Belleville's high school sports teams climbed the first step of the state playoff ladder on Monday and Tuesday.
The baseball, softball and volleyball teams collected victories in the first round.
The biggest win came from the baseball team. The Bucs, the 11th seed, stunned sixth-seeded Warren Hills, 5-1, in the Group 3 North 2 opener on Monday.
And then the softball team pulled off another upset as the 10th-seeded Belleville clobbered seventh-seeded Newark East Side, 15-0, on Tuesday.
In the second round it will be a battle of Belleville and South Plainfield. The BHS softball team travels to second-seeded South Plainfield on Thursday and then the Bucs baseball team travels to third-seeded South Plainfield on Friday.
In boys volleyball Belleville maintained its spot as seventh seed, with the Bucs winning 2-1 over 10th-seeded Passaic Tech at home on Tuesday in the North 1 section. Belleville travels to second-seeded Wayne Valley on Thursday.
Baseball
The Belleville baseball team showed that their record does not necessarily indicate the quality of the team.
With the victory over Warren Hills, Belleville, which raised its record to 10-16, has another hill to climb on Friday when they travel to South Plainfield, a 7-1 victory over 14th-seeded Ferris. Another upset by the Bucs would send Belleville into the semi-finals on May 31 against the winner of 10th-seeded Mendham-second-seeded Cranford.
In the victory over Warren Hills, Belleville received what every head coach in a high school playoff game was a well-pitched game.
And that came from Gabe Rivera. Rivera fired a three-hitter and struck out five while, more importantly, only walking a pair.
With the bats it was Joe Anello who propelled the Bucs to the quarterfinals by going 2-for-3 with three RBI. In addition Gerard Gilfone went 1-for-3 with a RBI and run scored along with a double. Michael Cayli was 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
With the game tied at one heading into the top of the sixth inning, Belleville notched four runs to give Rivera a cushion heading into the sixth and seven innings. Warren Hills got their lone run off of Rivera in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The Bucs had confidence going into the Warren Hills game after defeating arch- rival Nutley on Saturday, 10-2. It was the Raiders who ousted Belleville in the Greater Newark Tournament quarterfinals.
And the Bucs, who recently have not fared well against Nutley, made sure that they would win this one on their home field by collecting nine runs in the second inning to put this game away early.
Belleville had another well-pitched game, this time from sophomore Josh Caba, who scattered seven hits for a complete-game win.
In the second the highlight came from John Brondo who cracked a three-run homer.
Softball
The Lady Bucs scored early and often against East Side in the state playoff opener as Belleville raised its record to 14-8 on the season.
The Lady Bucs started with three runs in the first inning and then seven more in the second inning to put it away.
FrankieAnn Fontana did it with the bat as well as her arm. Fontana fired the shutout in the circle while also got a double scoring three runs in the seven-run second inning.
A victory over South Plainfield on Thursday would send the Lady Bucs into the semi-finals against the winner of third-seeded Chatham-sixth-seeded Somerville on May 31.
Belleville came into the state playoff opener brimming with confidence in defeating West Orange, 9-3, on Monday on the road.
The Lady Bucs got what turned out were the winning runs in the first inning with five runs with RBI from the likes of Melissa Taylor, DeAnna DeMaio and Michelle Knafo.
And the rest of the way was all Fontana in the circle who contained the Lady Mountaineers.
Boys volleyball
Belleville started out well in the first game against Passaic Tech at home by dropping the Bulldogs, 25-16.
But the Bucs watched as Passaic Tech came back to stay alive as Belleville dropped a 25-18 decision.
But behind the offense of Jaleel Dolor and Julian Rodriguez the Bucs took the rubber match, 25-22. Both Dolor and Rodriguez had 10 kills each while Thomas Rosario chipped in nine kills. Carl Laroco added 13 digs while Luigi Zanoria set up the Bucs offense with 33 assists.
Belleville raised its record to 20-8 on the season.
