by Rudy Brandl, Sports Editor
It’s time to get outside and enjoy some spring scholastic sports action. Let’s hope the weather cooperates.
Two of Manville High’s three athletic programs welcome new head coaches this spring. Pat Gorbatuk, who has done a great job rebuilding the school’s wrestling program, takes over as the head track and field coach after serving as Michelle Mongillo’s assistant the past few years. Carrie Smith, who has coached at the sub-varsity level in all three seasons at MHS, is the new head softball coach. Dan Sferrazza returns for his second season as the head baseball coach.
All three Manville head coaches will be seeking their first varsity victories this spring. Sferrazza endured a tough 0-18 campaign in his first season as the baseball skipper. He guided the Alexander Batcho girls’ basketball team to a very successful 12-7 campaign this past winter, so maybe some of that karma will carry over to the MHS diamond.
Smith expects a much better varsity softball season after coaching many of this year’s players at the jayvee level last spring. That group won seven games as a jayvee squad. Smith takes over for Ed Knapp, whose varsity team was winless in 2008.
Gorbatuk, a former three-sport athlete at MHS, has already helped the wrestling team turn the corner. Manville’s track and field team enjoyed nice growth during Mongillo’s tenure. Gorbatuk hopes to continue building numbers and generating victories.
Manville’s baseball and softball seasons were scheduled to begin April 1 vs. Belvidere, while the track and field campaign begins with a brutal challenge. The school’s diamond teams have struggled since Manville switched to the Skyland Conference, but the track and field team will be facing some of the state’s premier athletes in Saturday’s conference relays at Hunterdon Central.
The Mustangs have scored points in recent conference and county events but they typically focus on winning dual meets and getting athletes to peak around the time of the sectionals. They use these competitive conference and county meets to prepare for the lighter foes on the schedule. Manville hosts old Mountain Valley Conference rival Roselle Park April 9.
The spring is the most unpredictable of the three scholastic athletic seasons. Weather plays a major role and causes havoc for teams, coaches and athletic directors. Wet fields keep teams from playing and practicing outdoors. Teams get backed up in their schedule, which often creates problems for baseball pitching staffs. It’s difficult for coaches, teams or the media to plan ahead because the weather is so crazy.
While I love those warm 70-degree afternoons covering a ball game or walking around a track and field complex in between events, the spring has become my least favorite season to cover. Those wet, damp and raw days make it very unpleasant to be outside for any reason, let alone stand or sit still shivering under layers of clothing.
Spring sports can be very annoying because baseball and softball games have no time limit. Soccer, football and cross country are timed in the fall, while basketball and wrestling have a clock in the winter. Track and field is the only spring sport with any predictable time frame.
Baseball and softball can go on forever, especially if the game is not well-pitched or well-played defensively. An umpire who squeezes the strike zone can turn a tidy two-hour game into an unmanageable three-hour marathon. Since these contests are not timed, they also tend to get ugly sometimes. I’ve covered many crisp 2-2 games that turned into 9-2 blowouts because of one bad inning. That kills the story.
The mercy rule saves some of that time, but I’ve been at more than my share of nine-run deficit games where the winning team never takes that 10-run lead. Worse, they go up by 10 or more only to see the losing team chip away to keep the game going.
Let’s hope the Mustangs play lots of crisp baseball and softball and run fast on the track and throw and jump well in the field this spring.

