Young Baseball Team Tries to Build Upon Last Year’s Success

After a successful season last year, the boys baseball team looks to rebound and continue to build upon what they started. Despite having a much younger team than in the past, due to 14 players graduating, the boys have an extremely talented group of individuals that will gain experience and develop into a winning team.

Pitchers and catchers reported to their first practice on March 8, while the rest of the team reported on March 11. They are preparing to bounce back after a successful 2021 season despite falling short in the playoffs.

Junior pitcher, Owen Litvany, will continue to progress and should lead the pitching staff, having pitched in two out of the three state games last season. Hayden Yuzon, another junior and the team’s center fielder, who hit several home runs last season, will be a key offensive threat in the heart of the lineup. Additionally, sophomore and middle infielder, Matthew DeStaso, will try to build off his impressive freshman season that saw him reach varsity – the only freshman on the team.

Junior catcher, James Stewart is optimistic heading into this season despite the loss of five out of nine starters from last year’s team: “I have full confidence in everybody on the team and I think, even though we’ll be a lot younger than we were last year, we’re still going to be pretty successful.”

Softball Team Seeks to Make Another Deep Playoff Run

The varsity softball team is ready to go for this year’s season and they have a lot to look forward to. After winning the league and advancing deep into counties last season, they will attempt to put together another successful season.

As with baseball, this team is much younger than in the past as they currently have just three seniors. However, sophomore Olivia Berard, is not concerned: “We lost a lot of seniors last year but I think that with the mix of girls this year, it should be pretty good.”

Vivi Dietrich, who Berard described as, “an amazing athlete, a great hitter, and a very good first baseman,” will look to lead the girls back to the playoffs where they seek to make another deep run.

After beating Pompton Lakes to win the league last season, there’ll be more hard fought battles between these two teams as they compete against each other again this year.

Spring Track Strives for Another Successful Season

The third running season of the year is upon us here at Glen Rock High School, and the Panther’s boys and girls track teams vie to continue their success from cross country in the fall, and winter track just a few weeks ago. 

The boys team will be led by senior captain Aidan Carroll, who is committed to run Division 1 track at Stony Brook University. Carroll will look to lead the distance portion of runners on the boys’ side in events including the 800 meter, one mile and two mile races. Carroll holds almost every distance record in the school, and will look to break the school record of a four minute and 18 second mile. Carroll’s personal best is currently a four minute and 23 second mile.

Other distance runners for the boys include senior Michael Taromina, junior Jacob Bae, and sophomores Ben Raser, Ben Habler, and Jacob Cece.

The boys sprinters are led by junior Devan Wasserman, who will look to continue the success he has had over the past two and a half years of his high school running career.

On the girls’ side of the track, senior Isabel Shea, and junior Emma Leishear will continue to lead the distance squad after both reaching the State Groups in the winter season.

The sprinters for the girls are still to be announced as many of the girls sprinters have gone to play their other sports during the spring season.

“There’s a lot of talent on this team and with the group of people we have I think we’re going to have yet another successful season, even though we lost some runners to the other sports in the school,” Habler said.

The track team’s first meet is at Pascack Valley High School on Saturday, March 26.

Experienced Boys Lax Team Look to Return to Dominance

Boys lacrosse is one of the most experienced teams on campus this spring, led by an outstanding group of seniors. The Panthers look to get back to, and have high hopes of advancing past the state sectional semifinals where they were defeated by Caldwell 11-9 last season.

The Panthers offensive attack will be led by one of New Jersey’s top seniors, and Fairfield University commit, captain Will Consoli. Consoli is entering his fourth season as a varsity player for the Panthers, and will look to improve upon a very impressive season where he tallied well over 100 total points. 

Consoli finished his junior campaign with an amazing 79 goals, and was not afraid to look for his teammates, totaling 42 assists. 

The Panthers’ defense is also very experienced, bringing back four players who have loads of varsity experience. Seniors, Michael McCarthy, and Brendan Sullivan will look to continue containing opposing offensive stars as they did last season.

McCarthy and Sullivan will be aided by junior Colin Redmond, another Panther who returns from last season’s team that finished with an overall record of ten wins and six losses. 

Lastly, senior defender, and Hartwick College commit, Dylan Cox will look to finish out his successful high school career, before going to New York for college, and to continue his lacrosse career.

“In terms of my own goals, I just want to win my own individual matchups, and do anything possible alongside Mike, Colin, and Brendan to lock it down for us on the defensive end,” Cox said. 

The Panthers also return last season’s starting goalie, senior Drew Bruno. Last season, in his first season as the varsity starter, Bruno posted a very impressive 126 saves, with a save percentage of 58%.

Despite the Panthers bringing back many key players from last season, injuries have piled up for the Panthers over the off-season, and the first few days of practices. 

Two senior attackmen for the Panthers will be out for an extended period of time this season: Josh Bosin and Jack Algerio, both of whom made big impacts on the varsity level last season.

Also, freshman Cooper Consoli, younger brother of Will, will have his varsity debut delayed as he recovers from an ACL tear he suffered this offseason.

The Panthers look to take it one game at a time this season, with some important games for them being against West Essex, and Northern Highlands. Other important days for the Panthers include Lax Day on May 14th, which has become a very important day in Glen Rock, and senior night (date and opponent is still to be determined).

Girls Lax Looks to Rebound From Last Year’s COVID Crazy Season

The Panthers’ girls lacrosse team will look to rebound this spring after the chaos caused by COVID-19 last season. The Panthers finished last season with a .500 record at eight wins and eight loses.

Last season the Panthers won their first round state matchup as the nine seed against the 8th seed, Kittatiny Regional by a score of 18-8. 

The Panthers graduate a strong senior class, but bring back many key players including last season’s leading goalscorer and the team’s assist leader. 

The Panthers will be led by a talented group of seniors including attacker Paige Manning, and midfielder Kaylee Doyle, who both reached 100 career points last season. Manning also led the team in goals scored last season.

Fellow senior attacker, Julia Corry, who led the team in assists last year will be another key player for the Panthers on the field this season. Corry will also be taking her talents to the next level, playing Division III lacrosse at McDaniel College next year.

The Panthers will also look to several underclassmen to help continue the team’s success from prior years. Sophomores Ryan Doyle, and Ally Zamparelli will be the leaders for the younger portion of this year’s Panthers team.

Ryan Doyle, will man the midfield position for a second year, once again alongside her sister, and has high hopes of being the next Panther to reach 100 total points for her career. 

“I hope that I can personally reach the 200 save mark for my career this season, and do everything I can to help the team win. As a team we want to win the division this season, and advance past the second round of the state sectional this year” Zamparelli said.

Last season, the Panthers, like all other teams across the state, had to deal with the complications that arose due to COVID-19, and quarantine protocols. There were several games where the Panthers were short handed, but they managed to still make the state sectional tournament, and win their first round game.

Important games for the Panthers this season include Lax Day on May 14th against Ramapo High School. The Panthers also face rivals, Ramsey High School on May 2nd, and Mahwah High School on April 5th. The Panthers split their meeting with Mahwah last year, with the loss being a one goal loss in the Bergen County tournament.