South Jersey Glory Days Magazine July 2022

JULY 2022

HERE To STAY

DIAMOND TALK: Q&A with Mainland catcher Cole Campbell

The EHT softball team has made it to the state championship game three times in the last seven seasons.

The Eagles could be back in 2023

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Vic’s Subs Cover Story, Page 10

STATE OF THE PROGRAM:

HOW CAN BLENDED FAMILIES BE SUCCESSFUL?

EHT boys volleyball making big strides in first two seasons

Just ask players on the Holy Spirit and Ocean City girls lacrosse teams

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P RE SEN T ED

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ABOUT THE COVER

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igh school sports are cyclical, as most teams take several years to build up to one championship season where all the pieces are in place, the roster has the right mixture of youth and experience, and the right motivating factors are in place. The good teams can contend for a South Jersey title three or four times in a decade, and maybe make one run at a state championship. The great teams seemingly have what it takes to compete for state titles every year. Case in point, the Eastern Regional field hockey team, or the Moorestown girls lacrosse squad, or the St. Augustine Prep baseball program.

The Egg Harbor Township softball program may be entering that kind of rarified air.

The team captured its first Group 4 state championship in 2017 under former coach Mary Dunlap, then had a couple of good-but-not-great seasons, then came the pandemic. But last year, under new coach Kristi Troster, the Eagles went 19-5 and made it to the second round of the state playoffs, and this year they went 25-2, won the South Jersey championship and lost a heartbreaker in extra innings to Watchung Hills in the state title game. Can EHT get back there again next year? Read more in our Vic’s Subs Cover Story on Page 10 of this issue!

Dave O’Sullivan/Publisher

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SOUTH JERSEY

GLORY DAYS General contact information: Phone: 856-336-2600 Publisher Dave O’Sullivan: Email: sullyglorydays@gmail.com On Twitter @GDsullysays @glorydaysmag on Instagram Contributors: Mark Trible, Special Football Writer (@MTrible on Twitter) Larry Henry Jr., Correspondent (@Lhenry019 on Twitter) Ben Hale, Social Media & Web Development VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2/JULY 2022 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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HEADLINES PRESENTED BY BUNTING FAMILY PHARMACY SUMMER BASEBALL IN FULL SWING

The South Jersey South Shore Baseball League is in its second season, and there has been some outstanding baseball played throughout Atlantic and Cape May counties this summer. The South Jersey Surf, last year’s league champion, is at it again as entering the final week of the regular season the Surf had won 15 straight games after a season-opening loss against Buena, last year’s runner-up. The Surf have been sparked offensively by Williamstown High star Caden Dulin, who is hitting .531 with 17 hits, including four home runs, 15 RBIs and 16 runs scored. On the hill, former St. Augustine Prep star Cole Vanderslice has a 0.93 ERA and has fanned 18 in 15 innings pitched, and he and Dulin share the team lead with three wins apiece. Another bright spot in the league has been Mike Blackiston, right and Egg Harbor Township. fielder for the Somers Point Captains. The Deptford High product and curAlso, Mark Trible, South Jersey Glory Days Special Football Writer and rent Salem County College player is batting nearly .400 with a league-lead- host of the South Jersey Football Frenzy Show and the Hat’s Off Podcast, ing seven home runs, and he also has 17 RBIs and 16 runs scored. is hosting his first 7v7 event. It will take place on July 24 at 9 a.m. at Washington Township High School and will feature 12 outstanding South Jersey Football seven-on-sevens coming up High school football players are itching to get the 2022 season started, football programs, including the host Minutemen along with heavyweights and they’ll get their chance soon as 7v7 season ramps up. Ocean City is such as Millville, Kingsway, Cedar Creek, Camden and Lenape. It all leads hosting an event on July 27 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Carey Stadium, as the up to the Battle at the Beach in late August, an event in its second year hostRed Raiders are inviting Southern Regional, Salem, Timber Creek, Delran ed by Ocean City. That’s the official start of the 2022 season!

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BOYS TRACK

A career defined by success Ryan Smith leaving a coaching legacy at EHT that his mentor would be proud of

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer ne of the hardest questions any high school coach will ever ask themselves is, “when do I hang ’em up?” For Egg Harbor Township boys track coach Ryan Smith, the time is now. His kids’ sports are just too important and he doesn’t want to keep missing their games.

Smith stepped down as head coach of the Eagles earlier this month, but it wasn’t an easy decision. Following in legendary coach George Wilkinson’s footsteps, Smith built EHT into a South Jersey powerhouse and annual contender for county, sectional and state championships. He leaves a legacy over a dozen years that won’t be easy for any coach to replicate.

“I saw myself being caught between two things, and my family won out. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of years. You know how volunteers go with youth sports — there aren’t many of them. So, I found myself being involved in everything with my kids’ sports. I like keep things simple, and I was missing games here and there, and I didn’t want to keep doing that. Bennett is 6 years old now and Clay is going to turn 8. At ages 8 and 6 they are kind of fully immersed in youth sports now, so I need to be there.”

Smith’s list of accomplishments is long and distinguished. In 2013, just his second year as head coach of the program, his indoor track team won the Group 4 state championship. The Eagles also were outdoor sectional champions in 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2022, and the indoor team won sectionals six times between 2012 and 2019. EHT also captured seven straight county championships and six straight Cape-Atlantic League American Conference titles. In addition, the Eagles have a dual meet win streak of 51 straight victories. More importantly, the program has seen more than 200 athletes graduate, with 40 going on to compete as track and field athletes at the college level.

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South Jersey Glory Days file photo/Sully Ryan Smith coached the EHT boys track team for a dozen years and won four outdoor sectional championships and an indoor state title.

All that from a guy who didn’t know a darn thing about track when he started coaching it as one of Wilkinson’s assistants in 2008.

“I came back from the University of West Virginia when I was about 20 years old, transferred to Rowan and started coaching right away, as a 20-year-old.

I started with freshman football (at EHT) as a volunteer in 2004. After about three years of that, Tony (DeRosa) brought me up to varsity. Then, a few years after that I got a full-time job teaching at EHT and was a full-time varsity assistant football coach,” Smith said. “In the offseason, I would train the running backs and wide receivers. We’d lift weights then go out to the field and just start running sprints, and that’s when George Wilkinson — a longtime football and track coach — said to me, ‘I think you’d be good at this. If you can train a wide receiver or a running back, you can coach track.’ That’s kind of how this whole thing started off. I didn’t know anything about track. I played baseball and football in high school.

“I was just trying to learn speed stuff for my football players, then I started going to track and field clinics, studying books and stuff like that. It kind of all came together.”

It seems Smith was born to coach — and to do it at Egg Harbor Township High School. He’s been hanging around the building since before he even hit puberty.

