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 for week of May 10, 2022.
With both feet planted firmly on the ground and ready for takeoff, Ali Carpentier is a young woman on a mission. She knows what she wants and has plotted a course to get there. It runs through China, where she spent some early years before coming back stateside and playing lacrosse for real as a third grader. It runs through Council Rock North High School, where she is a standout student-athlete who was a senior captain of both the field hockey and lacrosse teams. It runs through the local gymnasium, where she has put in the work necessary, often with a personal trainer, to get to the next level. And it will run through the next level, Roanoke College in Virginia, where she will play lacrosse on the Division III level while majoring in history and minoring in secondary education.
That will put her one step closer to her ultimate goal of being a high school history teacher, but not before she earns her master’s degree. It’s all part of the plan. “I really am passionate about teaching, so I really want to just reach another level of education to help me then educate others,” said Carpentier. “I always wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little. I used to think I wanted to work with little kids, but as I got older, I have had different experiences with teachers and felt so inspired and felt a connection with my history teachers. A lot of them are just so passionate about what they do, and they want to help students advocate for themselves.”
For the time being, Carpentier says she would rather have the option to study abroad than play field hockey, but she is not ruling out intramural or club if she misses it. That goes along with the level of discipline she has honed that often finds her making choices for the long run. “It is something I use in my daily life,” she said. “I could watch TV, or I could go to the gym and get a lift in with my trainer to prepare for college or go do some wall ball for a little bit to work on my stick skills. I could choose to lounge around and not be productive, or I could read a book or do something more fulfilling with my time, like clean my room or something like that.” She knows this approach will serve her well at the next level. “The small decisions I make now will help me to be more prepared for when I get there,” she said. “It has become more routine for me to just pick the things that are more beneficial for me.”
Carpentier says a lot of her earliest memories were when her father was transferred to China. “My dad’s job moved the whole family over there,” she said. “It was originally supposed to be six months, then it got bumped to a year. Then we stayed for another year. I was pretty young, but a lot of my first core memories are from there.” Still, nothing can top returning to the U.S. and playing organized lacrosse, which she equated to love at first sight “That’s exactly what it was,” she said. “I used to catch around with my dad in the yard, but nothing serious. They didn’t have lacrosse there, so I couldn’t play.” Rock North lacrosse coach Denise Noseworthy had this to say about her star forward who puts the team first: “As one of our top scorers, she is also one of the players with the most assists. As a coach I feel this is overlooked. Passing the ball to a teammate who has a better angle or shot is invaluable. Ali is such a positive person. She generally likes everyone on the team and includes everyone.”
As much as she has prepared herself for what comes next, there will be a major change next year for Carpentier. It will be the first time she will be apart from her twin sister, Bella, who is continuing her lacrosse career at IUP and also played field hockey for the Indians. “I think it is going to be different,” she said. “It will be fun to watch her online and root for her. It will be a change. It will be different. I think we are both ready for it.”
What has been most exciting for the twins is that, after the adversity of the lacrosse team struggling their freshman year and missing their sophomore year due to COVID, they are going out winners – the Indians were in the 24-team field of the District One 3A Tournament. Carpentier’s leadership has played a major role in creating a positive team environment. “We’re very friendly with each other,” said Carpentier. “We love just doing team activities. We love our pasta parties. We love dressing up together on game days. We are very close, and I think it’s nice to have that dynamic.” Off the field, Carpentier is a strong student. Even in her senior year, she took on the challenge of two AP classes and carries a weighted GPA of 4.3. It’s all about keeping her eyes on the prize and putting in the work.
To read Carpentier’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/ali-carpentier-00100823
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of May 10, 2022.
Like the baseball team he plays for, Cole Fisher has been mostly perfect this season. Until recently, Fisher, an ace pitcher and middle-of-the-order infielder for Hatboro-Horsham, was on a legendary heater on the mound. In 25 innings pitched, he had allowed just one earned run in performances that included a no-hitter against Upper Moreland and a shutout of a talented Quakertown team. Not only that, but Fisher was swinging a consistently hot bat out of the three hole, hitting close to .350 while helping guide the Hatters to an unblemished 14-0 record in the SOL Liberty Division.
Hatboro-Horsham is currently the second-ranked team in District One 6A, a year after advancing to the district semifinals (as the No. 7 seed) and the state tournament where Fisher and company fell to La Salle. The Hatters and Fisher were very good last year, and this season has been shaping up to be something truly special. It has remained that way even after Fisher began fighting off a hip and hamstring injury that he and the team are still trying to properly diagnose. The ailment chased an uncharacteristically hittable Fisher from a start against Plymouth Whitemarsh where he surrendered four runs in three innings. By his own admission, Fisher was “really upset,” feeling he had let down the teammates that he loves and who count on him to be dominant on days he pitches. But as much as baseball is a sport of failure, it is also one of redemption, and Fisher found himself at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with his team trailing by two runs. With two outs, two strikes and runners on second and third, Fisher laced a sharp single to center to tie the score, and the Hatters won the game in extras to stay undefeated in league play. It was the perfect symbol for this current season: Fisher finally bent on the mound, but his spirit and competitive fire refused to break.
Right now, given what is at stake, head coach Pete Moore and his staff are holding Fisher off the mound until all parties involved get a better handle on what exactly is ailing the star pitcher. Even after the outlier outing against PW, Fisher’s stats on the mound were still electrifying: In seven games (28 innings), Fisher has posted a 5-0 record with a microscopic 1.00 ERA, with 41 strikeouts and 11 walks. He has surrendered just 16 hits the entire season.
The leap to shutdown pitcher between Fisher’s junior and senior year is one that was hoped for but not entirely expected. Fisher played on the freshman team as a ninth grader and lost his entire sophomore campaign due to the pandemic, and despite the fact that he’s a talented catcher, Moore expected to mostly deploy Fisher defensively at all four infield positions, with his primary one being second base. Then, shortly before the season began, Moore came to Fisher with a proposition: the Hatters had an ace pitcher in senior Jimmy Tooley but needed more mound depth. Would Fisher be interested in heeding the call? “He had been expected to be a position player and hadn’t been pitching, but I went to him and asked if he was willing to pitch since we needed more arms,” Moore said. “He didn’t hesitate. 'Sure coach, no problem.' It speaks to who he is as a competitor. He doesn’t care what position he’s playing, and even when he’s fighting a hip and hamstring injury, Cole is willing to put himself on the line for his team. He’ll do whatever he can. No role is too big or small for him.”
It’s no secret how badly Fisher wants to be at full strength as the guy on the mound for the Hatters, but it’s also been comforting for the team to know he can still impact the game with his bat and glove. Every member of this team is pulling on the same rope in hopes of accomplishing something truly remarkable for the program. “This whole group of guys in the senior class is special,” Moore said. “They care about winning more than anything. They hate losing. It’s as close a group that’s ever come through here, and Cole is in the middle of everything. He does the little things, the big things, and he wants the big moments.”
As far as what comes after high school, Fisher is still evaluating his options. His pitching dominance has attracted the attention of some college coaches (Moore cited Bloomsburg and Arcadia as teams interested), and Moore said Fisher “should and will” play collegiate baseball somewhere. Fisher said it’s always been his dream to play in college, and if he has any say in it, he will “play baseball for the rest of my life if I can.”
To read Fisher’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/cole-fisher-00100828
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