By Andy Loigu

The Warren Hills baseball team and Hackettstown softball team have advanced to the pre-quarterfinal round of their respective Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex tournaments and face challenging competition on the road in Wednesday’s games.

The 17th seeded Blue Streaks won at 12th seed Hackettstown in baseball on Saturday by a 4-2 score, while the Hackettstown Tigers (16 seed) shutout 13th seed South Hunterdon in softball by a 5-0 tally. The Blue Streaks will go to Hardyston to face the fifth seeded Wallkill Valley Rangers, while the Hackettstown softball squad visits fourth seed North Hunterdon in Annandale.

Warren Hills was eliminated from the softball tournament at Pope John in Sparta, losing a tough one, 4-3.

PJ Hanisak was the King of Swing for the Blue Streaks at Hackettstown, going 2-for-2 with a homer and three RBI. A senior, Hanisak is one of the top catchers in the area. Senior third baseman Tommy Moore, and outfielders Garrett Koch (a junior) and Jake Smith (a sophomore) hope to give the Streaks a deep lineup that can give underdog Warren Hills a shot at its first title in this tournament since 2005. Ryan Cruts of Warren Hills was named the Most Valuable Player of the Hunterdon/Warren Tournament that year, after the Blue Streaks defeated North Hunterdon 5-2 in the final at Diamond Nation in Flemington.

Sussex County joined the Hunterdon/Warren tournaments party in 2010.

Hackettstown has yet to win the softball championship, but improving sophomore pitcher Alyssa Bizzarro gives them a chance this year, if she can keep pitching the way she did on Saturday when she fired a five-hit shutout. She also wielded a thunderous bat, going 3-for-4 and scoring twice. She has taken over in the pitcher’s circle for standout performer Nicole Carter, who led the Tigers to the program’s first ever sectional championship last spring in North Jersey Section Two Group Two. Under coach Christina Sykora, who was awarded the Female Athlete of the Year honor by the Warren Reporter in 2007 in her days as a Warren Hills student, the Tigers are well schooled in the fundamentals of the game and that can take them a long way.

“We have a young team with big shoes to fill,” Sykora said, “but they are eager and take the field with a lot of fire and desire.”

Also contributing offensively for the Tigers were Carly Mahal (3-for-3), Megan Doyle and Marissa Caputo. Doyle and Caputo each got a hit and scored a run.

Other key performers for the Tigers include the unsinkable Molly O’Brien in centerfield, senior catcher Samantha Mandas, and junior shortstop Alivia Duran.

Area softball teams have had their share of success in this tournament.

Warren Hills reached the final in 2012, but had the misfortune of facing the state’s best pitcher, Ally Frei of High Point, who won her second tournament MVP award.

The Blue Streaks won the Hunterdon/Warren Tournament in 1999, when MVP Becky Bates pitched a shutout against a solid Delaware Valley squad in the final in Readington.

Belvidere was the champion in 1992, before officials began naming a Most Valuable Player honoree. That is a major accomplishment for a small school, to win a tournament which includes schools of all sizes, big and small. Starting in 2000, Group Four powerhouse Hunterdon Central won the Hunterdon/Warren softball championship for 11 of 12 seasons before High Point captured its 2012 H/W/S crown.

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