“I moved to High School Drive when I was about 10 years old. I have an older brother and my parents were like, ‘you know what? I think we’re going to be at the high school a lot.’ So we moved right next to it. When I got to middle school, not all sports are right after school, so during football season, before practice at 6 p.m., I didn’t have anything to do after school. So, what did I do? I rode my bike down to the

See SMITH, Page 7

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SMITH, From Page 6 high school and George Wilkinson was the offensive line coach, and I would just sit there and watch practice. I watched all the drills, and I guess that’s kind of how it started,” he said. “When Tony DeRosa came on as the coach my freshman year in 1998, Wilkinson kind of stayed on, gave a couple halftime speeches and things like that. So, we’ve always been really close. Then one day he saw me walking down to the football field with some of my players and he said, ‘I need you out here with me.’ That’s how it all started.

He was my coach in high school, then I ended up being his assistant. I’m a big believer in learning things and I would just watch this guy. He was an absolute legend. We would go to track meets and he would sit in the bleachers and everybody would come by and talk to him like he was the king. Everyone was just visiting him all day.”

Smith said he tried to take things he learned from DeRosa, Wilkinson and every other coach he worked with along the way to build the best staff, approach and philosophy he could. One thing he’s always tried to remember is that he is coaching high school kids, and they want to have fun with sports after a long day of classes.

“I’ve been a leader my whole life. I was the first junior captain in EHT football history, so I’ve always been comfortable in that role. My wife tells me that’s a control issue, but I just see it as leadership.

The thing I don’t like is when kids don’t like sports.

They play sports because they are fun, but sometimes the kids are so uptight that they are not having fun,” Smith explained. “I felt that way a little bit at the end of my high school baseball career, but I found a sport in track where you can work your butt off a lot of the time, but other times it’s really relaxed and fun. I like to run a tight ship as far as the work that needs to be put in to win a championship, but at the same time practice had to be the best part of a kid’s day.”

But in Smith’s Eagles track program, it’s anything but all play and no work. His athletes get after it when the work needs to be done because they take a lot of pride in calling themselves champions.

“That’s where my football background helped. My staff and my assistants put so much toward a South Jersey Group 4 championship and a state championship. That’s what our goals were every year,” he said.

“Everybody wants to be a champion, and the message we sent out every year was, ‘if you guys all do a bunch of stuff your way as an individual, it will all come together and we’ll be champions, and that’s the coolest feeling in the world.’ That’s what we hung our hat on. Of course, things can go sideways with individuals, and I’ve had my ups and downs where you have kids who might not come to practice enough and you just have to say, ‘OK, man, you just can’t be a part of this.’ But those same people I’ve had to kick

South Jersey Glory Days file photo/Sully Smith, who spent many years as an assistant football coach at Egg Harbor Township, said he is stepping away from coaching at the high school level to spend more time with his family and help coach his two young sons. off the team still say hi and catch up with me. That’s just the way it’s been.”

Coaching at a huge school like Egg Harbor Township — one of the largest in South Jersey’s seven counties — has its challenges, but also plenty of rewards. EHT is one of the most diverse schools in the state in terms of race and ethnicity. It’s one big melting pot.

“The students themselves are the best. We have all different personalities, all different ethnic backgrounds, different socioeconomic status — we have everything here. To be able to build a relationship with different types of people is really cool. It’s something unique to our school. We are one of the biggest schools in South Jersey, and a lot of people might see that as a negative, but I see it as a positive,” Smith said. “The more people we have, the more we can find. You always have really good kids on a team who can win at sectionals or states and become a champion, but every point counts. We’ve been in competitions where we’ve only won by five points and there is a kid who maybe got cut from the baseball team, came out and threw the javelin and got us two points and that helped. That’s been the coolest thing. A lot of times in team sports you don’t see those individual performances. The best thing about track is kids get the individual and team aspects in one sport.”

Smith has an infectious personality and a positive outlook that seemingly has no boundaries, and that kind of presence surely will be missed by athletes in the program. Now, younger athletes — the teammates of his two young sons — get to enjoy all that energy and experience.

And, the 2002 EHT High graduate hasn’t completely closed the door on one day donning his whistle and bucket hat again.

“I’ve been overwhelmed with the response to this.

I wasn’t planning on anything. I didn’t even want it known that I wasn’t going to be the head coach next year. But our new athletic director, Mr. (Kevin) Rutledge, kind of encouraged me to put something out there so there were no misconceptions,” Smith said. “But I’ve been telling everybody, we get out of school next year at 1:55 p.m. and my kids don’t get off the bus until 4 p.m., so I’m like, ‘listen, I think I’m available until 4 p.m. every day.’ People think my career is over at the high school level, but my sons will be in high school in less than 10 years, so I might be back. Once you’re a coach, you’re always a coach. I’ll be at events, just not when my sons have games. I can’t be missing their games. That’s been the hardest thing.”

Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays

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STATE OF THE PROGRAM

EHT volleyball ahead of schedule Just a second-year team, Eagles already making noise in the state playoffs

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer hristian Wiech didn’t pay attention to the normal road blocks associated with starting a brand new sports program at the high school varsity level. A successful girls soccer coach at Egg Harbor Township High in the fall, Wiech started up the boys volleyball team at the school prior to the 2021 spring season.

He’s heard it all before — “it’s going to take time” and “you have to be patient, you may not win much with a new program.” He chooses not to listen to that kind of caution, instead asking questions like, “why can’t a Group 4 school with a bunch of good athletes come out and compete right away?”

That’s exactly what the Eagles have done so far in their brief two-year history. EHT posted a 7-6 record in its inaugural season, then followed that up with an impressive 14-6 mark this spring that included a 10-match winning streak that was only stopped in the second round of states by eventual South Jersey playoff finalist Eastern Regional.

“This is a second-year program and I’m excited about how far we got this year,” said senior Scott Hiltner, who played lacrosse in the spring prior to starting his volleyball career. “Coming off a 7-6 season last year and going 14-6 this season, it shows a great improvement. Everyone put in a lot of work.”

EHT entered the state tournament as the No. 11 seed and beat Paul VI in the play-in round. That set up a matchup against No. 3 Eastern, one of the more

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South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Chriistiian Vichienrat, just a sophomore, already is one of the top players in South Jersey and helped lead Egg Harbor Township to 14 wins this season. established programs in the area and a true contender for the South Jersey championship. EHT took the Vikings to the brink, and Eastern needed to hold off a late Eagles rally to win in three sets to advance.

“We’re a second-year program and the expectations are what they are for new programs, but we’ve taught our boys from Day One to go out and be aggressive. You want to be on the aggressive side in this sport. To see where they were last year, to this year getting 10 wins in a row to finish out the regular season, winning on the road at Kingsway, Central Regional — we beat Eastern earlier in the season — I think this group put EHT on the map,” Wiech (pronounced WEECH) said.

“We were 14-5 and Eastern was 15-4.

The committee, the way the seedings work, it is what it is — for better or

worse, I think they reward more established programs. But I don’t think we were 11 seeds below this team. We had expectations to go deep in these playoffs. We thought this group had what it took. Even with one of our best players injured, we thought we could make a run.”

