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 5, 2013)
Nicole Casagrand grew up with the dream of being a softball pitcher. Unfortunately, the Hatboro-Horsham senior’s first travel coach wasn’t interested in nurturing that dream. “He said, ‘You’re too short. You’re not going to be a pitcher when you’re older. I don’t think you can make it,’” Casagrand said. Instead of heeding his advice, Casagrand decided to use it as motivation, turning her talents in the circle into a scholarship to play softball at UMBC.
This past spring, Casagrand came back from an injury that threatened to sideline her the entire season to lead the Hatters to sole possession of the SOL Continental Conference crown. “This kid – I tell you what – for everything she went through, waiting her turn behind Maggie Shaffer – it never bothered her,” coach Joe DiFilippo said. “I don’t even know how to explain it. She stepped up so big this year after being hurt.”
Casagrand, according to her coach, has been a leader since she became a fulltime starter as a junior. “I had her playing right field at the beginning of the year, and she always gave 110 percent,’” DiFilippo said. “She made a couple of errors, and she came up to me and said, ‘Coach Joe, I’m not an outfielder,’ and I said, ‘You know what, we realize that.’ She never said a word, tried her hardest and came and played first base. At first I was hesitant to put her there because she’s not the tallest, but she makes up for it in heart. She went after everything.”
For his part, DiFilippo can’t imagine the team without Casagrand as part of it. “As a sophomore, she sat on the bench the year we won the state title,” he said. “Whenever you call on her, she does what she’s got to do. She’s just a great kid. Out of all the teams I’ve coached, the chemistry on this team was the best, and she was one of the ones that made that chemistry happen. She and Heather Lutz were tremendous.”
Casagrand is a winner off the field as well. An excellent student, she is a member of the National Honor Society as well as the choir, Future Business Leaders of America and Interact, a community service group. She also is a student mentor for freshmen. Next fall she will be majoring in psychology with the goal of one day becoming a physician’s assistant.
To read Casagrand’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/nicole-casagrand-0035409
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of June 5, 2013)
Jason Adelman, according to his coach, is the epitome of a team player. “He is not our first, second or third guy on the mound,” said Upper Moreland baseball coach Ernie Rehr of his senior pitcher. “We have three really solid pitchers, and he just happens to be that fourth kid, but he’s always doing whatever he possibly can for the team. He’s just a fantastic, fantastic young man. We always talk about what a great teammate he is.” Adelman is one of those special athletes who not only understands his role but uses it as motivation. “It just makes me work harder every day,” he said. “I just want to pitch, I just want to play, and it just makes me practice even harder. Even though I don’t always get in, it just drives me to work harder.”
When he’s not on the field, Adelman can be found next to Rehr and assistant coach Ken Irwin. “When they’re not out on the field coaching, I’m usually right beside them, listening to whatever they say,” Adelman said. “They talk about situations in the game. I listen, I learn.” It’s the kind of attitude that has made Adelman – affectionately known as Jiggs – such a valued member of a Golden Bears squad that captured the SOL American Conference title and recently advanced to the state semifinals after finishing second in the District One AAA Tournament. “When we had offseason workouts, he would show up for the workouts,” Rehr said. “He’s always a hard worker. You’re not going to walk in the weight room and say, ‘Look at those numbers,’ but he’s giving you what he can. He keeps the team loose. You look at Jiggs and you smile, and that is what high school sports are all about.”
At 6-0 and weighing in at 250, Adelman began getting pressure from his friends to come out for the football team last year. He went out for the team and earned a starting spot at left offensive tackle. “For never playing before, he really helped us out a lot,” coach Dave Heying said. “As he progressed, we felt more and more comfortable running behind him. He was a great team player. He was fun to coach given how hard he worked and how he was willing to do anything to make the team better.”
Adelman hopes to continue his baseball career at Penn State Abington next year.
To view Adelman’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/jason-adelman-0035406
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