We're back!!!!

Sorry for the delay since the last blog, but the dog ate all our notes and the girlfriend ran off with the checkbook and computer. From now on there will be a blog at least once a week, and that's a promise.
It's all been happening of late. Congratulations to Steinert and Morrisville, which both won titles last night. Steinert captured the Mercer County Tournament title over a tough Allentown team, while Morrisville won a BAL championship. The party started in Moville at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon and at last word was still going strong at 2 in the morning. Perhaps it's time to change Ivan Colon's nickname to the "Builder of Champeens.''
Speaking of Morrisville, it wants a rematch with Nottingham. It's in Nottingham's court at this point and something should be able to be worked out.
There will be more on this in tomorrow's (Saturday's) Trentonian about this, but the Peddie coach went off this week when Rancocas Valley didn't start its top pitcher in a game that was rained out in the first inning anyway. The Peddie coach disparaged public school softball coaches after the aborted game and was way out of line.
Unfortunately, another big story was the rained out Pennsbury game against Conwell-Egan that now won't happen. Pennsbury probably could have figured out a way to fit this game in, but that's the way it goes and it really makes the ratings wild now because this thing is wide open. It's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks coming up, indeed.
To you rec softballers out there, The Trentonian is about to step up its coverage. Fax 609-393-6072 or call in your results on a nightly basis. There will also be some live coverage of games in another couple of weeks. That's it for now.
We're up and running a game and if anybody has some recommendations for the all-area and all CVC high school teams, send them along. It's always interesting to see which players have impressed certain people.
We'll back again soon.

Catching Up

Mabye it's been the rotten weather. Or maybe it's the fact nobody is that good. Whatever's going on, its really been difficult to get a gauge on what's going to happen in this high school softball season. As most of you know, Cherokee won the Rancocas Valley Tournament with two more wins on Saturday, beating Washington Township and Rancocas Valley, 3-0. This is the same Cherokee team that is 6-6. Or to put it another way, the Chiefs are 4-0 on Saturday and 2-6 the rest of the week. You figure it out. Entering the tourney Cherokee had to be one of the bigger longshots, but here we are.
Also on Saturday, Pennsbury followed up its win over Neshaminy by scoring two runs in two games at the St. Dominics tournament in Jersey City. And Pennsbury lost to Absegami, making it two losses for the Falcons against Jersey teams this year. When was the last time that happened? On paper Pennsbury looks very good, but it's on the field that counts. Hopefully, guys like Lou Hartmann and Pinky won't bail out on the Falcons. A big addition to the schedule last week was Conwell-Egan at Steinert. Conwell-Egan won, 6-3, but the Spartans did get to Angel Bunner a bit and it makes you wonder what might have happened if Steinert pitched No. 1 pitcher Angela Rand. We've been saying for years New Jersey is catching up to Pennsylvania in softball and the results so far this year have done nothing to disprove that. Now, if only we could have had the Notre Dame-Conwell Egan game.
It's the big week in Mercer with Notre Dame and Steinert playing Peddie and Notre DAme and Steinert playing each other. If Peddie wins, hopefully some of those obnoxious Peddie fans won't run around thumping their chests. It's doubtful Peddie will see the No. 1 pitcher for either ND or Steinert, and it's for a simple reason. The public schools simply don't give a darn about the preps. Interestingly, Peddie still can get into the Mercer County Tournament. Hun plays in it so why not Peddie? The Peddie administration will say it's a matter of principle, but the heck with that. Ever since Peddie got all that money from Annenberg it's tried to act like it's a bunch of elitist blue bloods, but it's not and needs to get back to its blue collar roots.
For those who are counting, that's three wins in a row for Morrisville. We said this team was pretty good and you can expect the Dogs to prove it with some interesting games this week. The Trentonian also said Bensalem would improve once the weather warms up. Sure enough, the Owls lost by the score of 1-0 to William Tennent Saturday. See. We expect Bensalem to get so hot Bogie will again have to get his oil changed.
That's about it for now, although there will obviously be a lot to talk about later this week with so many big games on the immediate horizon.
As for you rec softballers out there, you can start calling your games into The Trentonian and they'll be printed on a daily basis now that the season is about to really start up.
As for you travel ball softball people out there we have one thing to say: Just because you had to take out a second mortgage to get your daughter on a team doesn't necessarily mean she's any good.

Joke of the Day

It's another rainy and dreary day so we thought we'd brighten things up with this great old softball joke.

Question: What do you call a basement full of softball parents?
Answer: A whine cellar.