Hiltner, like a lot of the players on EHT’s roster, grew up playing other sports and had little volleyball experience or knowledge, but now professes a love for the game. He said he couldn’t imagine now what his high school career might have been like without playing volleyball.

“I started playing during the summer of the coronavirus and I played for the Eastern Academy club team between my junior and senior years. I played ice hockey and lacrosse (when I was younger). I just loved this sport from

the start, it’s a great feeling to be on the court with your teammates. I think everyone had a lot of drive this year.

And we have a great coaching staff, which makes it easy to get into the sport and find a passion for it, and put in the work,” he said. “I think it’s great to see (EHT) kind of get on the map and see other teams recognize us. I’ve just really enjoyed this opportunity to work with my teammates to help put this team on the map. This is definitely my No. 1 high school experience. I’m sad it’s over, but I enjoyed my entire senior season. Just hanging with my friends every day was great — even Saturday practices at 6 a.m., it was fun to be there.

See EHT, Page 9

JU LY 2022 EHT, From Page 8 Wiech said he’s excited about where this program can go in the near future.

“We have kind of the perfect storm at EHT — we have accessibility to the sport because we have beach courts in one of our local parks, we have recreational leagues at the shore in Margate and Ventnor, I have great coaches around me. There are some really good volleyball players who have taken the time to help our program develop and that teaching from those guys really helps,” the coach said. “We’re excited that there might be a Cape-Atlantic League forming for boys volleyball. We’ve done well, unofficially, in the CAL, against CAL opponents the last two years. We’re hopeful we’ll be competing for a CAL title next year and hopefully win some hardware. Now, it’s beach season so our guys will keep playing and enjoying the sport.”

Wiech said he fully expected his team to be very competitive this year and make a run in the state tournament. The Eagles might be a year or two away from really going deep at states, but the coach said he’s not changing his expectations at all.

“All the feedback I got from other coaches early on was that we had a team that could make some noise,”

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he said. “We played in a tournament in Lacey and they had a great lineup — Christian Brothers Academy, Howell, Lacey, Toms River schools, a lot of big teams from Central and South Jersey, and we had a great outing there. So, we expected this season. We’re disappointed with how it ended, but we’ll look back on it fondly.”

Right now, it’s all about sticking to the plan and getting guys as much experience in the offseason as possible.

“When we started last year we had a three-year vision to really establish ourselves. I think we’re a year ahead of schedule, the way this season went. We’ve had more than 70 kids try out each year and I think that will only grow now that we’ve been able to have fans in the stands, the student body has been able to see what we have,” Wiech said. “We had three kids with more than 100 kills this year, our setter had more than 300 assists, we had four guys with almost 100 digs. We had some great senior leadership this year, but we have some guys who are great players in the program on varsity and coming up through JV. All these guys are all just one or two years of experience.”

Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays

South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Jackson Griffith, one of EHT’s few seniors, goes up for a block during a tough state playoff loss vs. Eastern.

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VIC’S SUBS COVER STORY

THEY’LL BE BACK

u After a crushing defeat in the 2022 state championship game, Egg Harbor Township softball more determined than ever to win it all in 2023

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer he pictures will last a lifetime. Those snapshots of Egg Harbor Township softball coach Kristi Troster — in just her second year at the helm — consoling her players on the outfield turf at Seton Hall University. The scoreboard awash in zeroes, save for the sixth and ninth innings.

On June 4, the Eagles took on Watchung Hills in the Group 4 state championship game. Freshman Sofia Spatocco stroked an RBI double in the top of the sixth, but the Warriors answered in their half of the sixth, taking advantage of a couple of errors and tying the game on a sacrifice fly. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Watchung Hills’ Ella Stevinson played the hero’s role, launching a game-winning, walk-off solo home run to left. That gave the Warriors a dramatic 2-1 win, denying EHT its second state championship in the past five seasons.

This spring there was nobody left from that 2017 team that beat North Hunterdon in the state championship game and went 23-1. There were, however, a couple of younger siblings, as shortstop Madison Biddle’s older sister, Emily (then known as MacNeil), and catcher Ryley Martini’s sister, Alyssa, were part of that championship team. Martini graduated a few weeks after this year’s state title game, so she won’t get another chance to win a ring like her older sister, but Biddle, a junior, still has one more shot at it.

“I think we are in a good place right now. I’m excited for next year. I think we have a good chance of going farther. That’s our plan. It’s a good feeling knowing we have the talent to do it, but we have to work hard. In 2017 they worked really hard and practiced a lot to get to where they were, and our job is to do the same,” said Biddle, the Press of Atlantic City Player of the Year who hit .386 with seven home runs, 26 runs and 37 RBIs. “Last year — especially with the seniors we had — we all wanted to play our hearts out because the pandemic ruined our season the year before that. So, last year we came out strong,

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South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Egg Harbor Township went 25-2 this season, including winning the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament and South Jersey Group 4 championships. and this year we came out even stronger.”

High school sports typically are cyclical, but it seems that the EHT softball program is in a great position to maintain the success it began crafting under former coach Mary Dunlap, who skippered the Eagles to a berth in the 2016 state championship game before winning it all in 2017. Troster took over prior to the lost 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and in two years she has built an impressive 41-7 record that includes two playoff appearances, a South Jersey Group 4 championship and the title in the inaugural Cape-Atlantic League Tournament this spring.

She believes this team is poised to make more than just one run at a state championship, and she might be right. The roster this spring included just three seniors — Martini at catcher, second baseman Jessie Alkins and center fielder Kayla Dollard — in the starting lineup.

“I feel like we have a balanced program. In our starting lineup this year we had a couple seniors, but also a couple juniors, a couple sophomores and

See SOFTBALL, Page 11

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SOFTBALL, From Page 10 a freshman. Even looking forward, all of my pitchers are sophomores or freshmen,” Troster said. “I think we have two more kids who can throw coming in next year. As long as you have one or two quality pitchers and some supplemental players — if you have a good catcher and shortstop, even if you can’t hit but can play those spots well you’ll be in the lineup. But I have kids who can play those spots and hit very well. It’s a pretty good balance. We have a pretty good recreation program to work with and I’m hoping to get even more involved in that and keep building those community relationships. I don’t want to lose good kids to other places.”

The key to it all is pitcher Madison Dollard, who will be a junior next season. She had a phenomenal sophomore season, establishing herself as one of the best pitchers in the state. She twirled 131 innings and had a 0.75 ERA. She allowed just 14 earned runs all season while striking out 175 batters and walk-

S O UTH J ERSEY GLO RY DAY S ing just 24.

“The covid year, I thought we might have had some of the pieces and could have made a playoff run. I don’t know if we could have done what we were able to do this year. When you have a pitcher like Dollard, if you do anything else well on a given day, you’re going to be in the hunt,” Troster said. “Having a phenomenal pitcher like that who other teams really struggle with, and having a defense that performs like we do, if you can hold other teams to a run or two you don’t even have to have the level of bats we had this year. I hope we continue that because we have a lot of big bats coming back, but when you play defense well and have a pitcher who does her job, it makes it a lot easier to score two or three runs. It’s nice to not have to feel like you have to score 10 runs to win a game.

