The 2009 Hudson Reporter High School Baseball and Softball All-Area Teams feature the very best that the area has to offer, including a handful of repeat honorees, displaying the consistency needed to become a solid performer on the collegiate level someday.

The 2009 All-Area Softball Team features six players who were on the 2008 All-Area squad, including one, Justine Mateo of High Tech, who was selected to the All-Area team for a fourth straight season, becoming the 11th softball player ever to earn All-Area for all four years of high school. Mateo earned All-Area as a freshman while playing for Hoboken, then the last three years at High Tech.

Teammate Erica Colon makes All-Area for a third straight year, while Bayonne’s Samantha Maggio, North Bergen’s Carla Arismendi and Jazmin Palma and Hoboken’s Paige Peguero all earned All-Area for a second season.

As for the individual honors, the aforementioned Mateo was selected as the Hudson Reporter Player of the Year. The fleet-footed Mateo, headed to Dominican College in the fall, batted an astounding .700 with 49 hits, 40 stolen bases, eight homers and 30 RBI, leading High Tech to a second straight NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I state championship.

The Hudson Reporter Pitcher of the Year and Most Valuable Player are one and the same – and one and the same from a year ago as well.

High Tech’s Colon earns the recognition as both for a second straight year, as the most important piece in the Lasercats’ second straight state sectional championship season. Colon was 24-2 on the mound, setting a new Hudson County record for strikeouts in a season with 319. She pitched nine no-hitters, 15 shutouts, four perfect games, surrendered just six earned runs all season and had a miniscule 0.28 earned run average. She also batted .513 at the plate with 35 RBI.

Colon is etching a brilliant career that will certainly go down as one of the best ever in Hudson County history.

The Hudson Reporter Softball Coach of the Year award goes to North Bergen’s Tom Eagleson, who guided the Bruins to the HCIAA Coviello championship, finally ridding themselves of the tag of being simply a runner-up, where they finished in each of the previous four seasons.

The 2009 Hudson Reporter All-Area Baseball Team features five players who earned All-Area honors a year ago. Memorial’s Michael Kuzirian, Marist’s Eddie Sorondo, Bayonne’s Tom McGuckin, Weehawken’s Andrew Nasti and Hoboken’s Nate Arocho all are repeat honorees.

The Hudson Reporter Player of the Year is County Prep’s Evan Pimentel, who led the Hurricanes to the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group I championship by batting .548 with three homers and 31 RBI. Pimentel delivered clutch hit after clutch hit in helping the “Comeback Canes” win Jersey City’s first public school state title since 1966.

The Hudson Reporter Pitcher of the Year is Marist’s Fabian Roman, who had many moments of dominance during the season, won eight games for the Royal Knights and capped his great season with his selection by the Kansas City Royals in the 36th round of the recent Major League Baseball Free Agent Amateur Draft.

The Most Valuable Player honor goes to junior Marc Hanna of St. Peter’s Prep, who started the year delivering all the clutch hits for the Marauders and ended the year as the team’s pitching ace, winning nine games, including the win in the HCIAA Coviello championship game, enabling head coach Joe Urbanovich to retire on top. To go along with his nine wins on the mound, Hanna also hit .383 with 31 RBI. He will return next year as one of the top players to watch in Hudson County.

The Hudson Reporter Baseball Coach of the Year honor goes to young Jim Comprelli of High Tech, who took that team to new baseball heights this season, winning 17 games and getting the Lasercats to play competitive baseball game after game. It was a major transformation this season and Comprelli, the former St. Peter’s Prep and College of New Jersey pitching ace, deserves the credit for the turnaround. – Jim Hague