Raritan players back to work in summer softball league

By MATTHEW ROCCO
Correspondent

The softball season may be over, but Raritan High School is already back on the field.

A fastpitch summer league hosted by Wall Township features a group of area high schools, including Raritan, Holmdel High School, Middletown High School South and Red Bank Regional High School, as well as several travel teams.

Many returning Rockets and incoming freshmen are playing for Raritan’s summer team in hopes of getting a running start for the 2016 season.

Raritan head coach Aado Kommendant, who runs the Wall summer league, said it gives the rising freshmen “an opportunity to get to know some of the kids who are in the school already.”

“We can get that process out of the way in the summer,” he said. “It gives us a head start.”

Raritan recently concluded a 19-10 campaign in 2015. The Rockets advanced as far as the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals, where the team fell short against Middletown South.

The Rockets will retain two key pieces of this year’s squad, including Nicole Coppolino, who was Raritan’s ace in the circle as a junior. Second baseman Alexa Sammarco is also entering her senior season.

Raritan has lost center fielder Brianna Rinaldi and infielders Bethany Budner, Bethany Evans and Daniella Marino to graduation.

“Our rising seniors, Nicole Coppolino and Alexa Sammarco, have assumed a greater leadership role with this team and have been very helpful in guiding the new players,” Kommendant said.

Also playing for Raritan during the summer are rising juniors Mackenzie Emery, Nicole Kirse, Michelle Nestor, Hallie Barone and Clare DeJoy; sophomores Ashley Marino, Alexis Zinckgraf and Annalesa DiLaurenzio; and incoming freshmen Brooke Brady, Nicole Buckley, Erynn Boyle, Allison Leach, Gabby Zweidinger, Gianna Simon and Emily Kmak.

For the newcomers, competing against high school players during the summer offers a sneak peek at what next season will bring. Some players may need to adjust to the speed of high school games, Kommendant noted.

“It will be a step up for some,” he said. “They’ll see what it takes to perform at this level.”

Raritan’s game plan for the summer is to show progress across the board, and that starts with establishing team chemistry for next season.

“It’s the same as what we do every year: make sure the next season of Raritan softball is the best season of Raritan softball,” Kommendant said.

The league, now in its 11th year, holds doubleheaders on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights with games starting at 5:30 p.m. Games are scheduled through the end of July.