We know if we keep a team to two runs, we’re in very good shape.”

“She’s my best friend and she’s a phenomenal pitcher,” Biddle added.

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South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Sophomore pitcher Madison Dollard was brilliant in 2022, striking out 175 batters in 131 innings and allowing just 14 earned runs all year long.

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SOFTBALL, From Page 11 “She made a lot of things happen for us this year with the way she throws.

We’re very lucky to know we have that great of a pitcher here at EHT. Pitching means so much, especially when you are in those stressful situations where a single run, or a single hit could win or lose the game. It’s great to know we all have confidence in Dollard and we know she’s going to throw that strike when we need it. We have total confidence in her in those stressful moments.”

EHT has some other pieces to the puzzle that other teams would love to have as well. First baseman Sienna Walterson absolutely mashes the ball (.398/6 HR/47 RBIs) and sophomore Payton Colbert, the Eagles’ third baseman, led the team with a .494 batting average that included 42 hits and 36

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RBIs. Kiki Schlemo, another sophomore, hit .364 with 12 runs scored and junior Natalia Stewart hit .390 with 32 runs scored. Spatocco might have been the best freshman in South Jersey, as she hit .362 with nine extra-base hits and 25 RBIs. “It’s a great feeling to know we had a relatively young team and made it that far. It felt great to come this far with the team we had, especially because we all put in so much work for it. Our seniors did a lot for us, but knowing that we’re only losing a few players and that we have talented players coming up is a great feeling for us. We have talent coming up and we have a lot of girls who got some time this year who play those positions,” Biddle said.

“Most of our kids were in seventh or eighth grade when they were watching that 2017 team. The benefit was a lot of girls came and watched then and got to see what it was like, and a couple of them had siblings on the team. Es-

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pecially for Biddle, that was very important. Now she wants to win a state championship, too. She wants one for her shelf, and that’s a good thing. You have to want those things,” Troster said. “Being a championship team, there is talent then there is talent with a little bit extra. They have something else, it’s a deeper drive to make it that far. There has to something in you that dictates your ability to go to the next level, and a lot of our kids have that.

When times get tough, they get tougher.”

The Eagles aren’t shying away from the lofty expectations that will come around once the 2023 season begins.

They, in fact, embrace those expectations. A loss like the one they suffered in this year’s state championship game would crush a lot of programs, but all it did was fan the flames of a team whose competitive fire burns brightly already.

“I’m super excited (for next year).

I want to win with this team because

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we’re all so close. I want to win a state championship with my best friends,” Biddle said. “I think that would be a great accomplishment to say, ‘hey, my high school team won a state championship.’”

Said Troster, “the very next day I got a text message from Biddle and Madison Dollard, and they were like, ‘coach, next year we’re going to win the whole damn thing. We don’t want to feel this way again.’ I’m still not OK with that outcome. As a competitor, that hurt really bad. But I think if you have a couple of players — especially those two girls — who are on that level and that’s their expectation that they are dictating to the rest of the girls — I think we have a pretty good chance.

These kids want a state championship, and they want it badly.”

Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays

South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Junior shortstop Madison Biddle had a tremendous offensive year for Egg Harbor Township and was one of the top defensive shortstops in the state. She’s one of six starters who will return for the Eagles in 2023.

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DIAMOND TALK

Cole Campbell/Mainland Regional/Catcher

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ole Campbell has been the starting catcher the past two seasons for the Mainland Regional High baseball team. He had an outstanding career, establishing himself as one of the top catchers in South Jersey, both offensively and defensively, and he plans to continue his education and baseball career this fall at New Jersey Institute of Technology. South Jersey Glory Days Staff Writer Dave O’Sullivan recently caught up with Campbell to talk about his high school baseball career and what it was like catching for first-round Major League Baseball draft pick Chase Petty in 2021.

Sully: Now that you’ve had a little time to think about it, what’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you think about your four years at Mainland?

Campbell: What most people don’t realize is we had that covid year (in 2020) and that actually brought us all closer together because we would go to the field every day and work out. It all started with Chase’s group, and we all kind of stuck together. It made me realize what a family is from a team

basis. I knew we were all going to be playing together eventually, but it showed me how important it is when you lose a season and you have your guys still there wanting to play baseball with you.

Sully: How cool was it last year for you to be the catcher of a guy who gets drafted by MLB in the first round (Minnesota Twins), a kid who throws 100 miles-per-hour. What an experience to be the catcher for a kid like (Chase Petty). Take me through that a little bit and what that 2021 season was like for you.

Campbell: It’s really hard to explain. Last year was my first varsity season, so I never had that experience. I remember walking into my first game and turning around and there were 40 scouts with radar guns looking at me, and I was like, ‘oh, my God.’ But it only took two or three pitches and I started to settle in. It’s something that’s unspeakable — it’s not every day you’re catching 100 miles-per-hour as a 16-year-old.

Sully: There aren’t many catchers on the planet

who have caught that type of velocity.

Campbell: Yeah, especially at the high school level.

You never see 102. I guess I was the lucky guy to be able to catch him that year.

Sully: For somebody who never played baseball — or even guys who have but have never played catcher — try to describe what that’s like when you see 100 miles-per-hour coming in at you.

Campbell: I can describe it like being on the pingpong table and there is a guy about 10 feet from you and he whacks the ball as hard as he can. That’s pretty much what it’s like. It’s a little blur coming at you.

Sully: What did your hand feel like after seven innings with Chase Petty?

Campbell: Seven innings? After one inning I’d look at my hand and it was black-and-blue. After the first

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South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Cole Campbell had an outstanding two-year varsity career with the Mainland baseball program, leading the Stangs to 42 wins the past two years while hitting .422 with 34 RBIs, 12 doubles and 16 stolen bases.

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CAMPBELL, From Page 14 game I had massive swelling and I thought my hand was broken.

Sully: That must have been a fun year. Every time he pitched there were all those scouts, and even the fans, little kids coming up and wanting autographs and pictures with him. What was that like being a teammate of a kid who is going through something that 99 percent of high school kids don’t have to go through?

Campbell: It’s really crazy to see a kid who is one of your close friends signing baseballs and stuff. I remember one day, me and Chase were warming up and a kid walks up to us and was like, ‘hey, can I have your autograph?’

I had my back turned and Chase said, ‘sure, buddy.’ And the kid says, ‘no, I already have yours, I want his.’

I looked at him and thought, I don’t even know how to write in cursive!

Sully: Talk about being a part of that program. You had some great moments yourself, that game-winning hit up at Trenton’s Arm & Hammer Park (May 23, 2021 vs. Don Bosco Prep) and all the other big games you played in. What was it like to just be a part of that program, and just be a part of a really good high school baseball program in general?

Campbell: It’s not every day you get to see a public school team ranked No. 1 in the state (Mainland ascended to No. 1 after beating Don Bosco Prep). Obviously, that was a big thing for us because we had a lot to prove.

