IAC SOFTBALL: YOUNG, ATHLETIC NEWARK VALLEY HOPES TO BATTLE IN NEW DIVISION (2019-03-21)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY - The Newark Valley softball team will sport a youthful look this season. However, the Cardinals will do so with a lot of athleticism on their side.

"We are a really young team," head coach Jason Monte said. "We have only one senior and she didn't play varsity last year.  We have six juniors and five sophomores, and there will be a couple kids from the JV team that will be pulled up throughout the year.  Although we are young, we have talent to work with.  I have five of my starters returning from varsity last year.

IAC South Large School all-star Allie Wandell, a sophomore, returns at shortstop. Also back are starting pitcher Cassidy Hoffmier and starting catcher Marissa Berghorn, both of whom are juniors and were named division honorable mentions last year.   

Monte also expects new pitcher Ari Sage to contribute. 
 
"We are still rebuilding but should also be competitive," Monte said. "Last year we had both a new varsity and JV coach, so naturally there is going to be an adjustment and rebuilding period but we are definitely headed in the right direction.  We were able to get some kids in the cages in the off-season and the group we have is competitive and wants to win.  We are also trying to build the program from the bottom up and working with some of the youth players, we've got some talent coming."

During the off-season, the IAC revamped its alignments, converting from a four-divison league to three divisions.  Monte believes that's a good thing for the Cardinals.
 
"I think the realignment is beneficial to us," he said. "It saves us some travel time, but also allows us to be more competitive.  Section IV is the most competitive section in the state for softball. There are a lot of quality, well-coached teams, like TAE (Edison ) and Tioga.  Although we still play Tioga in crossover action, losing Edison on our schedule helps us out.  We still play Waverly and Notre Dame, who are both very good, but we can certainly compete with everyone in our division."

In addition to NV, Waverly and ND,  Division 3 will also include Dryden, Watkins Glen and Whitney Point.

NV opens March 29 at home against Dryden at 4:30 p.m.

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IN PHOTO 1: Newark Valley shortstop Allie Wandell. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.