Lady Raiders Look to Bright Future Despite State Tournament Loss

The Lady Raiders varsity softball team improved dramatically this past season, but you can't tell on the scoreboard after they had the misfortune of playing the top team in Union County the past two games, first in the Union County Tournament, and Wednesday in the first round of the state tournament.

Cranford defeated Scotch Plains-Fanwood 16-1 and 11-0 in those two games, but that experience, and the fact that most everyone will be back next season, has the Raiders thinking of bigger things in the future.

"This was a great season compared to last year," said junior Courtney Zyla. "With a new coach, we showed improvement big time and we're doing a lot better as a team, building skills."

One of the bright spots Wednesday afternoon was that Scotch Plains did get the ball into play against Cranford freshman Julie Siragusa, a feat not to be overlooked based on the lefthander's outstanding record this year.

"For some reason, we seem to hit her very well," said head coach Jess Hulnik. "Back in the beginning when we played them, we put the ball in play quite a bit. We put the ball in play very well today. We just hit it right at people. I thought we did a real good job. They just field very, very well. They're a good solid team."

The Cougars are headed once again to the Union County final where they'll take on Governor Livingston on Saturday. Hulnik holds a lot of respect for them, but she's confident her squad will get their turn sooner than later.

"They're a very patient team at the plate and it just came back to hurt us a little bit," she said. "They're one of the best teams in the state, they're going to go well into the state tournament and I do think there is going to be a day when we can compete with these guys. I don't think we're far from it. We just need some consistency, which I've been saying all season. Hopefully, we can get there the next couple of years."

SP-F played one of the toughest schedules in the county this season, gaining experience they know will help them down the road.

"It's a learning experience," Zyla said. "We all need to learn to work together, which we are doing, focusing, doing pretty well with. It just means we're going to have a better future and me, being a senior next year, having more freshmen come up, most likely, we're gonna do awesome, because I feel a bunch of them are going to do great. Being freshmen on varsity, we're working pretty well to get there, knowing that they're going to do better and better each year. So eventually, when all of us leave, we still have players."

"There's obviously been some frustrating moments, but you look for good things," Hulnik noted. "We hit the ball well today, There's been days when we fielded well. There's been days when we've pitched well. Eventually we're going to put all three together, and we have a few times this year. Overall, we played a fairly tough schedule. You look at our schedule, in terms of what might be considered a cupcake team, we've only had about three or four. We've had to show up to play every single day. We're not getting eight teams that you're going to 10 or 15-run in five innings. We didn't have that, so we had to come out to play every day and I think that's an advantage with the new conferences. You have to step up every day."

Heading to the off-season, the players have a positive attitude and their coach is a believer as well.

"Some work needs to be done in the off-season, but I do think there's a lot of talent out here, and I think they're going to settle in," Hulnik said. "I don't think it will be too long before we're in every single game with every single team we play."