By Brett Carroll
Staff Writer
This spring provided a season to remember for the softball players on the Linwood Middle School.
The Lady Lions finished their season 16-0-1 and won their local tournament at Community Park against South Plainfield Middle School to cap off their memorable year.
Jen Casazza, who was in her third year as head coach, marveled at how her team stuck together all season and received contributions from everyone to make the undefeated showing possible.
“I’m extremely proud of these girls,” Casazza said. “What made us so great was it wasn’t just one person hitting. The whole team contributed all year.”
Casazza also pointed to a game early in the season against Crossroads Middle School of Monmouth Junction that changed the team’s mindset and gave her an idea that this season could be special.
“We were down, 4-0, in a game this year,” Casazza said. “We never gave up, and we were able to come back and win, 5-4. We showed real toughness that game. That’s when I knew we were going to be really good this year.”
Casazza said she loved the fight of the team the most, which she stated was the biggest difference this year.
“If I could describe this team in one word, it would be ‘fighters,’ ” Casazza said. “No matter what the score was, they were ready to play. Even when we were winning by a large margin, they never let up and they made sure to play hard until each game was over.”
Casazza said the team developed a winner’s mentality during the season and even surpassed her expectations.
“I knew we were going to be really competitive this year, but I had no idea we would be this good,” Casazza said. “We lost a lot of players from last year, even though we had nine players returning, including eight eighth-graders. But this team stuck together and fought all year long, and this was the result.”
Some of those eighth-graders were Adriana Barnes, Jenna Schwartz and Veronica Giraldo. Barnes and Schwartz led the team in home runs this season, and Giraldo was the team’s standout third baseman.
Schwartz was the team’s catcher and the captain of the team. Schwartz plans to attend Bishop George Ahr High School in Edison next year to try out for the varsity softball team.
“This team just never gave up,” Schwartz said. “The friendships that were made on this team will be the thing that I’ll remember the most from this year.”
Giraldo plans to play softball for North Brunswick Township High School next year and thought the team’s focus and character is what made the season possible.
“The experience was amazing,” Giraldo said. “This is a group of girls that know what they’re doing, communicate well and always play the game the right way. You can’t ask for anything more from your teammates.”
Barnes played first base for the team and will attend North Brunswick to try out for the high school’s varsity softball team next year. Barnes had a message for the younger players that will try to repeat the team’s success next year.
“Work hard for everything you do,” Barnes said. “In the end, it will all work out.”
The eighth-graders weren’t the only players to make a major contribution for the team this year. New to the team was sixth-grade pitcher Alessandra Colon. Colon was the team’s best pitcher, striking out 88 batters this season and pitching four shutouts.
“She was incredible,” Casazza said. “For a sixth-grader to come in and do what she did was great. She and a lot of the other younger players on this team are coming back next year. We’ll see how well we can build off of this year’s success.”