Belleville High School sports teams have kicked off the 2011 spring season with the top three team sports all with records over .500.
The boys volleyball team leads the way with a 4-0 record, while baseball was 3-1 and the softball team 2-1 at the end of the day on Thursday.
The Belleville boys volleyball team continued to stay hot in the early going as they stayed undefeated with a sweep of McNair Academy on the road Thursday.
Belleville struggled in the first game, coming out with a 25-23 victory, but ran past McNair in the second game, 25-15.
Julian Rodriguez led the way with a dozen kills while Jaleel Dolor chipped in seven kills and six digs. Luigi Zanoria set up Rodriguez and Dolor with 27 assists while Orlando Andrade and Carl Loroco chipped in 10 and nine digs, respectively.
In addition the Belleville softball team lost an 8-1 decision at rival Nutley in a Super Essex Conference crossover battle on Thursday. The Lady Bucs dropped to 2-1 on the season. Despite the run difference, the game was closer than the score would indicate, as the Lady Bucs had the bases loaded in both the fourth and fifth innings, but came up empty.
The Belleville baseball team is also hot in the cool days of April as the Bucs raised their record to 3-1 with a 7-6 victory over Glen Ridge at home on Thursday. Belleville has also defeated Cedar Grove, 3-2, on Wednesday and Newark East Side, 12-0, on April 2. The lone loss came at Montclair Kimberley, 8-2 on Tuesday.
Baseball
The Bucs won a thriller on Thursday to defeat the Ridgers as Jonathan Caraballo scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning to give Belleville the victory in the SEC contest.
Bucs pitcher Gerard Gilfone fired four innings to keep Glen Ridge off the scoreboard to collect the win.
Belleville was down a couple of times only to come back and catch the Ridgers. The Bucs scored a run in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at six and send it into extra innings.
Leading the offense for Belleville was Joe Annello, with three RBI off three hits.
In the opening game of the season, the Bucs scored nine runs in the second inning to put away East Side. Sam Balaban smacked a home run and collected three RBI in the victory. Gabe Rivera also added three RBI in the win. Rivera also picked up the win on the mound while striking out five and allowing only two hits.
After dropping the decision to Montclair Kimberley, Belleville notched their first of two dramatic wins, this one over Cedar Grove.
Mike Cayli scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning after Gilfone brought him home with a base hit. Luis Soto grabbed the win on the mound after throwing a perfect sixth and seventh innings in relief.
Softball
Nutley got off the right foot at home and the Bucs could not respond.
The Lady Raiders scored six times in the first three innings. "They had the momentum from the beginning," said Belleville head coach Chris Cantarella. "They were on a hot streak and playing real well."
Nutley came in with some big victories, including Ridgewood and West Milford, two large school softball powerhouses.
In addition Cantarella said that Nutley was helped by a trip to Florida before the season started where they played 16 games.
Despite all that the Belleville head coach said that they will be much improved if the two face each other in the Group 3 North 2 state sectional playoffs. "We'll be back and it’s early in the season," said Cantarella.
Belleville was playing without starting shortstop Michele Knafo, who injured a hamstring in Wednesday's 9-0 victory over Verona. Cantarella did not know how long she would be out of the lineup. In the game Knafo smacked a home run to power the Lady Bucs.
After a rough start Belleville pitcher Gabby Chimento pitched well the rest of the game. "She settled down after the first couple of innings," said Cantarella.
The Lady Bucs will host Glen Ridge on Friday and travels to Kearny on Saturday (11 a.m.) in an independent game.
The Lady Bucs opened the season with a 7-4 victory at Westfield on April 2.
Five Belleville players had two or more hits, led by three each from Vanessa Gomez and FrankieAnn Fontana. Gomez and Chimento collected a pair of RBI each.
In the Lady Bucs' 9-0 pounding of Verona, Chimento fired a no-hitter with the help of some quality defense. In addition Gianna Veniero and Fontana had a pair of hits for the victory.
Volleyball
The Bucs boys volleyball team's latest victory follows wins over Millburn (2-1 on April 6), East Side (2-0 on April 4) and Science Park (2-1 on April 1).
"We are playing very well," said Belleville head coach Chris Terranova.
The first-year head coach credited the four juniors on the team in Zanoria, Thomas Rosario, Rodriguez and Dolor, in what could be a big year for the Bucs.
"Those four juniors have been playing together for three years," said Terranova who had been an assistant coach for Belleville before taking over for Ed Saggio.
Terranova's squad faces some tough battles against Bloomfield and Livingston, the two finalists in the Essex County Tournament last year. "Yes, I wanted to have a tough schedule this season," said Terranova, whose team will travel for the first time on Saturday to the tough Clifton Tournament.
The Bucs travel to Bloomfield on Friday and Livingston on Wednesday after hosting Barringer on Tuesday.
In getting his team prepared for the season, Terranova set up tough scrimmages in the preseason with Jefferson, Bergen Tech, Wayne Valley and Clifton.
In the opener against Science Park, the Bucs lost the first match 25-21 before coming back to win the next two in a row, 25-16 and 25-18, clinching an overall opening day win on April Fool's Day. Andrade had nine kills on the day with the balanced Bucs offense.
Against East Side Belleville did not have a problem, with 25-17 and 25-11 sweep. Rodriguez led the way with six kills in the April 4 contest.
After a slip up in the second game against Millburn, 25-22, the Bucs rebounded to defeat the Millers, 25-18, to take the rubber match on April 6. Belleville won the opening match, 25-15. Rosario led the Bucs with 10 kills.
