By Justin Feil, Contributor
Snow has hampered the ability of the Hillsborough High School softball team to get outside to practice, so the Raiders still trying to find out how good they can be this year., “It’s hard to tell,” said Hillsborough veteran head coach Cheryl Iaione. “We have some veterans with a mix of youth. The chemistry is there. The kids are working hard. There’s definitely talent there, it’s just a matter of piecing it all together.”, Hillsborough went 15-10 last year, reached the Somerset County Tournament semifinals and the Central Jersey Group IV quarterfinals. The Raiders get every opponent’s best pitcher and best efforts, and this year figures to be no different., “I don’t know what the younger kids know, but the older kids know there’s always a target on our back and we have to always come ready to play,” Iaione said. “We’ve lost because we didn’t come ready to play. We’ve won because we have come ready to play. We have to take one game at a time. There’s no pressure. It’s just let’s have fun and play hard and see what happens. Pressure is what you put on yourself. If we do what we’re capable of doing, have fun, stay together as a team, then we’ll be fine.”, Hillsborough has to replace a key position with the graduation of pitcher Katie Gademsky. Last year, she was a picture of control with 74 strikeouts to only 13 walks in 141<1/3> innings. Over three years as a regular starter for the Raiders, she delivered 275 strikeouts, only 78 walks and went 58-13., “Our pitching will be young,” Iaione said. “I have a freshman and a junior who pitched JV last year. It’s not that we can’t replace pitching, but Katie was a three-year starter so that piece of it will be difficult. Courtney Wengryn and Katherine Korsun, they’re looking good in practice. I haven’t seen them throw to batters. We can go out there and be great, we can go out there and be awful.”, Iaione likes that she has two pitchers and they can complement each other. Wengryn, a freshman, throws hard. Korsun relies more on control and location., “You want that,” Iaione said. “You want to be able to bring in someone that locates and doesn’t throw as hard, or you want to bring in someone that throws harder. I don’t know who’s going to start. It’s good to have that contrast of pitchers to throw off batters when you make that change., “My junior locates well and keeps the ball low so we’ll have to play solid defense,” she said. “We have some young kids that can move, they have good arms. It’s just a matter of giving them enough innings and seeing them develop.”, Catching them will be senior Alexa Penna or junior Kelsey Galevich, who also plays first base. Penna is one of four seniors for the Raiders. Outfielders Julia Colavita and Nikita Solanki along with second baseman Alissa Saverino are also seniors. The other junior with Galevich and Korsun is outfielder Grace Cofino. Sophomores are third baseman/pitcher Julia Kwiatek, outfielder Karlie Manco, shortstop/second baseman Delaney Smith and outfielder/first baseman Olivia Warner., “I don’t know that we have a lot of depth, but we have a lot of kids that can play multiple positions, which is definitely a plus,” Iaione said. “Time is going to tell with some of these kids. Not having scrimmages, I honestly don’t know (how they are). I’ve seen them play elsewhere but collectively putting them out there, figuring this out, it’s a little bit more difficult than I had anticipated., “We have to play to our strengths, but I don’t know what our strengths are right now,” she said. “I have to see when we get into game play.”, Adding to the team are three freshmen. Emily Orr, who can play first base, third base and catch, and Lauren Spalluto, who plays third base, shortstop and second base join Wengryn in a talented freshman crop. They have the talent to help at the varsity level., “I think they all can contribute,” Iaione said. “Wengryn will contribute right away. Emily Orr is very versatile as is Spalluto. They can play multiple positions. If we have injuries, if someone’s not playing well, if I’m not happy with the depth, they’re going to be there to play. They’re not there to sit on the bench. They’ll get their opportunities. We know we’ll have some growing pains and we just have to help them through it. It’s only going to make us stronger for the future.”, While the Raiders figure out how their pitching and defense will hold up, they are counting on another good lineup at the plate. They have been able to get a look at their swings while practicing inside., “We’re hitting,” Iaione said. “Our bats are looking good. We’re looking very capable. A lot of kids have made adjustments from last year. They’re a year older and stronger, and the young kids provide us some pop with the bats. The schedule is tough so we’re going to have some ups and downs with that. If we can just gel by midseason, later on in the season I think we’ll be OK.”, The offense can help some inexperienced pitching find its footing. Hillsborough will help by manufacturing runs a variety of ways with good power and the chance to play small ball with others., “We run pretty well,” Iaione said. “I’d like to be able to do some different things to keep teams off balance and then move runners along. That’s always my plan. We don’t always do it as well as I like. We have to get runners on base. If we don’t get runners on, we can’t do anything. You can’t start bunting with two outs. You have to get base runners on. It all starts at the top of the lineup. If they can get on and set the table and let the big girls come behind and clean up, we’ll be fine.”, Hillsborough is hopeful that it will get in a scrimmage on Saturday and has three more scrimmages set for next week to start to figure out how to piece everything together. They open the season by hosting Hunterdon Central on Apr. 3. They face tough competition within the conference and county, and have added in some top teams in their non-conference schedule., “We’re going to the Essex County Challenge in April,” Iaione said. “We’re going to play Cedar Grove. We’ll play Mount St. Dominic, so we’ll play some good out of conference teams. Our conference schedule is always difficult. I don’t know what other teams are bringing back. It’s challenging. There aren’t too many things easy on it. And regardless of your record, teams still want to beat you. You’re still going to have that X on your back so we have to rise to that challenge. We have to prepare every day and come to practice and play hard every day.”, The conference always presents a good challenge, and Iaione expects it to be no different this year. It’s the usual suspects in contention plus a team on the rise., “Montgomery is going to be very good,” Iaione said. “They’ll be very strong. They were young last year. Bridgewater, I’m not sure about. Watchung has their pitcher coming back. Until the pitcher goes, they’ll keep you in there and keep you competitive. Immaculata, they only have one team this year, they don’t even have a JV. Hunterdon Central will be very strong, I assume. I have to look at it like everybody will be strong. There are no letdowns., “When you play that kind of competition it definitely prepares you for when you get into tournament play and you get into state play,” she added. “You’re not going to see better teams than you see all year long. That’s why we do go to tournaments all year long. We go to North Jersey and see teams that have good pitching. Win or lose, it’s beneficial for you as a team to grow.”, The Raiders are looking forward to that chance to grow as the weather improves. How their pitching and hitting develop will dictate how they play and how they compete., “I’m confident that we can do it, but there are going to be people throwing the ball at us that have other ideas,” Iaione said. “So we have to make adjustments and be patient at the plate, patient yet aggressive. If we do what I think we can do, we’ll be OK. We just have to work to get better every day.”
