This is part one of a two part series featuring area seniors in spring sports. The start of spring sports is upon us, so we took the opportunity catch up with the athletes of those teams to see what they are doing to prepare for the upcoming rivalries and to offer some perspective on the season ahead and their plans for the future.

VIEW PART 2 – Riverside Spring Sports Q&A

EC Baseball

Ashton Wilson

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Baseball?  I’ve been playing baseball for 10 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Baseball? My biggest strength is my love for the game. I enjoy every practice and game and always want to improve and keep playing

What is your favorite part of it? I love to hit but I love playing the outfield too.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We’ve been working really hard on improving our hitting. We’ve gotten some really good coaching and have been doing a ton of hitting drills to improve our swings

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Hopewell and Mohawk are our section rivals so those are really important games for us and obviously Riverside is always a game we look forward to.

What is one skill you have learned from Baseball l that you will utilize in your future and how? One skill I’ve learned from baseball is how to deal with failure and keep your head up. You can’t ever hang onto failure too long in baseball, if you strike out you have to find a way to keep your head up and make a play in the field and that’s definitely an important lesson I learned playing that I use a lot in life.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory has to be beating Keystone Oaks last year in the playoffs and scoring the winning run.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I’m hoping to play baseball in college and I’m going to major in Finance.

Alexander Roth

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Baseball?  I’ve been playing since I was 6 years old.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Baseball? I feel my biggest strength is pitching.

What is your favorite part of it? Spending time with my teammates.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We’ve been Practicing very hard lately and have been competing to make each other better.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Riverside is always a big game for us.

What is one skill you have learned from Baseball l that you will utilize in your future and how? To never give up because circumstances can change with a swing of a bat.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? Going to playoffs last year was a lot of fun.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I’m looking to play a sport in college but am still undecided as where I’m going to attend.

EC Softball

Angie Nardone

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Softball? 10 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Softball? Hitting

What is your favorite part of it?  Being with my friends everyday and playing through playoffs and into states.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have worked on getting used to playing with each other in new positions.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Avonworth

What is one skill you have learned from Softball that you will utilize in your future and how? To always communicate when playing with a team.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory was going to the WPIAL finals my junior year.

What are your future plans after graduation? I plan on attending Westminster College to play volleyball.

Will you continue to play sports after high school?  Yes

Mollie Street

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Softball?  I have been playing softball since I was 8 years old.

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Softball? I believe my biggest strength in softball is that I have good sportsmanship and I am a strong outfielder.

What is your favorite part of it? My favorite part of softball is playing with all of my friends.

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? We have been lifting and practicing every day to get ready for the season.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I feel our biggest rivalry is Avonworth this season.

What is one skill you have learned from Softball that you will utilize in your future and how? One skill I have learned from softball that I will utilize in my future is working with others as a team and not being selfish.

What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memories have just been playing with my teammates and becoming best friends with them over the years.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? My future plans are to go to BC3 and then transfer to Slippery Rock University to major in Accounting.

Kyla Servick

Grade? 12

How many years have you been in Softball?  10 years

What do you feel is your biggest strength in Softball? My biggest strength would probably be hitting

What is your favorite part of it? Being a part of our team and spending the season with them

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? Because of the weather we’ve been able to practice like crazy on everything we’re gonna need for our games.

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? I would say everyone in our section are our biggest rivals.

What is one skill you have learned from Softball that you will utilize in your future and how? I’ve learned the importance of teamwork in order to be successful

What has your favorite memory been over the years? My favorite memory has been the playing in the playoff games leading up to the championship last year.

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? I plan to go to Westminster College for their Pre-Physician Assistant program and continue to play basketball.

EC Track

Nick Bartnovsky

Grade? 12

Events: Discus, Javalin, 100 meter

How many years have you been in Track?  6

What do you feel is your biggest strength in track? Determination to win

What is your favorite part of it? Competing

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Riverside

What is one skill you have learned from track that you will utilize in your future and how? Time management and determination

What has your favorite memory been over the years? When someone on the team put a dent in a car from a bad throw

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school?  Hopefully throw in college track and go for culinary arts and own my own restaurant.

Maddie Myers

Grade? 12

Events: Pole vault, long jump

How many years have you been in Track? 5

What do you feel is your biggest strength in track? Pole Vault

What is your favorite part of it? Having fun with my friends and pushing eachother to do our best

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? Working hard everyday

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Laurel

What has your favorite memory been over the years? Making it to WPIALs my freshman year for pole vault

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? Attending Long Island University Global. I will not be playing sports.

Joel Brooks

Grade? 12

Events: Pole vault, 4×800, 1600, 3200, 4×400

How many years have you been in Track?  4

What do you feel is your biggest strength in track? Perserverance

What is your favorite part of it? The team

How have you and your group been getting ready for the new season? Training in the off season

Who do you feel is your biggest rivalry this upcoming season? Our minds

What has your favorite memory been over the years? Training hard and it paying off

What are your future plans after graduation? Will you continue to play sports after high school? Yes, I will run in college