By Bob Nuse, Sports Editor
The baseball and softball teams at The Hun School both picked the right time of the year to be playing their best., The Raiders were able to come away with state Prep A championships in both sports, sweeping their way through their respective tournaments., The baseball team won its second straight Prep A title with a win over Blair followed by two wins over Lawrenceville in the double-elimination tournament. The softball team got past Lawrenceville, Peddie and Blair on the way to its title., “It was good,” said first-year Hun baseball coach Tom Monfiletto. “The tournament is a bear to win. Last year we lost our first game and had to to win four in a row to get the championship, This year we did it the easy way. It worked out would much better. I’d rather have it that way.”, The Raiders rolled through the tournament, opening with a 12-3 win over Blair before defeating Lawrenceville 11-3 and 15-3 to capture the state title., “Everything came together, which was cool to see happen at this stage of the season,” Monfiletto said. “It was awesome. Everything we worked on in practice we did well. We hit. Our pitchers threw strikes. We were able to execute things within our identity and when we got runners in scoring position we came through with big hits.”, In the clinching win on Sunday, Mike Pedota had three hits, while Jack Erbeck, Matt Moore, Ryan Strype, Chris Sumners and McGwire Tuffy each drove in a pair of runs. Hun had lost three straight games against tough competition prior to the start of the Prep A tournament. But those losses got the Raiders ready to play., “We had won six of seven in a stretch where we beat Robbinsville and felt great about that,” Monfiletto said. “We came back that Monday and survived a scare against Peddie and then that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we had Nottingham back-to-back and game against Allentown. Those are real good teams and we did not win, but we played great. Against Allentown, Jack Erbeck threw a gem and McGwire Tuffy had an RBi bur we lost, 2-1., “We gave them off that weekend and said when you come back Monday it’s a brand new season. We said the goal was to win one game at a time and the overall goal was to win a championship.”, The Raiders did just that, sending off a strong senior class with a second straight Prep A title., “It’s awesome for them,” Monfiletto said., The softball team had been close before but had not won a Prep A title since 2004. The Raiders rolled through the tournament this year, capped off by a 7-0 win over Blair in the final., Alana Pearson tossed a four-hitter and struck out nine to earn the win on the mound. She also had two hits and scored a pair of runs at the plate. Megan Donohue, Mary Catherine Shea and Gigi Venizelos also had two hits apiece., “Last year we lost in the semis and the year before we lost in the finals,” Hun coach Kathy Quirk said. “It has always been the semis or finals where we have lost. It’s great for the whole team. Julie Fassl is our only four year starter. Our other senior is Kate O’Connell. We are so young. It’s a group that is very young and talented who are great defensive players and strong bats.”, Quirk could sense early in the season that this might just be a team capable of winning a state title, which the Raiders did in addition to winning the Mid-Atlantic Prep League title., “The way they connected and every player did their job, it was a great bunch of kids,” Quirk said. “When you go to Florida for 10 days and come back with a smile on your face, you know it can be a special season.”
