Ithought I was going to miss it.”

After the game, teammate StanLisniewski, who won his sec-ond-straight championship, said,“I can’t beat Louie. He has fourin a row.”

Both pitchers, Kilian’s HowieBialos and Anne’s Joe Matuskatossed well in the nine-inning classic,yielding 12 hits and 17 hits, respec-tively. Kilian’s John Gordon, PaulRaphael and Marc Reisberg each went3-for-4 with Gordon rapping twosingles and scoring twice. Raphaelhad an RBI, doubled and scored onceand Reisberg skipped home twice.Bialos helped his own cause bythumping an RBI triple and singling.

Rick Wustefeld went 2-for-3, in-cluding a double, and scored a run forSt. Anne. Matuska doubled, scoredonce and lofted an RBI sacrifice flyand Tony Giannaci went 2-for-2 witha walk. Paul Naldony celebrated his29th wedding anniversary by ham-mering a triple, scoring a run andknocking in a run.

Prior to the game, St. Anne teamcaptain Joe McEvoy, in his third-straight appearance, philosophicallycommented, “It’s nice to be here. It’sreally doesn’t matter who wins, it’swhether you get here.”

Using some psychology, as Kilian’sRob Stratton stepped to the plate tobegin the classic, Matuska, on themound, said, “How are you doingtoday? Rob!”

Stratton lined out to right and

Matuska eventually got out of the in-ning unscathed. After Bialos matchedMatuska’s performance in the first,Anne struck for two runs in the sec-ond. Raphael doubled and Reisbergdribbled an infield single, which drew

a throw to first. Raphael alertly slippedaround third and scored. Bialos fol-lowed with his RBI triple.

With good fortune, Matuska loopeda double over the fallen leftfielder’shead to start the Anne’s portion of theinning. Dan Margolis singled andNaldony hit an RBI sac fly.

Kilian’s Gordon pulled off one ofthe most, gutsy doubles to start thefourth. Harry Semple followed withan RBI single to boost the lead to 3-1.Kilian then added two runs in thesixth. Gordon added his second

double and scored when his hitslipped past the centerfielder.Semple reached on an error andscored on Raphael’s bouncingsingle.

Kilian upped its lead to 6-1 inthe eighth when Stratton, whoreached on an error, scored onAl LaRezza’s single to left.Anne’s bats came to life withtwo runs in the bottom of theinning. Mike Stiller walked andWustefeld legged out an infieldsingle. Matuska hit an RBI sacfly and Bill D’Eustachio hoppedan RBI single to center.

Reisberg and Bialos bothsingled to start the ninth andFloyd Roberts hit an RBI sac flyto give Kilian a 7-3 lead. Naldonyled off the bottom of the ninthwith his anniversary triple.Giannaci walked and McEvoytapped an RBI single to right.

Jim Killeen popped up to catcher MikeMichalisin and Ken Larson popped upto short. Jack Ley beat out an infieldsingle to load the bases and SteveMorano drilled his scary liner that wassnagged by Balestriere.

St. Kilian 020 102 011 7St. Anne 010 000 021 4

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesRAIDER TRI-CAPTAINS…Raider Head Coach Kevin Ewingstands behind his Tri-Captains Jesse Sapienza, left, JennaBalestriere, center, and Lauren Perrotta.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesIS HE SAFE OR OUT…St. Kilian’s Paul Raphaelslides on his back at second base as St. Anne pitcherJoe Matuska approaches. Raphael was ruled out.

David B. Corbin for The Westfield Leader and The TimesSCORING THE FOURTH RUN…John Gordon scores Kilian’s fourth run earlyin the sixth inning as Anne catcher Ron DelPrete awaits a throw.

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