Salisbury Press

Head coach Rob Benson entered this season knowing it was a bit of a rebuilding year for the Salisbury boys’ tennis team. After graduating all three of his singles players and his top doubles team, not much experience returned this spring.

So, Benson isn’t as focused on wins as losses this year as much as he is with how his young players progress. And for the most part, the Falcons have improved greatly since stepping on the court for the first time in March.

Chad Cooperman was a versatile player during his career at Salisbury High School. Not only did the current Bloomsburg University sophomore pitch well, he was arguably the Falcons’ top infielder.

While most players at the college levels don’t play both ways, Cooperman wasn’t ready to give up either position when he stepped onto Bloomsburg’s campus. He set out to define himself as the rare two-way baseball player.

He has not only done it, but has been highly successful nonetheless.

The only blemish on the Salisbury baseball team’s record so far early on in the young season is a 1-0 defeat to Notre Dame (Green Pond) last week. In all three games, the common theme for the Falcons has been solid defense and shutdown pitching.

Both were on display against Moravian Academy over the weekend. Senior Taylor Linn and freshman Quinn Warmkessel pitched a five-inning 15-5 win for the Falcons, with the starter Linn picking up the victory.

A bit of a rivalry is brewing between the Salisbury and Northern Lehigh softball teams.

Dating back to the 2017 season, the teams have met five times. Northern Lehigh holds the edge with three wins compared to Salisbury’s two. Both have won on the biggest stages. Salisbury earned a 3-2 upset win in the Colonial League playoffs last year; Northern Lehigh grabbed a 6-5 victory in the District 11 Class 3A semifinals.

Patrick Adams was forced to make a couple of difficult decisions recently.

The biggest one came last May. Would Adams decide to continue his soccer career at the Division I level after seeing numerous programs show interest in the coveted midfielder? Or would he follow in the footsteps of his older brother Sean, who had a successful career on the Division III stage at The Catholic University of America?

When Bangor scored four runs in the sixth inning of Tuesday night’s regular season opener against Salisbury, there was a sense of déjà vu for the Lady Falcons.

Less than a year ago, the Slaters rallied to score five runs in the sixth inning of last year’s Colonial League championship game to down Salisbury. Four runs once again in the sixth inning last week cut the Lady Falcons’ lead to just two runs after Salisbury looked to be comfortable through five.

Andrew Sukanick was without a doubt Salisbury’s top pitcher over the summer when he led the Falcon legion team to a regular season title and regional berth.

The Lehigh Valley endured yet another winter storm on the second day of April, but Sukanick is still pitching like he did last summer.

Sukanick, a senior, was dominant in Salisbury’s regular season opener last week against Northern Lehigh. In a 3-0 victory last Wednesday, Sukanick allowed just two hits and struck out 16 Bulldog batters.

An early spring snowstorm last week delayed the start of the spring sports season. Salisbury’s track and field season opener on Tuesday was left in jeopardy as the Lehigh Valley was trounced with eight inches of snow, but it looks as if the Falcons’ opener was on as scheduled as of Press deadline.

The Falcons were scheduled to host Pen Argyl and Palmerton Tuesday, in a meet held after Press deadlines.

Salisbury’s string of seven straight postseason appearances came to an unexpected end last season. Under head coach Mike Pochron, who enters his 18th season leading the program, Salisbury came up short in qualifying for either the Colonial League or District 11 tournaments.

All good things must come to an end, right? Well that’s how the saying goes, and it can be applied to the Salisbury boys’ tennis team.

Other than one doubles team from last season, Falcon head coach Rob Benson watched the rest of his regular starters depart due to graduation. That team, led by District 11 Class 2A singles champion John Yurconic and runner-up Mason Groff, went 11-2 in the Colonial League and fell to eventual champion Moravian Academy in the district semifinals.