SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete (Week of June 12, 2013)
Alex Comonitski is not overstating anything for drama’s sake when she uses words such as “love” and “great.” The Wissahickon senior has her passions, and her passions run deep. Comonitski was a four-year starter at shortstop and an all-league performer the last two springs. “I always loved playing sports,” she said. “If I didn’t love it, I would’ve never gotten involved. I played basketball and field hockey, but softball was always my number one.” Wissahickon coach John Bilella, with a coaching resume that includes three Philadelphia Catholic League titles, calls Comonitski “one of the best shortstops I ever coached.” The line “the saddest thing in life is wasted talent” from “A Bronx Tale” is surely ringing in his ears when he thinks of his standout shortstop and hand-picked team captain not taking her well-honed game to the next level. “Her mind was made up as soon as she was accepted to (Penn State) main campus,” the Trojans’ coach said. “In speaking to Alex’s father, I told him that I will do anything to get her a tryout at Penn State. She was a playmaker and leader on game day. She was batting .420 at the conclusion of our season with a .960 fielding percentage and many clutch hits to win games for us in the cleanup spot.”
But Comonitski – a self-described master of time management who plans to begin as an undeclared majoring but is considering majoring in business or communications while minoring in German – knows she needs to do what is best for her. “I want to continue playing, but I also want to have a normal college experience,” she said. Comonitski faced a similar tough choice the summer before her junior year when she was accepted into a program that allowed her to spend a month with a family in Germany and then have that family’s student spend a month with her family in Blue Bell. It was an agonizing decision for a teen who had known nothing different than spending her summers playing up to 10 games a weekend in travel softball for the Harleysville Thunderbirds. “It was the hardest day when I had to tell (coach Charlie Ball),” she said. “But it was a chance of a lifetime. I couldn’t miss it.”
As the page turns to a new chapter, Comonitski is ready to take on the next role with no regrets– whether it is as a student-athlete or a student fully immersed in the college experience.
To read Comonitski’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/alex-comonitski-0035505
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of June 12, 2013)
Brad Bertucci, according to Kevin Manero, is the kind of player any coach would love to have on their team. “This kid is a gamer,” the North Penn baseball coach said of his senior third baseman. “He plays hard, he gets dirty, he sticks his nose in every ground ball, and he’s the first one on and off the field every inning. He’s the first one to pick somebody up when they’re hanging their head. He’s the first person to get on somebody a little bit if you have to, and he does it in a very matter-of-fact and very consistent way. He’s the kind of guy that every team needs.” Bertucci’s ascent to a leadership role this season after playing jayvee as a junior is the result of hard work. “Every time he takes ground ball reps when we’re doing defensive work – before we stop and move to the next thing, almost every single time I hear him say, ‘Give me one more. Give me one more,’” Manero said. “He always wants one more, and that is maybe one of the best qualities somebody can have. They want to work a little harder, and they do it because they love it, because they challenge themselves. That’s a big part of why he is where he is right now.”
The senior captain helped lead the Knights to a state championship. “A couple of weeks ago, I didn’t think we would be in this position,” Bertucci said. “We weren’t playing good. We lost to Pennridge (18-8) right before the playoffs, and we barely got into the playoffs, but once the playoffs started, we started playing really good as a team and doing the little things right.” Doing the little things right has made Bertucci a standout third baseman. “He has quietly become one of the best defensive third basemen in the area,” Manero said. “He just does everything right. He’ll listen to you, he’ll adjust. He has fun, but he’s not goofy. He’ll put pressure on guys, but he’s not cocky. He just has a way of commanding himself and having the respect of teams that you just don’t see in too many kids these days.”
This fall, Bertucci, who enjoys working with numbers and equations, will enroll at Millersville where he will major in engineering. He hopes to walk on the baseball team, knowing there are no guarantees. “I go out to practice and take every rep like it could be my last,” he said. “I could go to Millersville and might not make the team, and these would be my last playing baseball. I just want to keep working so when I go to Millersville I can try out and show the coach I should be on his team and I’m worthy of a spot on the team. I might not start right away, but I’ll work as hard as I can to get there.” It’s the type of approach that made Bertucci such a valued member of this year’s North Penn squad.
To view Bertucci’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/brad-bertucci-0035504
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