Manville High School has some amazing athletes participating in their programs and one team that contributes to the ever-present “Mustang Pride” is Manville’s very own, Manville High School Softball Team. Beginning their season in late March and continuing through to the end of May, softball has been a part of Manville High School for many, many years.

This year’s 2018 softball team has consisted of 23-27 players from the beginning, however in the end there were 16-18 players remaining, with nine playing on the JV, otherwise known as Junior Varsity level. Led by Coach Acebo, Coach DeNapoli, Coach Schungrund and Coach Fedor, the ladies focused on strategic plays, while training or practicing in order to win.

With 7 wins and 11 losses. The MHS Softball team did their best at getting good catches along with trick hits. I spoke with three of the softball teams, 2020 graduating sophomores, Maricruz Vasquez, Harley Mazzarello and Brianna Rivera, Maricruz plays center field, while Brianna is catcher and Harley is pitcher.

They describe how this season of softball as, “like a rollercoaster,” Maricruz describes, “Some games were good in the beginning, while others were very hard and bad in the end; it was a really good season though, just with ups and downs.” Some players mentioned how the season turned and twisted, while others saw the good and bad within the games. Brianna stated, “It (the season) went pretty well, even with less girls since some decide to quit or had major injuries. Overall we all had fun.”

“The team was dependable, while focusing on the opponents. For instance, Plainfield was very hard team, while Warren Tech was easy to beat. We tried our best to bring everything that we had to each game,” Harley described, while also summarizing on what the teams were like.

Head coach, Pat DeNapoli was interviewed on how this years’ softball team was doing. When asked what his hope for the upcoming years for the girl’s softball team is, He replied, “Well, we always go for key high expectations, we have 15 wins in the last two seasons. Even though we have some downs, for example the injuries of some of our female athletes like Roxy Sonnenberg and Sammy Zuza. However we need the incoming freshmen as good team players, while focusing on individual successes, and the goal of to learn to play as a team.”

With the 2018 softball season already closed, we congratulate every single softball player on the Manville High School Softball team, the coaches and everyone who participated in this year’s season. We hope with the newcomers they can succeed next year and be successful at winning their games. Stay Strong Lady Mustangs!