Coming into that game we weren’t that highly ranked, and out of nowhere we started shocking people and ended up being No. 1 in the state for a while. That’s a feeling you can’t really describe to people because we’re a small public school pulling from a few towns that’s ranked No. 1 in a very good baseball state.

Sully: What did you learn about yourself throughout your career?

You come in like everybody else as a 14-year-old freshman and you leave as an 18-year-old senior and a guy who is going to play college baseball. How much did you learn about yourself through a career that included a covid year and a lot of

South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully As a junior, Campbell got to catch for Chase Petty, a first-round Major League Baseball Draft pick in 2021. adversity?

Campbell: Coming in, I didn’t even know what my future was going to hold because I initially was a twosport athlete. I was like, ‘maybe I’ll play Division III baseball or Division III football.’ I ended up working really hard and talked to people who said I could play at a high level, and that’s when it started playing out and I ended up committing to a Division I school. That blew any expectations I had out of the water.

Sully: Do you ever miss football?

Campbell: I do not miss football at all.

Sully: Why not?

Campbell: I only played football because I was decent at it, but I really never had that love for the game.

Sully: What makes you love baseball so much?

Campbell: You wake up and there’s nothing like having that first thought of, I’m going to go to the cage and hit 100 baseballs. It’s just something every day you wake up and want to do that thing.

Sully: What comes to mind when somebody asks, what’s the best moment of your high school career?

Campbell: It’s no doubt the walk-off double in Trenton (a 3-2 win over Don Bosco Prep). I thought I had a

home run, but I guess weighing only 165 pounds that season, maybe I didn’t have enough juice to hit one out of a minor league park.

Sully: Take me through that moment. Hardly any high school players ever get to play in a minor-league stadium, and to play against a team that is that good, and to come through when your team needs you most — that had to be a great feeling.

Campbell: Normally, low-and-inside is my pitch, and in my first two or three at-bats I was just missing it. I popped up to left twice and shortstop once. The first pitch of my last at-bat they threw me a fastball inside, and that time I didn’t miss it. I was looking in one spot and connected.

Sully: What was it like going into the state playoffs this year when you know any game could be the last one of your high school career? Take me through that emotion of taking off that Mainland jersey for the last time.

Campbell: It’s a bitter feeling, but also a bittersweet feeling. Yes, my high school career is over, but being a captain this year I feel like I had an impact on a lot of younger guys.

Sully: What was it like growing up into that leadership role? You don’t

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really think about that when you are a freshman, but you eventually you become a senior, and some guys become captains. I’m sure that was an important thing for you to be able to be known as the leader of that team.

Campbell: The leadership role was something I was excited about, because I never had an opportunity quite like that. As a catcher, you’re always kind of leading the game but you’re not necessarily leading the team. I would talk to guys, try to cheer them up when they were down.

It’s baseball and you’re going to fail a lot. That made me understand more about myself, that I have the ability to help people.

Sully: What do you think being a successful high school athlete is going to do for you moving forward in your life? What kind of things do you take with you from the ballfield that aren’t necessarily about the game itself?

Campbell: Baseball taught me that you’re going to fail. You see Major League Baseball hitters who are only successful three out of 10 times and they are the best hitters in the league.

It taught me that if you fail you have to be able to come back and keep trying.

Sully: What made you choose NJIT? Campbell: I love the campus, the facilities are really nice, and the coaches made it feel like home. I was able to talk to them on an everyday basis, and it’s a place I really wanted to end up.

Sully: What are you going to study?

What’s the end goal at NJIT? Campbell: I’m not too sure as of now, so I’m going to go into business and then see if maybe I want to switch over into some kind of engineering.

Sully: What do you think it’s going to be like to leave Mainland? Was your high school career everything you thought it would be?

Campbell: When you’re a freshman you say you can’t wait to get out of here. Everyone says you blink and you’re out of high school. I’m just ready and excited to be able to spend the last few weeks (of the spring semester) with my friends and try to soak up every moment.

Check out more high school sports coverage at sjglorydays.com.

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CAPTAIN’S CORNER Emily Gargan, Egg Harbor Township Field Hockey, Lacrosse

Putting in the work Combining talent with determination turned Gargan into a Division I lacrosse recruit

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer gg Harbor Township field hockey coach Kristi Troster said she wishes she could have Emily Gargan, a 2022 graduate, for about four or five more years. The 6-foot tall defender was just scratching the surface of her ability in the sport during her four-year Eagles career, and could have been even better with more training.

But Gargan played field hockey for fun — something to do in the lacrosse offseason to keep her in shape and stay busy. That’s how good of an athlete Gargan is. Even in a secondary sport she was one of the best on the team, and a top defender in the Cape-Atlantic League.

She was even better in lacrosse, scoring 54 goals and adding 11 assists to help lead EHT into the Cape-Atlantic League and NJSIAA playoffs.

She credits her mom, Kristy, and dad, Andrew, with helping her develop her lacrosse skills from a very young age, and all that work has paid off as she plans to continue her lacrosse career at the NCAA Division I level by attending Central Michigan this fall.

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“I started off with lacrosse at a very young age, basically from the time I could walk I had a lacrosse stick in my hands. My mom and dad helped start up the E.H.T.Y.O. program to help develop lacrosse (in the township) so I was always around the game. My dad played in college, and my older brother always played, so I was exposed to it early on,” she said. “I just kept progressing with lacrosse throughout the years. My mom was a really big help with getting me to where I am today.

She really pushed me because she saw the potential in me to be a good athlete with lacrosse.

“I’ve put in a lot of work. I knew I wanted to go to a higher level, so I trained really hard ever since my freshman year,” Gargan continued. “I took it as a big deal. I trained really hard in the winter with my friend Addison (Jacobs) and just kept going, and eventually it led to an offer from Central Michigan. I’m still training hard to be a lacrosse player on the collegiate level and keep making mom and dad proud.”

“Her career in field hockey was a little more textbook. In lacrosse, she came in as a varsity starter right away.

As a freshman (in field hockey), she

South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Senior Emily Gargan scored 54 goals this season for the Egg Harbor Township girls lacrosse team, and finished her career with 141 tallies. was still growing. She was lanky, but very athletic. As a freshman she really improved, then the following year she ended up replacing one of our pieces in the defensive backfield (on varsity) and stayed there ever since. She’s one of those kids who, every year that she played, she got better. She grew, got better with her stick skills and finesse — I would have loved to see her play longer than this. She’s talented enough to play field hockey in college and I think she still had so much potential in that sport,” Troster said. “She’s a hard worker. She was a leader in our sum-

mer workouts and a great role model for all of our field hockey kids. She wasn’t always the most vocal, but if you needed a ‘leads-by-example’ kid, it was always her in a heartbeat.”

Gargan certainly set the example in the classroom as well, as she graduated among the top two percent of Egg Harbor Township’s Class of 2022, and she plans to major in neuroscience at Central Michigan with a concentration

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GARGAN, From Page 16 in dentistry.

