Roundup: The Week in Sports and a Look Ahead

Baseball

The Bridgemen had a rough time of it on Monday when they hosted Cliffside Park. Fort Lee was shutout behind the dominant pitching of the Red Raiders. John Hroncic pitched well for the Bridegemen giving up only three runs. On Wednesday, the Bridgemen were defeated by River Dell at home by the lopsided score of 17-5. But the team bounced back on Thursday with a 15-0 shutout win over Community High School.

The only scheduled game for next week will take place Tuesday at Palisades Park. The first pitch is set for 4 p.m.

Golf

The Lady Bridgemen opened the week with a close loss to Bergen Tech by the score of 241-240. Standout Sarah Wi shot a 48 as the team’s record fell to 13-7 on the season with the loss. On Thursday, Wi shot a 98 at the Golf County Tournament at Rockleigh. Wi failed to crack the top 10.

The girls golf returns to action Monday at the Big North Tournament at  River Vale Country Club at 7:45 a.m.

Softball

The Lady Bridgemen had a busy week starting on Monday. Fort Lee defeated Cliffside Park 9-6 in an exhilarating come-from-behind win on the road. The Lady Bridgemen were trailing 6-1 going into the top of the fifth inning. They rallied for three runs to head into the seventh down 6-4. During the seventh, Nikki Farber had a base hit to left, which was followed by Anthe Nikolaidis being hit by a pitch. Freshman Caitlin McKenna hit a long fly ball to right field for a sacrifice fly, scoring Farber. Morgan Romba then had a base hit to left field with two outs to score Nikolaidis and tie the game.  Brianna Mattessich then hit a two-out, three-run homer that proved to be the game winner. But on Tuesday the girls from Fort Lee fell to Hawthorne 9-3, giving up many unearned runs. On Wednesday, the Lady Bridgemen fell again at River Dell by the score of 9-4. The girls finished up their busy week with a 9-6 win over Ridgefield Park that improved their record to 14-6-1 on the season.

The girls return to action Monday, when they travel to Manchester Regional High School for a 4 p.m. contest. They will also look to reschedule a game against Bergenfield from earlier in the year before the first round of states. Seedings will be out next week.

Tennis

The Bridgemen opened the week Monday with a 5-0 sweep of Cliffside Park in Fort Lee. The boys won all their matches in two sets. They kept up the good work with another 5-0 win at home against River Dell. Again, all of the winning matches were completed in two sets, and the duo of Andrew Lee and Yuki Takahashi finished the regular season undefeated (12-0). On Friday, Lee and Takahashi won in their County preliminary match in two sets against Paramus. On Saturday Jason Halpern was elminated in his quarterfinals match against the second seeded player from Ridgewood, 6-1, 6-1, after beating a player from St. Joe's 6-0, 6-2 in the first round at the County Tournament held at Demarest High School. Max LeBlanc and Nicholas Wong lost a tough match to Ramapo, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 3-6 in the first round and Lee and Takahashi won their first round match against Bergen Catholic and also won their quarterfinal match against Demarest, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). The dynamic duo advance to play Ramapo in the semifinals Sunday at Old Tappan. 

The only scheduled match for next week is at 4 p.m. Monday for the NJSIAA Tournament against West Essex.

Spring Track

The Big North Divison Championships took place on Friday at River Dell High School. The boys team finished in fifth place with 64 points. Highlights were provided by Sam Topaz, who finished in second place in the triple jump, Jenya Dyagilev, who finished second in the 400 meter hurdles, and Frankie Goris, who finished second in the 100 meter dash.

The girls team finished in sixth place out of the 12 schools in their division. Senior captain Nancie Sophias won a gold medal and became the league champion in the 800 meter run. Sophias accomplished all of that and then headed to her senior prom late. Junior captain Sophia Luppino is second team all league in the high hurdles and also finished in fourth place in the long jump. Sophmore Julie Lau finished in fifth place in the 400 meter run. Freshman Ashley Jenq finished in second place in the 100 meter dash and finished fourth in the 200 meter dash. Freshman Melanie Plattner finished sixth in the 800 meter run.

The next meet is scheduled for Friday and Saturday--the Bergen County Championships to be held at Northern Valley Old Tappan High School.