By Holden Mostofsky<\/p>\n
Correspondent<\/p>\n
With a two-time state champion and a pair of state runner-ups this season, Lackawanna League softball ranks among the best in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
That softball will be on display as many of the top senior players from teams in the Lackawanna League play one final time in their high school careers in the Field of Dreams All-Star Game. Sponsored by Lackawanna County, in partnership with the Lackawanna County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Bill Howerton Strike Out Cancer Initiative and the University of Scranton, the game is Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the University of Scranton\u2019s Magis Field.<\/p>\n
Nineteen of Lackawanna League\u2019s 24 schools are represented. Teams are broken up based on league rivalries.<\/p>\n
Players from Abington Heights, Forest City, Mid Valley, North Pocono, Scranton Prep, Scranton, West Scranton, Western Wayne and Wallenpaupack will play for the White Team. The Purple Team will comprise players from Dunmore, Elk Lake, Holy Cross, Old Forge, Carbondale Area, Montrose, Mountain View, Riverside, Lackawanna Trail and Lakeland.<\/p>\n
First-year West Scranton coach John Connor will coach the White Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it means a lot to all the girls around the area to get to see the top talent come together and try to put on a show for the area, and to coach this team is a huge honor,\u201d Connor said. \u201cAny PA softball, especially the Lackawanna League, is some of the best softball in the state this year. We had four teams in the semifinals, three teams playing for a state championship. It\u2019s a great area for softball, and to get some of the top seniors in the area on one team and have the honor to coach them is a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n
Connor believes the event is a great tradition and wants to see it continue so girls in the future have the same opportunity.<\/p>\n
Besides getting to coach three of his players \u2014 Mia Tallo, Brianna Connor and Julia Farkaly \u2014 one final time, he also gets to coach two players from Abington Heights\u2019 PIAA Class 5A runner-up team in Avery Venesky and Isabella DeRiggi.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just excited to coach all the girls, really,\u201d Connor said.<\/p>\n
Comprising the rest of the White Team\u2019s roster are Mia Eccles from Forest City; Abby Mackey and Natalie Hricenak from Mid Valley; Amelia Bell and Olivia Charles from North Pocono; Abigail Wilce from Scranton Prep; Izzy Kaub from Scranton; Hannah DeStefano and Khloe Mistishin from Western Wayne; and Alexa Laing, Adrianna Milutinovic and Lily Mancio from Wallenpaupack.<\/p>\n
That much talent on the roster poses a challenge for Connor.<\/p>\n
\u201cManaging playing time is probably the biggest challenge because everybody that\u2019s on the team deserves to be on the field the entire game,\u201d Connor said. \u201cBut when you have a roster like this, you don\u2019t have that privilege. That\u2019s the biggest challenge, I think, is trying to spread the wealth a little.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another first-year head coach, Dunmore\u2019s Sarah Cantarella, will lead the Purple Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a really exciting event,\u201d Cantarella said. \u201cThe girls play against each other so frequently, so for them to have an opportunity to play together, and so many of them are friends, so to play with their friends from other schools, it\u2019s great for them, and it usually draws a pretty good crowd because all the underclassmen are excited to go see them play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cantarella is excited to have the opportunity to coach and bring more recognition to softball.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my first year as a head coach in the league, and I want to try to continue to grow the game and help others get involved, and I am really grateful for this event,\u201d Cantarella said.<\/p>\n
One reason this game means so much to Cantarella is that she is a former Dunmore player, and wants to use what she has learned in the sport to help develop younger players.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, to be able to give back to where you came from is always really important,\u201d Cantarella said. \u201cDunmore helped shape me into the player and person that I was and am today, so just to be able to help others do the same thing, and hopefully in a few years some of these girls will be giving back in their own way, and maybe even coaching their all-star game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Connor, Cantarella will coach two players from a state finalist: Ava Schmidt and Peyton Graboske of Holy Cross, which was the runner-up in Class 1A. The pitcher-catcher duo will have one more outing together after an impressive season.<\/p>\n
Cantarella will also coach two of her own seniors from Dunmore, Rachel Walsh and Jackie Brown.<\/p>\n
Also on the Purple roster are Brynn Warriner and Celeste Clark from Elk Lake; Kate O\u2019Hearn, Juliette DeStefano, Arianna Davitt and Lilianna Lenceski from Old Forge; Rori Esgro, Maureen Newcomb and Riley Pietrowski from Carbondale Area; Addison Kilmer from Mountain View; Cassidy Merrifield from Riverside; Kate Jones and Kaylei VanDewark from Lackawanna Trail; and Olivia Cunningham and Olivia Lach from Lakeland.<\/p>\n
Although Cantarella wants to win the game, she believes it is important to simply show support to the talented players participating in the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember for them, too, that it is wrapping up their career and they\u2019re getting to do it with people who they\u2019ve never necessarily competed with, and I think, although obviously we would like to win, the goal is to definitely have fun and let them just show off what they can do and support them in that role,\u201d Cantarella said. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult because you don\u2019t know all of the girls super well, but we\u2019re expanding who\u2019s coaching, it\u2019s not just me and my staff, but Joe Ross and some of his staff are going to come and coach with us. So, having Holy Cross\u2019 coaches helps us make some connection.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the game will only have one victor, both coaches want people to recognize the talent that will be showcased.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s some of the best softball in the state, if not the best, especially this year,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope people really, really can understand that and appreciate it for what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cantarella added that she hopes people see \u201chow talented softball in this area is, and how the game is growing, and that the Lackawanna League really produces great athletes who can compete at all levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rosters<\/p>\n
Team Purple:\u00a0Coach Sarah Cantarella, Dunmore; Peyton Graboske (0), Holy Cross; Rachel Walsh (3), Dunmore; Arianna Davitt (5), Old Forge; Juliette DeStefano (6), Old Forge; Celeste Clark (8), Elk Lake; Olivia Cunningham (10), Lakeland; Jackie Brown (11), Dunmore; Cassidy Merrifield (15), Riverside; Riley Pietrowski (16), Carbondale Area; Addison Kilmer (20), Mountain View; Lilianna Lenceski (22), Old Forge; Kaylei VanDewark (23), Lackawanna Trail; Maureen Newcomb (24), Carbondale Area; Rori Esgro (25), Carbondale Area; Brynn Warriner (26), Elk Lake; Kate O\u2019Hearn (31), Old Forge; Kate Jones (35), Lackawanna Trail; Olivia Lach (55), Lakeland; Ava Schmidt (99), Holy Cross.<\/p>\n
Team White:\u00a0Coach: John Connor, West Scranton; Avery Venesky (2), Abington Heights; Lily Mancino (3), Wallenpaupack; Mia Tallo (5), West Scranton; Isabella DeRiggi (7), Abington Heights; Abby Mackey (8), Mid Valley; Brianna Connor (9), West Scranton; Izzy Kaub (15), Scranton; Alexa Laing (17), Wallenpaupack; Adrianna Milutinovic (20), Wallenpaupack; Abigail Wilce (21), Scranton Prep; Mia Eccles (22), Forest City; Natalie Hricenak (25), Mid Valley; Julia Farkaly (26), West Scranton; Amelia Bell (27), North Pocono; Olivia Charles (32), North Pocono; Khloe Mistishin (42), Western Wayne; Hannah DeStefano (77), Western Wayne.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Holden Mostofsky Correspondent With a two-time state champion and a pair of state runner-ups this season, Lackawanna…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-224211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}