Council Rock South softball recognized its seniors on the team’s home field on Tuesday night. To have your team’s senior recognition posted on the site, send photos/info to SuburbanOneSports@comcast.net.
Council Rock South honored its seniors and their families at a special Senior Night celebration on the team’s home field. It was the first time any of the players had been on their field since the season was halted for the COVID-19 pandemic. Seniors Danielle Walters, Marissa ‘Shorty’ Thompson, Alex Hopko, Maura Salamon and Maddie Cerruti were introduced and made the traditional walk onto the field with their families. (Senior Emma Glosson was not present.)
Coach Frank Marino said: “We were scheduled to play our first scrimmage game against CB East, and the girls were over the top excited – good energy, something I hadn’t seen collectively from all the players ready to play. Then we got a call that the bus had turned around, so what 
turned into rumors of being closed for the weekend and maybe two weeks and a shortened season slowly started to rear its head about being completely shut down.
“Just like all the other seniors, all the other schools, all the other players across the SOL, the state and the country, for that matter – it was devastating to the seniors to lose everything. It was nice to be able to have a little bit of a ceremony today to recognize them, to acknowledge them. This will be the last time they’ll be in their uniforms, and they’ll move on to bigger and better things as they go off to college in the fall. They were extremely disappointed. Everything happens for a reason, and maybe sometime down the road they’ll realize they learned something from this.
“Danielle and Shorty are two four-year starters that made their presence known since the first time they stepped on the field. They were certainly leaders for the program, set the standard to play the game hard and be competitive, and that’s going to be missed. We’ll certainly look to our freshmen, sophomores and juniors coming up to replace that. Their presence hopefully has set a standard going forward about working hard on and off the field.
“We felt like we had the pieces to the puzzle that we needed this year with some other key players that stepped up. We were ready to compete, so overall, the program is headed in the right direction. They’re all good, positive kids that are willing to work hard. They worked very hard during the winter workouts and were ready to go.”
Senior Danielle Walters said: “It’s been hard not having a season, and it’s hard being here and not being able to play with everyone here. I 
missed out on a lot this year. I thought our team was going to be really good – better than ever. We’ve grown throughout the years and we bonded, and we finally thought we were going to have the best year and it got taken away.
“When Shorty (Thompson) and I were seven or eight – we were playing against each other for years, and then South came and we started playing with each other. We’ve been like a dynamic duo. She’s always been behind me when I needed her. Every time I was going through something on the field, she was always there.
“It’s great to see everyone and to have everyone together one last time before we go away. I wish we could have played a game or something along those lines, but this is great – it’s great to have everyone together.”
Senior Marissa ‘Shorty’ Thompson said: “It was unbelievable - not being able to finish our year after working so hard. Danielle and I have
been on varsity since freshman year, so we definitely wanted to end it on a good note, and the fact that we didn’t get that chance is real upsetting. We were about to play our first (scrimmage) – we were all warmed up, and they told us not to. It’s definitely hard being back on the field and not being able to actually play on the field.
“Having something with all of us coming together and being able to celebrate this – I’m thankful for that opportunity. Leaving off with not seeing each other would have been a terrible way to end it.”
Senior Maura Salamon said: “It was definitely hard to lose our senior season. This would have been my second year on varsity, and seeing
the way that all the seniors before me had shaped their year and how they set the precedent of how that year was going to go was really kind of upsetting because I was so ready to step up and be that person for the underclassmen. So I was just mostly upset that I didn’t get to have that legacy that I left behind, and I didn’t have that impact on somebody else.
“Also, I just really missed playing. This is the first time putting on a uniform since March, and it was awe inspiring to be back at South and seeing this is where I would have been my senior year. I’m still close with everybody. All the seniors are really good friends this year, which was super nice, so we didn’t miss anything on that half, but it was mostly – I had my opportunity to leave a legacy here, and I didn’t get that.
“This (Senior Night) was so important to me. I’ve been looking forward to this since I heard about it – being able to come together on the field and really having a moment to say good-bye because I haven’t had that at all this year. My graduation was me in a room spaced out with all these people where I walked across the stage and then I was told to leave. I’m getting my diploma tomorrow in a plastic bag. I’ve never had that ceremonial – ‘This is the end of high school.’ It’s really nice to come together and have that moment - ‘This is you, you’re done’ kind of thing so it was really a significant end more than anything.”
Senior Alex Hopko said: “This spring was really difficult – I was really looking forward to this season to make my mark and leave South with a
bang. It was just really disappointing, but obviously, life goes on, and you can only do the best with what you’ve got.
“It was super important to get together like this because I talked to some of my friends in other sports, and they don’t have this opportunity, so I’m just really thankful that my coaches and our parents care that much about us to do something special like this for us.”
Senior Maddie Cerruiti said: “It was so disappointing to not have a
season. I was crushed. I was so looking forward to it the whole year and then not to have it. I wanted a game before my Senior Night, but this was still nice to have.”
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