5/30/2012 - Tech Caps Record Season
Alexa McFadden summed it up best.
“This game and final score is no way an indication of our season,” the well-spoken Sussex Tech senior said after the Mustangs fell in the Technical School state tournament championship Wednesday, 13-0, to Bergen Tech at Sussex Tech in Sparta.
“We had a great season,” she added and the Mustangs certainly did.
Sussex Tech capped it most successful season in school history with a defeat but it does not mar the outstanding season coach Ed Paiva and the Mustangs put together as they finished a school-best 19-8.
“We didn’t expect this today, but we had a great season,” said Paiva, one of the best guys and coaches in the Mugs Media area in all sports he coaches, softball and soccer at Tech and girls hoops at Wallkill Valley.
“Winning a state game like we did against Verona, winning a county game (Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex) against Hackettstown and playing High Point (2-0 loss) tough, it has been great.”
Paiva has every reason to be proud of the Mustangs, in my opinion, the flagship program at the school. With no disrespect to Tech’s outstanding bowling program and success in cross country, year-in-and-year out, it is the softball program that competes with some of the top teams in the area.
It has been that way for the last three decades going back to players like Rhonda Gardner, Robyn Matthews, JaCinda Vance, Ashley Delea, Kathy Gallant, Jocelyn Plesa, and Ashley Magura, who had set the program record for wins before this season on one of Paiva’s first teams.
And I’m sure there are plenty of other top Mustangs that I haven’t listed, but you get the idea that softball is pretty good at the Sparta school.
But this year was special. Once again the Mustangs had a great pitcher in Katie Jakubowski, who will be back next year. She proved against High Point that she can deal with the best of them. She is also a legitimate No. 3 hitter who will only get better.
She pitched well enough to be competitive against Bergen Tech but the Mustangs usually air-tight defense was not sharp and it opened the floodgates.
McFadden has been terrific behind the plate and she smacked one of the most memorable hits in school history in the first-round of the North 1, Group 1 playoffs with her game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to stun the Hillbillies, who had beaten Tech earlier in the season 5-3.
Tech was very solid around the horn from third baseman Monica Rinn, shortstop Ashlee Campbell, second baseman Kim D’Amellio to first baseman Katherine Cook.
Cheyenne Hamler was solid in right and nice slap hitter in the No. 2 hole of the batting order. Miranda Hynda patrolled left with ease, but it was center fielder Jenn Prendergast who anchored the unit.
Prendergast could go gap-to-gap with a strong arm, but she was the Mustangs most dangerous power hitter with six homers including a three-run bomb in the Tech’s 13-0 win over Perth Amboy Tech in the tech school semifinals.
Olivia Kawula at the bottom of the order as the DP, was one of the best bunters around and served as a “second leadoff hitter” for the Mustangs.
And Paige Henninghan, Arianna Duran and Kim Betancourt gave the Mustangs great depth.
They all should be applauded.
But the biggest hand might have to go to the man behind the Mustangs, Paiva. As I stated, for my money he is one of the best around. All he does is win in the sports he coaches, which can be tough to do at Tech.
As everyone knows, Tech is a different animal when it comes to sports with the student-athletes going to the school for other reasons besides sports. There are no feeder programs and the coaches have to start from scratch.
But softball has been a constant with John Plesa doing a great job bringing respect to the program. He made his players feel special and was able to get them to become dedicated to the sport while learning the fundamentals.
I remember Plesa would always schedule a game or two under the lights at Ungerman Field in Sparta against teams from the old Sussex County Interscholastic League to bring attention to the program. He would also announce starting lineups before games and would wear a Sussex Tech uniform while coaching.
When he left to coach down in Florida I didn’t think the school could replace him. But it did and the Mustangs didn’t have too look far in Paiva who was an assistant to Plesa.
Paiva will face a challenge next season when Tech joins the Independence Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference after the tech school league it was in disbanded.
The Mustangs will face the likes of state-power Pequannock, Kinnelon, Mountain Lakes, St. Elizabeth, Butler, Boonton and Morris Catholic.
I think it is a great move for the program and it will only make it better. Tech may take some lumps early, but it will learn more from tough games against Pequannock then a 20-run game against Newark Tech.
So congratulations to the Mustangs. They may never win a state title like Sparta, Jefferson and Lenape Valley have in the past or High Point may this year, but the Mustangs still play like champs.
TIME CHANGE…The North 1, Group 3 sectional final pitting No. 3 seeded Indian Hills (23-5) at top-seeded High Point (23-1) set for Friday has been pushed up to Thursday, May 31 at 4 p.m. at High Point, according to High Point AD Gib Carter.
The game should be another thriller for High Point which has played three nail bitters en route to its first section title game since 1999. The Cats nipped No. 16 Pascack Valley 1-0 in extra innings, No. 9 Old Tappan 2-0 in the quarterfinals before the High Point beat No. 5 Jefferson 3-1 for the third time this season in the semis to gain the final.
Sophomore pitcher Allie Frei (23-0) has been stellar and if she isn’t named to the All-State team, there is something wrong. She hasn’t received much run support as the Cats have only outscored their opponents 6-1 during this run.
Frei is going to have to twirl another sparkler against a gritty and experienced Indian Hills team which won the Group 2 state title in 2010 before moving up to Group 3 last year.
The Braves are guided by one of Bergen County’s best in veteran coach Joe Leicht and will be a tough out. Ashley DeYoung is one of the top players in the state, while Kristen Waters and Nicole Paiotti are top notch.
Pitcher Devin Durando has allowed just one run in the states as the Braves have thumped their foes 18-1.
So will Sussex County have back-to-back section champs after Sparta stunned West Milford in the final last year? I think so, although don’t make any plans for after the game because this could be a long one with extra innings written all over it.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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