The games will be played on Saturday, June 17, at Mercer County Park in West Windsor. The Northeast team will play two games on that day.
Hoboken, the HCIAA Seglio and NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state champions, had two players, namely pitcher Ryan Fitzpatrick and catcher Christian Rivera selected for the squad, along with coach Buddy Matthews.
Matthews was selected to coach in the game for the fourth time. He also serves on the committee to help select the teams. Hoboken was one of only three schools to have more than one player selected.
"It's a tremendous honor to have two of our athletes to be considered among the best senior players in the state," Matthews said. "It's important that they got recognized, because they both had tremendous seasons."
Another team to have two players selected was St. Peter's Prep. The Marauders will send shortstop Gabe Torres and pitcher Mark Dolaghan to the talent showcase. Torres was drafted in the 43rd round by the St. Louis Cardinals last Wednesday, the only Hudson County player taken in this year's Major League Baseball free agent amateur draft.
The other players selected to play in the All-Star classic are Memorial's ace pitcher/shortstop Jesus Castano (who shockingly was not selected in the MLB draft), St. Mary's brilliant shortstop Miguel Lugo and St. Joseph of the Palisades' slugger Chris Soto.
Hudson County always has a fine representation in the All-Star Classic, but having seven players go this year is the best contingent of local talent to be honored since 1997, when people like former St. Peter's College standout Nick Edwards of St. Peter's Prep, former pro baseball player Mike Eusebio of Hoboken and current Marist head coach Ronnie Hayward participated in that year's classic.
It shows how much Hudson County talent is respected by the coaches around the state...
The NJSIAA Meet of Champions was washed out Wednesday night in South Plainfield, so we'll have to wait another week to see how McNair Academic's superstar Leslie Njoku did in her attempt to become the first Hudson County girl athlete to ever win a gold medal at the outdoor Meet of Champions.
History could be in the making, so stay tuned for that...
Speaking of history, the Hudson County Track Coaches Association will hold its annual All-County dinner and Hall of Fame induction ceremony Thursday night and the Hall of Fame honoree this year is former St. Dominic Academy great Cheri Selby, who was the 1995 recipient of The Hudson Reporter Athlete of the Year award, long before the newspaper chain decided to honor both a male and a female athlete.
It's amazing to think that Selby received that award 11 years ago. Later this month, there will be the 16th Annual Hudson Reporter Athletes of the Year presentations. There are a lot of deserving candidates for the honor, which goes to the top male and female senior who participated in more than one varsity sport during the course of the year...
The Jersey City Board of Education has to seriously reconsider its policy concerning overnight trips.
Last week, when both Lincoln and McNair Academic had solid contingents that were competing in the NJSIAA All-Group track and field championships in Egg Harbor Township, some three hours from Jersey City, the athletes were forced to go down on Friday afternoon on a school bus, compete there, go home, get home around 10:30-11 p.m., then the next morning at around 5 a.m., be at their respective schools for the second day of the track meet and another three hour bus trip. Oh, brother.
While most of the entire state stayed overnight, Jersey City made its kids schlep back and forth with very little rest in the process. Now, how unfair is that? To save a few bucks?
We understand that there was once a problem with a track team and an overnight stay about 10 years ago, but the time has come to change that policy, provided that there is adequate supervision from the coaches and perhaps other chaperones.
Cutting costs should not involve hurting the kids who are supposed to benefit from high school athletics... Another week goes by and Memorial is still without a football coach. That idea is amazing...
Congrats to St. Peter's Prep graduate and Jersey City native John Zaszewski, who now plays baseball at Lehigh University. Zaszewski, a former two-time Hudson Reporter All-Area performer at the Prep, helped to lead Lehigh to the Patriot League championship and a berth in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, the school's first-ever NCAA berth...
--Jim Hague
Post a Comment