Gargan said she got the most out of her high school career in both sports, and that was due in large part to the leaders she looked up to when she was a young player.

“All of my years in high school I was grateful for the teams I was on. The girls were awesome and the coaches on both staffs were amazing people. They included everyone and made everyone feel comfortable. From freshman year I was pushed so hard as an athlete and that really helped me get to where I am today. And my mom training with me on the days I didn’t have practice — all that really helped me get to where I am now,” Gargan said. “Freshman year, having all those seniors to look up to, that really helped me when it was my senior year, just having to fill in that role. Maturing throughout high school and seeing how the seniors act — and modeling that behavior — especially being on field hockey and lacrosse, I had two sets of seniors I could look up to and those are girls I really love and were my big sisters. I still reach out to them today. Seeing how comforting they were to me when I was a freshman really helped me want to help any freshman when I was a senior and make sure they had a really good experience. At the end of the day, it’s about your teammates and making it a good environment. It’s so much better when you have a good dynamic together.”

Gargan’s career was not without its challenges, however. As a sophomore, she suffered a torn MCL, and also lost that season due to the Covid-19 outbreak. She scored 60 goals as a freshman, returned as a junior to score 27 more, and capped her career with 54 tallies this spring to finish with 141 goals and 17 assists.

“Coming in as a freshman, I was very nervous because it was a new school, everything’s changing, I didn’t know how the team was and there were so many older girls. And hearing about our head coach my freshman year, Melissa Williams, it freaked me out a little bit because she seemed so strict with everything. But I took it strictly because I wanted to be able to play on varsity. Everything she said I took to heart and I tried to soak up the experience. I think lacrosse being so tough freshman year prompted me to train even harder. It made me understand what times I needed on runs and what level I was supposed to be at each year,” Gargan said. “Freshman year was my best year of lacrosse. I got MVP at the end of the season, and everything felt like a dream because I was accomplishing everything I wanted to. I wanted to make a name for myself. Sophomore year I tore my MCL, but looking back I think that was a good thing because it taught me how to get through something that was very difficult. It taught me how much I loved lacrosse. I wanted to work so much harder. While I

South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Aside from being a Division I lacrosse recruit, Gargan was one of the top field hockey defenders in the Cape-Atlantic League. was laying in bed I just wanted to be out there playing. That really lit a fire under me.”

Troster said what struck her about Gargan was that everything seemed to come easily to her. She moved with grace and fluidity on the field, and also had instincts that belied her lack of experience in the sport, which she only started playing in middle school.

“She’s very natural and has great instincts. She knows the spaces she needs to be in. She almost sometimes comes out of nowhere. Nothing she does looks like it’s a struggle or difficult for her. In that sweeper position you’re kind of a rover and the last line of defense in front of the goalie, so to have the level of poise she had — she knew when she needed to step up, when she needed to hold her ground, and those are very difficult things to learn, especially not having played the sport that long. Those can be difficult decisions to make, but she made them well all the time,” Troster said. “A lot of times good defenders get overlooked, especially in field hockey. Even in soccer, you hear all about the goal scorers and they never mention the person who steps up out of the defensive backfield and carries the ball 50 yards down the field and passes to the person who scores.

I think it happens a lot for defenders. But her range and reach — that was really hard to combat as an attacking player. She has a wingspan that is about a foot longer than most. She covers a lot of ground.”

Gargan was pretty matter-of-fact when it came to her emotions about her high school career coming

to an end. Time waits for no one, and she said she’s ready to move on to the next phase of her life at Central Michigan.

“Senior year was a fun year. I was finishing off my high school career and I wanted to finish on a happy note. I pushed myself really hard, but at the end of the day it was my final season and I just wanted to cherish those moments with my friends and teammates before going off to college,” she said. “It’s surreal to think it’s over now. Graduation was crazy; it’s something you can’t really prepare for, it just happens. I’m excited for the next chapter in my life though. I’ll still have all my friends and coaches in EHT who I know will have my back even though I’ll be in Michigan.

I’ll be far away, but I’ll always have that support.

High school did go by pretty quickly. Going through covid and having a lot of it online seemed to speed up the process, but I feel like my high school career was something I’ll never forget.

“I’m definitely excited. I can’t wait to meet my new teammates and play at the next level, and just better myself,” Gargan added. “It’s going to be hard being so far away, but I know I can do it because of all the support from my parents and friends. You take the good with the bad. Even though I’ll be far away, I’m so grateful that I can play at the Division I level.”

Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays

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LACROSSE

South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Ocean City’s Ally Leeds, left, and Olivia Vanesko, second from right, got to face their respective step-sisters, Holy Spirit’s Maddie Abbott, second from left, and Sienna Calhoun in the inaugural Cape-Atlantic League Tournament championship game in May.

Rivals, sisters

Lacrosse players from Ocean City, Holy Spirit proving that blended families can be successful

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer he Cape-Atlantic League Tournament, held on May 17 at Stockton University, was one of the more unique girls lacrosse games that South Jersey fans will ever see. First, because it was the first tournament championship game in league history. (The CAL added league tournaments in baseball, softball and lacrosse this spring.)

But even more than that, there were a couple of families who had their rooting loyalties tested. Sisters — well, in a manner of speaking — were doing battle for the first time in their careers as Ocean City took on Holy Spirit with the championship on

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the line.

It was a game that featured two pair of step-sisters going at it, as Olivia Vanesko and Ally Leeds of Ocean City were squaring off against Sienna Calhoun and Maddie Abbott of Holy Spirit. Vanesko and Calhoun are step-sisters, as are Leeds and Abbott.

“We’ve never gone to the same school. We grew up in different towns and went to different schools, played in different youth programs. So it was really fun to play against her (in the CAL Tournament championship game) because we really never have,” said Vanesko, a senior captain for the Red Raiders.

“The second the game ended, the first thing I wanted to do was give her a hug because at the end of the

day, family is my first team.”

Vanesko and Calhoun have been step-sisters for about eight years now. Calhoun remembers revering Olivia when she was a young child, but it took Vanesko a little longer to warm up to the idea of being involved in a blended family. Olivia’s mom married Calhoun’s father, Dan, who is Ocean City’s wrestling coach. Olivia has an older brother, Jackson, a former standout baseball player at St. Augustine Prep, and younger sister Atlee. Sienna brought along two brothers into the fold for a total of six step-siblings.

“I was young. When they first got together it was probably about two years after my parents got divorced. I looked up to Liv immediately and she was very, like, ‘get away from me, I don’t want to deal with you.’ But, she warmed up and we’re good now.

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SISTERS, From Page 18 “I love Liv. I literally lean on her for everything and she’s been a really big part of my life. I don’t have any sisters, so having an older sister in my life is really important. She’s my best friend.”

Vanesko said it wasn’t easy learning how to be part of a blended family like that. Even with as common as that situation is in this day and age as opposed to maybe 20 or 30 years ago, it’s still a difficult transition for kids in grade school, like she was at the time her parents got divorced.

