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BY RON FOX
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Little League rules mandate that every player on a team’s roster must have at least one at-bat in a game.
That was no problem for Tony Barbera, manager of the Ridgewood Under-14 Little League softball team, which roared to district, sectional and state championships this summer and missed by one game of moving on to the Junior Little League World Series in Kirkland, Wash.
PHOTO COURTESY OF TONY BARBERA
The Ridgewood Raiders U14 softball team clinched a spot in the New Jersey State Little League Tournament (Junior Softball Division) by defeating Morristown, 13-1, in the Section 1 final July 11. FRONT ROW, from left: Francesca Barbera and Kristen Yee. MIDDLE ROW, from left: Elizabeth Policano, Kiera Boucher, Alli Olsen, Payton Angus, Grace Pizzuti and Brianna Buckley. BACK ROW, from left: Ciara Emmanuel, coach Linda Hannafey, Liz Hannafey, coach Tim Boucher, Chloe Lennon, Casey Kandel, coach Tony Barbera and coach Tom Olsen.
Little League Softball: Section title a big step forward for Ridgewood team
JULY 24, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY RON FOX
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
In his 14 years of coaching softball, Tony Barbera has learned that players benefit most when challenged. So he often had his Ridgewood Little League U14 team, the Raiders, “playing up” this spring and summer.
“Most teams play sophomores and we play freshmen against them,” he said after a long and winding schedule was nearing its end. “This helps our girls get ready for the high school varsity.”
Barbera should know, as his daughter, Mia, is a three-year starter for the Ridgewood High School team at shortstop and is entering her senior year.
One of the challenges involved the girls making some history, Barbera said, by becoming the first Ridgewood softball team to enter into the Little League Tournament.
In the first round of the regional event, they lost to Morristown National in a rain storm, then routed Ringwood, 20-0, and Morristown National, 8-4, the latter in dramatic come-from-behind fashion. And the Raiders once again defeated the Morristown team, 12-1, to capture the Section 1 title and advance to the state tournament, where they beat Jersey City before losing consecutive games to eventual champion Northfield and runner-up West Windsor.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/young-raiders-reel-in-a-section-title-1.1379991