RV Tourney and Travel Ball Thoughts.

Well, the first day of the RV Tourney is over and it's still the same question before it even began. Why were Conwell-Egan and WAshington Township placed so close to each other in the bracket? Nobody else at the tourney was throwing the ball like Bunner or Maise, and it's a shame these teams had to meet so early. Anyone of the remaining teams can still win, of course, and it's a huge and dangerous jump to say CE-Townhip was the "championship game.'' Similiarly, RV is the host of the tournament and has every right in the world to put itself anywhere it wants in the bracket. Heck, it's not only their right, but it''s something every other team in the world would do as well. But couldn't Township and Conwell-Egan be placed far enough apart so that it was at least a semifinal? With the feature game already played, it takes a little bit away from when the tourney resumes this Saturday. Oh, well, it won't happen again with Conwell-Egan because that was its last year in the tourney. For those who don't know, the PCL is joining the PIAA next year, which means only 20 total games under the antiquated PIAA rules. When Conwell-Egan gets done playing its league games and a couple of its usual rival in Lower Bucks, there won't be much room left. The one good thing is by losing in the quarterfinals, Conwell-Egan now has two more games available this year. Something tells us you might see Conwell-Egan against Notre Dame after all. Obviously, The Trentonian's Ratings are going to undergo an even bigger shakeup.

Opening the Mail

As for the West Windsor fan who wrote, I've never been down on travel ball sofball. I'm down on some of the travel ball parents, who think they actually know something about the sport because their summer coach let them coach first for an innning after their daughter raised all kinds of money for the team. Obviously, travel softball is crucial for a player's development. Just because someone's daughter is on a team, however, doesn't mean the parent has a clue. It really shows at some schools where the high school coach does a good job, but they still get their chops busted by the idiots whose daughter is on the team. Go West Windsor North and go West Windsor South. I've been on this beat for over 20 years and to the best of my recollection no West Windsor team has won any kind of softball title other than a CVC division crown or two. It would really be great to see West Windsor step up and join some of the other programs in the county.

Rainy Day Blues

Here it is a rainy Thursday night with hardly any games, but we did just hear from Notre Dame in Florida. The Irish (4-2) lost again, but didn't use Tomlinson to make sure she's OK following some sort of injury. It didn't sound too serious. Anyway, Notre Dame will probably still bump ahead of Pennsbury into the second spot in the ratings Saturday morning. After all, Pennsbury lost to Mt. St. Dominic last week and Notre Dame whipped a Mt. St. Dominic team with the same pitcher in the state final last year. Pennsbury is at North Penn today and it doesn't look like it will be real warm. . Does that mean Falcon fan Lou "Mr. Freeze'' Hartman once again won't make the trip?
Well, the Rancocas Valley tournament is now only a day away and we can't wait. It really is a fun day. If one games get boring, just go to another. Something tells us Steinert - thanks for the earlier - compliment Bob - is going to make some noise this year. We still can't understand why Dom "Steinert's Greatest Three-Sport Athlete'' Cuniglio is not in the Spartan Hall of Fame, but that's another story. If "Big'' Dom was related to Dr. Neil he would have been the first guy in.
There's talk the Conwell-Egan vs. Pennsbury night game might be moved to Bristol. Why? Where are people going to park? And if they are going to play a double-header, why not make it a triple-header with Morrsiville playing New Hope. That will really pack in the fans.
There's been another shakeup in The Trentonians ratings (see tomorrow's paper). The team heading up is Lenape. The team heading down is Allentown after losing to a West Windsor South team that , in turn, got whacked by North Hunterdon, 14-0. Nothing against West Windsor South, but it seems like what that area needs is more ASA travel ball for the young girls and less of the Little League. Does anyone in Hamilton Township even play Little League?
That's about it for now. We'll update you on the RV Tourney this weekend.

To the Ice Man

Great to hear from you. What are you doing in Delaware? I think it's time you went in the Trenton Softball Hall of Fame. I'll call you later this week. Sam "Captain Midnight'' Pellitieri says hello, too.

And by the Way

How about Ivan Colon's Morrisville team? On Monday the team got crushed. On Tuesday it bounced back with 19 hits in just three innings. That's resiliency. That's a never-get-down spirit. And Moville did it against a pretty tough Plumstead Christian team. For anyone who wants a day full of softball, head toRancocas Valley Saturday. You get 12 games with a lot of good teams, including Steinert which is looking great and has started three different pitchers in three games. How many teams have a staff like that? That's it for now. I'm off to see defending state champion North Hunterdon at West Windsor South.