Sports

Sports & Recreation

Memorable Nutley softball season ends with ‘epic’ 2-1 loss to Roxbury

Photo by Jason Bernstein

By Jason Bernstein

jason@theobserver.com

Luann Zullo knows there will come a time when she and her Nutley players will look back upon last week’s Group 3 semifinal against Roxbury with reverence for the incredibly high level of skill and poise displayed by both teams over the course of two days.

But for now, the feelings from that 13-inning, 2-1 loss at Roxbury are ones of pain.

The epic game started last Wednesday before being suspended with it 0-0 in the top of the seventh inning due to rain, forcing Nutley to make another hour-long drive west to Succasunna to resume the game Thursday morning. The two elite squads played another sixplus innings until Roxbury’s Natalie Otto doubled into the left field gap, scoring Jayden Pennella and ending the Raiders’ incredible season.

“That last game was so intense, it was a shame that someone had to lose because it was so well-played by both teams,” Zullo said. “There were amazing plays being made by both sides. It just stings a little to be so close.

“This game, we’ll be talking about for a long time. This was probably the most intense, greatest high school contest that I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve been coaching for a very long time and this has to be among the best.”

Future discussions will certainly revolve around the pitchers’ duel between Nutley’s Fallyn Stoeckel and Hailey Errichiello of Roxbury as the duo combined for 33 strikeouts and just nine hits allowed.

Stoeckel, who took a perfect game into the fifth inning, escaped trouble in the fifth and sixth before the storm came. On Thursday, the star senior broke the

See SOFTBALL, Page 10

Locals walk away with medals at NJSIAA Sectional track meet

By Jason Bernstein

jason@theobserver.com

This weekend the NJSIAA State Sectional championship meets were held across the state and there were plenty of stellar performances from local athletes. Among them, a trio of golds from Lyndhurst on the girls side, and on the boys side, one of the more unique triplequalifying performances by Bloomfield’s Cristian Armstrong.

Lyndhurst puts the Gold in Golden Bears

From a team standpoint, no one had more medal winners than Lyndhurst’s girls team this weekend in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 meet in Randolph. In total, the Golden Bears had 14 medal winners, including three first place finishers.

Former The Observer Athlete of the Week Kayla Carrino took home first in the 3200 Meter Run and smashed her previous personal record with a time of 12:05.56. The standout junior finished fourth in the 1600 Meter Run (5:46.20) and was a part of Lydnhurst’s first place 4x800 Meter Relay team, running with Liliana Malinowski, Maria Gaccione and Julia Sales. Like Carrino, Malinowski also medalled in three events, taking third in the 3200 (12:37.23) and fifth in the 1600 (5:46.37).

Julia Tozduman took first place in the Triple Jump with a personal best 34-11. This weekend was just the latest bigtime performance in what has been a breakout sophomore season as she medalled in four events, finishing third in the Long Jump (16-9.75) and 400 Meter Dash (personal best 1:01.34) and fourth in the 200 Meter Dash (26.98).

Overall, the Lyndhurst girls finished second in the North 2, Group 2 team standings with 77 points, trailing only New Providence.

“We gave New Providence a run for their money and they didn’t expect it to be as close as it was throughout the meet. These girls were absolutely incredible,” head coach Rich Tuero said. “I’ve been telling them for a month that we have a shot at this section as a team and it’s going to take a lot of great performances to do so. Even though we took

See NJSIAA, Page 11

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scoreless tie with an RBI double in the top of the ninth, but Roxbury’s Lia Milsom answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.

Starting with the 10th inning, each half inning begins with a runner on second base meaning that one hit might potentially end the game. In the 10th, Nutley had a runner thrown out at the plate trying to score from third on a fly ball to right field.

An inning later, the Raiders had their own defensive gem when Stoeckel back-handed a comebacker to the circle and fired home to catcher Sydney Hess, who tagged out the sliding runner. Hess then threw to second where Gabriella Mariano tagged out the batter trying to advance for an inning-ending 1-2-6 double play.

“The longer we went, sooner or later, someone’s going to run into one. We were hoping it was us,” Zullo said. “You had two excellent pitchers. I’ve said it all through my career, in order to get that far, you gotta get a little lucky. Sometimes luck is on your side, sometimes it’s not.”

Stoeckel, in her final game in maroon, struck out 14 and walked three, allowing just one earned run on five hits. Errichiello, Roxbury’s star sophomore, struck out 19 while allowing one run on four hits and two walks.

Stoeckel, whose 307 strikeouts this season were the most by any Nutley pitcher in at least 25 years, will continue her career at Rider; Hess is signed to play at Sacred Heart and center fielder/leadoff hitter Lia DiMaio will play at Georgian Court.

The graduation of those three and Nikki Cicchetti, who had three RBI in the North 2, Group 3 title game against West Morris, leaves a considerable void to fill for next year as well as a standard for future teams.

“This group of seniors has been a huge part of everything we do for these last three seasons,” Zullo said. “This group of seniors made it to the sectional finals all three seasons they played, they made it to the County final the last two. This team has done a lot and those seniors really raised the bar for what’s expected.

“We talk about it when they come into the program (I ask) what kind of legacy do you want to leave? This group has raised the bar, they really have with what they’ve accomplished in three years. It breaks my heart they didn’t have the fourth year, but what they accomplished in three years (was incredible). I know today it’s still really a tough pill to swallow because it was so intense, but it was such a great game that there’s going to come a point where it won’t hurt as much and we’ll talk about how great that game was.”

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second place, I could not be more proud of these girls. They absolutely gave us everything they had to earn what they got.”

Bloomfield’s Armstrong a Triple Threat

Cristian Armstrong might not have left theNorth Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 meet in Clifton with a gold medal. But he did have perhaps the most impressive all-around performance among local performers.

The junior took second place in the Triple Jump (43-0) and sixth place in both the Long Jump (20-6) and High Jump (a personal best 5-8). While it is common to see athletes compete in both the Long and Triple jumps, rarely do they also compete, let alone excel in the High Jump like Armstrong.

“It’s very rare. Usually you’ll see Long and Triple together, but not with the High,” Bloomfield coach Terry Iavarone said. “So to see him in a Group 4 section, with some of the biggest schools in the state, to medal in those three events is almost impossible.”

For good measure, Armstrong also set a personal record in the 200 Meter with a time of 23.11, but in a loaded field, did not qualify for next weekend’s group championships in the event.

Looking Ahead to Groups

Those who finished within the top six in their respective events during the sectional meets have advanced to the NJSIAA Group meets this Friday and Saturday. Qualifiers from Belleville, North Arlington and Nutley will be heading to Pennsauken for the

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