“It definitely was (a difficult transition) because when you’re younger you’re not as welcoming to new people in your life, so it took a while,” Vanesko remembers. “I didn’t welcome them at all. But after a couple of months, me and Sienna really started getting along and she got along with my younger sister, too. We had a really good bond and I realized this was going to be a really good thing in my life.

Ocean City senior Ally Leeds, left, and Holy Spirit junior Maddie Abbott both were captains and big-time performers for their respective teams this season.

Leeds finished with 18 goals and 15 assists for the Red Raiders while Abbott was the Spartans’ leading scorer with 67 goals.

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“I know a lot of people in Ocean City from my grade and they are all friends with her, so we all hang out. We do a lot together. It’s great because I have somebody to do my hair now — just all those random things you can do with a sister. I love that we are really close-knit. They are my family and I lean on them for everything, and that’s the best part about having a blended family.”

Sienna Calhoun, Holy Spirit sophomore (on step-sister Olivia Vanesko of Ocean City)

Abbott, a junior captain for Holy Spirit, has similar memories of when her family became blended.

“At first, we didn’t get along and there was some fighting the first couple of months. But our parents threatened us and said we weren’t going to be allowed to see each other for a month if we kept fighting, so we realized we had to shape up. After that, it was smooth sailing from there and everything is great now,” said Abbott, who scored 67 goals this season, including one in the Spartans’ 16-4 loss to Ocean City

in the CAL championship game. “Nobody really thinks it’s an odd situation.

I see it as I have two extra siblings I get to hang out with all the time and be with on the weekends. They are two extra people I have in my life for emotional support with whatever I’m going through.”

Ironically, the two pair of step-siblings had never faced each other as members of their respective high school programs before this year’s league title game. All of them had the 2020 season wiped out due to Covid-19, and Abbott

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was out most of last year with a knee injury. Calhoun is just a sophomore, so this year was her first real taste of varsity lacrosse. Calhoun and Abbot played well in the game for Spirit, while Leeds scored two goals and had an assist and Vanesko had a goal and two assists.

“With my step-sister going off to college next year and having just one chance to play against her, it was a great opportunity. I loved it,” Abbott said after the game.

Leeds said she has a different perspective now than she did when she was younger when it comes to how and why her parents split up. It took her growing up and becoming a young adult to understand the intricacies of adult and marital relationships, she said.

“My parents fought a lot, but I was so young so I never really thought much about it. Looking back, I feel like

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South Jersey Glory Days photo/Sully Sienna Calhoun, a sophomore at Holy Spirit, has only brothers so she was thrilled when she gained a step-sister in Ocean City’s Olivia Vanesko.

SISTERS, From Page 22 it was the mature option by my parents to split up. When I was younger it was upsetting, but now, looking back, nobody wants to stay in an unhappy marriage,” Leeds explained. “My parents are still close and I’m lucky that I can have them sit together at all my games; my step-mom and my mom are friends, so it’s lucky that it’s a really happy environment that I’m in now. You don’t always see that. We all have a lot of fun and hang out a lot. It’s always an adventure with my family.

“I think the biggest challenge is just realizing there is more to life than just me and my brother. That was kind of hard for both me and my brother going into this because we were our dad’s only thing, and now we’re shared,” she continued. “But the best thing about it is I now have four more best friends, so I have no complaints at all. And I love my step-mom.”

All four athletes said they believe the good has certainly outweighed the bad when it comes to their blended families. They love having the opportunity to grow close to people who they may only have had a passing relationship with had their respective parents not gotten together.

“I know a lot of people in Ocean City from my grade and they are all friends with her, so we all hang out. We do a lot together. It’s great because I have somebody to do my hair now — just all those random things you can do with a sister,” Calhoun said. “I love that we are really close-knit. They are my family and I lean on them for everything, and that’s the best part about having a blended family.”

“It was different because (Abbott) has three siblings and I have one, so now there are six of us. We have so much fun together. During the (Covid-19) quarantine, all we did was play lacrosse. It was exciting to get the chance to play against her (in the CAL

Final) because I never got the chance because of covid, she tore her ACL (last year) and I broke my ankle another year,” said Leeds, a senior who has been a step-sister of Abbott since she was about 12 years old. “It was hard because it was a crazy difference, but I’m grateful for it because it changed my life, and I’m hoping theirs, for the better. My life is so much better. Every time I go to my dad’s house we have so much fun together. They are all my best friends. I’m the oldest, and the youngest is four years younger than me, but it doesn’t matter the ages, we’re all friends.”

“I was young when (my parents split up). I have three younger siblings so I remember staying close to them, and I had other close family who got me through it,” Abbot remembers. “I knew it was probably for the better and I had two parents supporting me and I would have them throughout my life.”

So, what is the key to having success as a blended family?

“I would say the key to success for a blended family is communication.

We did not talk about anything, and when my parents first started dating we fought about everything and didn’t talk through any of our fights. But once we started talking through some of those fights everything started working out.

It has put a lot more maturity on me because as one of the older siblings I have to lead by example for my younger siblings and show them that our step-siblings are good people and we have to accept them and love them. And we do, we all love each other so much,” Abbott said. “The best part is just having a bunch of people to lean on. I know I have three younger siblings of my own I can count on, but there’s also two other people I can count on. I can go talk to them whenever and they understand all my problems, and that just puts ease in my life.”

Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays

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COLLEGE BASEBALL

A baseball odyssey Matt Rivera’s journey from Holy Spirit High to Ball State University has been anything but easy

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Staff Writer hen Matt Rivera was a baseball player at Holy Spirit High School, he dreamed — like many young men who showed the talent he possesses — of having a great college baseball career that would someday lead to a career where he gets paid to play the game he loves.

But baseball can be a humbling game. So can life.

Just go ask any 50-year-old about the what-ifs and all the shoulda, coulda, woulda times in their life.

Rivera never thought the college he chose would suddenly discontinue its baseball program. He never expected to get hit by a car and have his knee torn up.

He never would have believed he would end up in Muncie, Indiana — a manufacturing town 50 miles northeast of Indianapolis known for having the high school that lost to tiny Milan High in the 1954 Indiana state championship game chronicled in the movie “Hoosiers.”

He also never thought an at-bat in the South Jersey South Shore Baseball League, playing for his father, Belford, and the Egg Harbor City Knights, would change his life. Last summer, Ball State University head coach Rich Maloney traveled from Indiana to New Jersey to see a big, strong catcher he had heard about from one of his assistant coaches. A day’s worth of travel, by plane and car, had him watching a SJSSBL game, and watching Rivera tank a ball about 400 feet.

That was the moment Maloney knew he wanted Rivera to be a part of his program.

“We were hunting for another catcher in our system and my assistant did all the digging and said, ‘hey, coach, there’s a kid out there who sounds pretty intriguing.’ They had some conversations and there seemed to be some interest, so I went on a journey to go see him play because I thought it was so critical for our program,” Maloney explained. “It was quite a journey to go watch different catchers. I flew into

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Photo/BSU Photo Services Former Holy Spirit star Matt Rivera has been through a lot during his college baseball career, but feels he finally has found a home at Ball State.

