Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

5/23/2008 - Bello makes right call

The New York metropolitan area has always been known for its quirky and wacky weathermen like Mr. “G”, Al Roker, Williard Scott, and my own personal favorite from years gone by, Lloyd Lindsay Young on WWOR Channel 9.

Remember him? The manic Young would constantly move and jump around like he fell into a vat of coffee. And he would open his segment with an extended HE-LLL-OOO to whichever town wrote in asking for a greeting. My favorite was when he said hello to Andover, and kept repeating, Andover, Andover and Andover.

Anyway, by now you are probably asking what does this all mean, if you haven’t stopped reading already. Well, you can now add Vinnie Bello of Pope John to that list of weatherman.

No, the vice principal and outstanding baseball coach at Pope John has not given up his gigs at the Sparta school, but he worked the Doppler Radar and kept on top of the weather last weekend during the Sussex County Baseball Coaches Association Tournament at Skylands Park like he was preparing for a shuttle launch.

Bello, who helped start the tourney four years ago and is the tourney’s director, battled Mother Nature just like he did pitchers during his days as a slugger for Marist High School in lovely Bayonne.

Rain became an issue Friday and wiped out the final quarterfinal clash between No. 4 Lenape Valley and No. 5 Vernon. The game was set to be played Saturday at 11 a.m., but the outfield at Skylands Park was too wet and the game was delayed for two-plus hours.

Bello worked the phone and kept tabs on the weather as players from Vernon and Lenape did their best to wring out the field, especially in right. Vernon AD Bill Edelman, who is coming off knee surgery, was right in the mix trying to dry out the field. It was refreshing to see how teams that are rivals on the field, come together for a common cause.

It just shows how close the schools in the Sussex County Interscholastic League are and it will be a shame when the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association blows up all the conferences in North Jersey in the name of realignment.

But I digress. Finally when the field was playable, Lenape Valley posted a 5-4 win over the Vikings, which included a homer to left by Lenape’s outstanding shortstop Mike Groome. The game was the first of an entertaining triple-header at the ballpark.

Sparta won the second game by beating Jefferson 9-7 in a wild semifinal clash, while Pope John advanced to the final by topping a sluggish Lenape Valley squad 8-5. Both games were played in the rain for the most part, but the weather was never a factor.

It was in between games that Bello put his weather prognostication hat on and made a bold call. He moved Sunday’s final up to 11 a.m. in anticipation of bad weather later in the day. The final was originally set for 2 p.m.

Bello’s move paid off big time. Pope John was able to top its crosstown rival, Sparta, 7-3 as the rain came down steadily from the fourth inning on. Despite the poor weather, the Lions capped a great SCIL season in which they won their first regular-season title in 15 years and won their first Coaches Tourney crown as well.

As everyone filed out of Skylands Park, I walked out to the parking lot with Bello and he looked at me with a wide grin and he said in his distinctive Hudson County accent, “We made the right call, huh?”

You certainly did, Vinnie. But don’t give up your day jobs just yet.

MAY MADNESS-- The state tournament started this week in all sports, but it was softball that had many SCIL observers giddy with excitement. Eight of the 10 teams in the SCIL made the states, while Sussex Tech also earned a bid, giving the Mugs Media area an amazing nine teams in the postseason tourney.

It has been a long time since that has happened, and on paper, several teams looked like they were primed for deep runs into the state tournament. But it was not to be. In a classic good news, bad news scenario, the area teams did not fare too well.

Yes, having nine in the tourney was great, but in just one day, only three teams were left standing after “Bloody Wednesday”. Jefferson, Sparta, High Point, Hopatcong, Wallkill Valley and Sussex Tech were all bounced in the first round, leaving Kittatinny, Pope John and upstart Newton left holding the banner for the area teams.

Jefferson lost to a fine West Milford team as did High Point in Paramus in North 1, Group 3, while Sussex Tech gave a valiant effort in its loss to New Milford in North 1, Group 1. But the other clubs lost in heartbreaking fashion.

Sparta fell to Northern Highlands 5-2 in extra innings, while Wallkill Valley fell to River Dell 5-4 in the seventh and Hopatcong dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker to Pascack Valley.

But thanks to Newton and the bat of Kittatinny’s Sara Stocklinski, the area teams were not shut out. The 12^th-seeded Braves, the lowest seed in North 1, Group 2, proved they belonged in impressive fashion and bumped off No. 5 Dumont 6-1 and fourth-seeded Indian Hills 6-2 on the road to gain a spot in the section semifinals for the first time in 20-plus years.

Newton (11-12) will take its show on the road again Tuesday when it faces No.8 Hawthorne (18-7), which stunned top-seeded Tenafly to advance. The Bears will play in the Passaic County final Saturday against West Milford.

In last week’s blog I referred to the Braves as Cinderella because they made the states by playing a game right before the midnight cutoff date to qualify for the state tourney, not because they are a lucky team on a roll. Far from it. The Braves are for real and are a good team and the rest of the state is finding out real fast what the teams in the SCIL already knew.

Behind the outstanding pitching of Chelsea Homa, the Braves have as good as of a chance of anyone left in the section to win the crown. And if they do, they might go down as the lowest seed ever to win a section crown.

Now for Kittatinny. The Cougars, who shared the SCIL crown with Jefferson, needed a clutch two-out, two-run dinger from Stocklinski to advance against Pascack Valley, 8-6. The win gave the Cougars a little bit of revenge against Pascack coach Craig Nielsen, who led the Pascack football team to a win over the Cougars last fall in the states.

Kittatinny, the No. 3 seed, will see a familiar foe Tuesday when it travels to Pompton Plains to face No. 2 Pequannock (22-3) in the other semifinal. Kittatinny fell to the Panthers and their outstanding pitcher Meg Brain, 4-0, earlier this season at Pequannock’s tourney.

Pope John (16-7), the No. 8 seed, has yet to play in the Non-Public North A tourney and will host No. 9 Immaculata today at 4 p.m. If the Lions win they will face No. 2 Morris Catholic, which beat the Lions twice this year in close games.

So here is hoping that Newton and Kittatinny continue their winning ways and face off in the section final. It would be a fitting tribute to the great softball that was played all season in the SCIL and would most certainly salvage what has been a rough go in the state tourney thus far for the local teams.

That’s it for now, have a safe and happy Memorial Day and I’ll see you on the sidelines.

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Sussex County Sports Blog

By Dan Cleary

5/23/2008 - Bello makes right call