Tough trip home from South Plainfield for pair of Bucs

The Belleville baseball and softball teams both travelled to South Plainfield as decided underdogs, and unfortunately the seeding went as expected.
    On May 27 the 11th-seeded Bucs baseball team fell behind early, dropping a 9-4 verdict to third-seeded South Plainfield in the Group 3 North 2 quarterfinals.
    And the same fate happened to the 10th-seeded Belleville softball team a day earlier as the Lady Bucs season ended, 9-1, to the second-seeded South Plainfield Tigers on May 26 in the Group 3 North 2 quarterfinals.
    In addition, one of the best rides of the spring seasons for Belleville sports came to an end.
    For the Bucs boys volleyball team they knew they would have a tough time in the same section, North 1, against the best team in the state, Fair Lawn, but they wanted to have a shot at them which would have come in the sectional final.
   Seventh-seeded Belleville battled tooth-and-nail on the road at second-seeded Wayne Valley, but could not get over the Indians and lost a tough match in three games, 2-1, in the quarterfinals.

Baseball

Belleville (11-18) got off slow at South Plainfield in the Group 3 North 2 as the home team scored three runs in the bottom of the first and then two more in the bottom of the third before the Bucs got on the scoreboard.
    But every time Belleville would get on the board, South Plainfield would match that or more.
    For the Bucs they received offense from Mike Cayli and Jonathan Caraballo. Both players had a pair of hits. Cayli had a pair of RBI on a base hit and Caraballo scored one of the Belleville runs.
    But it was not enough for the Bucs to pull off the upset.

Softball

Just like the baseball team the softball team came out slow and South Plainfield took advantage of it.
     Belleville (14-10) saw their opponents put five runs on the board in the bottom of the third inning and the Lady Bucs found themselves down 7-1 and could not recover on May 26.
    Belleville did have some hope in the second inning when third baseman Melissa Taylor registered an RBI to slice the South Plainfield lead to 2-1. In addition to Taylor, the Lady Bucs first baseman Jessica Benacquista had a pair of hits.
    Belleville could only register seven hits off South Plainfield pitcher Shannon McMahon.
    The Lady Bucs received more offense in warming up for the state playoff game on May 25, but dropped a 7-3 verdict at Glen Ridge.
    The game was tied at three for most of the game, but the Lady Ridgers would score a pair of runs in the sixth and seventh innings to undo Belleville. The Bucs tied the game with the help of Benacquista who was 3-for-4 with an RBI while infielder Gianna Veniero had a pair of hits and scored a run.
    The Belleville offense could not get that big hit as they collected 10 hits against Glen Ridge pitcher Tara Kelly, but the Bucs batters struck out 10 times.


Boys volleyball

The Belleville Bucs gutted it out in the North 1 quarterfinals and almost upset Wayne Valley on May 26 but fell in a close, gritty third game.
    In the first game just like in the match, seventh-seeded Belleville battled back and forth against the second-seeded Indians before falling in overtime, 26-24.
    But the Bucs came back and took the second game before the Wayne Valley crowd on the road with a 25-22 victory.
    Belleville went hard with the Indians in the third game, but just fell short, losing again in overtime, 27-25.
    In the end the Bucs defense did not have an answer for Bez Arslani who had 20 kills as a match high. For Belleville they only had one player in double figures in kills with Julian Rodriguez with 14 while Jaleel Dolor added five kills. For the Bucs they also received their usual offense from Carl Loroco with 16 digs while setter Luigi Zanoria set up the likes of Rodriguez and Dolor with 26 assists.
    In one of the team’s better recent years, Belleville finished with a 20-9 record on the season, but is sure to come back strong in 2012 as the bulk of the players are underclassmen.