Philadelphia, hopped in a car and drove to the Jersey Shore to watch him play in a (South Jersey South Shore Baseball League) game and the first thing he did was hit one about 400 feet. It was a massive rocket. I’ve been doing this a long time and this kid knew the head coach was coming to see him play. That’s pressure. To Matt’s credit, he answered the bell in a big way. I was very impressed.

“He came in here and he’s still working really hard to be a better defender. Obviously, at that position it’s critically important because defense is paramount.

But the thing that spoke the loudest for Matt is his bat,” coach Maloney added. “We had a time when we were struggling as a team hitting-wise, and Matt came in for a period of time, and for about 35 atbats he was just on fire. He carried our team at a time when we had to have it.”

Rivera graduated from Holy Spirit in 2018 and went on to play at La Salle University in Philadel-

phia. But his college career got off to a rocky start, as he was injured as a freshman and lost his entire sophomore season due to Covid-19.

“I was just crossing the street after study hall and I was struck by a vehicle. I was sent to the hospital and they said I had a lacerated liver and trauma in my right leg. They didn’t really know what was wrong with it. About a month went by, the swelling went down, I saw a doctor and got an MRI and they said I had torn my PCL and MCL in my right knee, which put me out for the remainder of the season and the majority of the fall,” Rivera said. “It was definitely life changing. That was a hard time because I didn’t have much playing time under my belt to try to find a new school. I was grateful that I was picked up by

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RIVERA, From Page 24 one of the better junior colleges in the Northeast in Harford (Md.).

So Rivera played junior college baseball last spring, and was hoping a good summer would catch the eye of somebody. The way he swung the bat certainly impressed Maloney, and Rivera ended up at Ball State.

“When he was in that really good streak he got a ton of walks. He did strike out way more than he needs to, but during that stretch when he was on fire he got some really big hits when we had to have them. And he had this uncanny ability during that stretch to lay off tough pitches. It was amazing. So, that potential is there. But he’s adapting to another new place, he comes all the way over here so he has to get used to the teammates, the school, being away from home this far — all these different things. But he’s handled himself well, and I think that will bode well for him

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our system and understanding how we do our business. We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of success for a long period of time, and he’s learning. His challenge will be consistency. If he can hit the ball with the barrel of the bat more consistently, he has a chance to be really good. What he does this summer in his development to continue to progress in that manner is going to be very important. If he can consistently barrel up baseballs, he’ll be in the lineup.”

Rivera had a solid year for Ball State, hitting .255 with three home runs, 26 RBIs, 14 runs scored and 22 walks in 98 at-bats while leading the Cardinals to a 40-19 record that included a berth in the Mid-American Conference championship game.

“In the beginning of last summer I had played about three weeks in the Northwoods League in Wisconsin, and that got Ball State interested in me, and from there I flew back and played in the South Jersey South Shore Baseball League. (Maloney) came to watch me

really wants,” said Rivera, a criminal justice major who has two years of eligibility remaining. “The guys on the team were very welcoming to me. The relationship everyone has on the team is probably the reason for the success we’ve had.”

Maloney said Rivera will get a chance to compete for more time as a catcher next season, and Rivera wants to continue to get his knee stronger so that he can handle the grind of that position at the college level.

“It’s been a bunch of ups and downs this season. When I got in there I started doing well, then I hit a little bit of a slow patch before getting back in the lineup again. You just have to keep performing any chance you get an opportunity. It’s great to be in a place where you feel appreciated and feel wanted,” Rivera said. “I have good days and bad days (with the knee). It’s been feeling pretty good the past year or so, I haven’t had many problems. There’s been some talk about me moving to the outfield, but that’s all up in the air. I just have to keep performing with the bat and hopefully that takes me where I want to go.”

“He has quite a story, and I think that’s part of the reason he’s had to adapt with the catching position,” Maloney said. “One of the challenges he faces is because of that accident. It definitely has had some affect on his mobility, but he’s worked really, really hard at it, and he’s getting better.

“We have several guys who will be moving on next year and he needs to seize that moment. And we’d love nothing more than for him to do that. I hope he develops that consistency because there is a lot of pop in that bat.

Hopefully he can bring that out in a big way because that would be a positive for him and our program,” Maloney

“My team, I call them ‘dirtbags.’ We have a boatload of guys who carry that moniker and Matt fits right into that because of what he’s been through. He’s been a great teammate. For a period of time he played a significant role, and in other times he’s had to wait in the wings. But he’s kept going forward and has made a tremendous contribution to our success this year. I think that grit and that perseverance that he’s already experienced in his life has been an asset for him, and to our ball club.”

Rich Maloney Ball State University head baseball coach

moving forward,” Maloney said. “The pop in his bat is there. Winning is consistency, and part of the journey for any player is developing that consistency.

Right now he’s kind of like a first-year player. He’s not a first-year player because of his age, but he’s a first-year player for me. He’s working through

play there. I wasn’t really nervous. I don’t get nervous in those types of situations, I just try to control what I can control, and just play how I’ve always played. Coach flying out to see me play in the summer said a lot about their program and how much he cares about his players and selects the players he

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added. “One of the things I try to teach him is that sometimes he over-swings.

He just has to hit the barrel. He’s so strong that if he just hits the barrel, it’s loud. But when you over-swing your body flies out and you pull off, and you swing and miss. I think when he learns to trust his strength he’ll make more consistent contact. And when he does, his game will be loud. That’s going to be a lot of fun to watch. He has light-tower power. He’s a physical kid who has some juice in his bat, no doubt about it.”

Rivera said that he has come a long way since donning the Navy-and-gold of Holy Spirit. He’s grown not only as a baseball player, but as a student and young man as well.

“I feel like these past two years I’ve learned a lot. I’ve grown my knowledge of the game and I’ve gotten to know myself as a player more. That gives me a lot more confidence in myself. I usually tend to be pretty hard on myself, but you also have to have confidence, and I feel like I have that,” he said. “It’s good to know I’m part of a very good program, a winning program with a coach who has more than 900 wins.”

Maloney said that even though Rivera is a Jersey Shore boy, he seems to fit right in out in the Midwest. And he’s certainly endeared himself to his teammates and the Ball State baseball program.

“My team, I call them ‘dirtbags.’ We have a boatload of guys who carry that moniker and Matt fits right into that because of what he’s been through. He’s been a great teammate. For a period of time he played a significant role, and in other times he’s had to wait in the wings. But he’s kept going forward and has made a tremendous contribution to our success this year. I think that grit and that perseverance that he’s already experienced in his life has been an asset for him, and to our ball club,” Maloney said. “He’s a really funny guy. I enjoy him immensely. He has a quiet swagger to him. I love the kid. He has a super smile and a great personality.

I’m learning more about him and I’m enjoying that. He’s a great kid.”

Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays

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South Jersey Glory Days photos/Sully