Sports Recaps: All Teams Pick up Wins to Open Season

With a new found rival in Mahwah, the River Dell Lady Hawks (1-0) softball team finally opened their 2011 season with a stunning 10-0 shutout of the Lady T-Birds. Senior pitcher Chloe DeSanctis anchored RiverDell on the mound for five innings until the mercy rule was implemented.

From behind the plate, Stephanie Caracozza, Jo Marie Massaro and Sara Recanati came up with big hits to bring runners in. River Dell takes on the Indian Hills Lady Braves at 4pm in Oakland this afternoon.

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In another big rival match-up, the Bergen Catholic Crusaders (1-1) traveled to their home turf at Overpeck Park against the Paramus Catholic Paladins. In a pitcher's duel, Mike Sutherland (BC) and Joe Zito (PC) worked the count for seven long innings before Sutherland came out on top for a close 8-6 victory. 

BC's Toby Schwartz nailed in a homer while Joe Scancarella hammered in an RBI.  The Crusaders are at Overpeck Park on Thursday, 4pm against Chris Carroll and the Westwood Cardinals.

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The Crusaders tennis team shut out Paramus Catholic 5-0 winning all singles and doubles matches. Brian Balico (singles) won his two matches, 6-0, 6-1 while Brad Black (singles) gave the Crusaders a 3-0 lead after shutting out Paul Popa twice, 6-0.

In doubles Matt Liguori and Alex Hart won their first match but lost the second to cause the need for a third match. The duo went ahead and won the final match. Dan Gomez and Chris Chi only needed two matches to secure the shut out win for the Crusaders.

BC is home on Thursday against arch rival Don Bosco, 4pm.

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River Dell had to work for hits 3-2 win over Mahwah on the tennis court as the entire deciding match came down between doubles Mike Albanese and George Kim (RD) and Quasin Javed and Andrew Byun (Mahwah). But Albanese and Kim came out on top, 6-3, 6-2 to secure the win.

The Thunderbirds put up a fight beginning in singles as Dzan Harba (RD) took the first match 6-1, but Evan Pilaar caused an upset winning the second match 6-1. The final match went to Harba in a close 7-6 win. Joyt Sawhney (Mahwah) evened the score with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 match over James Park, but Andrew Bortnick (RD) won the final singles match-up to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.

Mahwah's Alex Mason and Joseph Ahn tied the game in doubles leaving everything to be decided in the final match. 

River Dell is home today, 4pm against the Paramus Spartans.

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In the third year of varsity lacrosse at River Dell, the Lady Hawks  (1-0) came charging towards the cage for a 12-5 victory over the Dwight Englewood Maroon Raiders. River Dell took a 4-2 lead after the first half and and never looked back during their 8-3 run in the second.

Nadia Bousada netted four goals while Julia Boccanfuso had a hat trick. Emily Wong picked up two goals followed by a goal apiece from Tori Schettino, Emily Lawler and Kristen Hartwick.

The Lady Hawks are away on Wednesday, 4:15pm at Northern Valley Demarest.

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With several underclassmen taking to the tee, the Bergen Catholic Crusaders placed first in the Garden State Cup, Blue Heron Pines West, in Galloway Township. Bergen Catholic had a final score of 302, just beating out Peddie who ended with a 305 score.

Harrison Shih finished second in the individual category with 71; Matt Love came in fifth, 75; Erick Alonso had 78 points for an eighth place finish; and Sean O'Neill rounded out the top 10 with 78 points.

Bergen Catholic is at the Hackensack Golf Club, 3pm this afternoon against Don Bosco.

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River Dell boys golf, led by Tommy Barnes (36) and Scott Kim (37) led the Hawks to victory at Overpeck Park with a 155 to Indian Hills 167.

The Hawks are away on Wednesday, 4pm against Ramsey High School.

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Junior outside hitter Brendan McCullagh recorded 13 kills to lead Bergen Catholic past Bergen Tech, 25-15, 25-18. Bryan Younghans had 13 assists and Hacik Arslanolu finished with 5 digs. The Crusaders will next look to spike their arch rival Don Bosco on Wednesday, 5:30pm in Ramsey.