As part of a little friendly in-house rivalry each year, Weehawken High School Head Baseball Coach Tony Colasurdo and Softball Coach Tom Gordon make a deal. Whichever team ends up with more victories during the course of a season wins a lunch of Chinese food from the coach who ends up holding the short end of the stick.
However, neither Colasurdo nor Gordon has needed the aid of a calculator to add up the winning totals.
“We actually started the bet knowing that each of us would have off-years,” Gordon said. “Neither one of us won that often.”
Before this year, the highest total of victories that Gordon’s softball teams had accumulated in his seven-year tenure was the eight wins they had last season. Colasurdo’s best record as a coach had been 15-10.
“When I got my 100th coaching win two years ago,” Colasurdo said, “People were busting me, telling me that it was going to take another 30 years to get the next 100. There have been some tough times over the years.”
Richard Terpak, the school’s athletic director, vividly recalled some woes the softball program experienced during its fledgling years. That’s because when the school first introduced softball as a varsity sport in 1979, Terpak was the coach.
“I remember the first game we ever played,” Terpak said. “We played St. Aloysius of Jersey City and lost 25-8. During the course of the game, our second baseman reached up to catch a pop-up, but the bracelet she was wearing got caught in her jersey and she couldn’t raise her arm up to catch it. We’ve had a no-jewelry policy since then.”
Terpak added, “On the way home on the bus, I asked the girls if any had any questions to ask about the game. I was happy when one girl raised her hand, but then she asked, ‘Does anyone have a hairbrush?’ I knew we were in for a long one.”
Weehawken didn’t win any games until the following season. From that point on, through Terpak’s 12 seasons and Gordon’s seven, the wins have been few. And Colasurdo’s baseball teams haven’t been impressive either, until this year.
It seems now that both teams have caught lightening in a bottle and are following in the footsteps of a football team that experienced the most successful season in the school’s history.
The baseball team, despite having to play all of its games on the road for the first month of the season, has an astounding 16-3 record and occupies first place in the Bergen County Scholastic League National Division.
Five games left to play
With five games to play, the Indians could very well win the first baseball championship in the school’s history.
It gets better. The softball team, which had never won more than eight games in a season, has an 11-9 record.
More importantly, the team recently clinched a berth in the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group I state playoffs for the very first time.
Both teams are on an impressive, if somewhat shocking, roll.
“I’m afraid to go to sleep because if I wake up, this all could have been a dream,” Colasurdo said. “This has been totally unexpected. With four underclassmen starting, I figured we could be .500 and qualify for the states. Those would have been realistic goals. But this is too amazing for words.”
Gordon had a feeling it would be a fine season for his team.
“With two good players in Ileana Fajardo and Karla Paula coming back, plus a pitcher in Rianne Jodice, I figured we had a chance to be pretty good,” Gordon said. “I really thought we had a chance to make the states, which is saying a lot, because it never happened before. But the girls all knew that no team had ever gone to the state playoffs and they used that as their goal.”
The excitement about the success of the softball and baseball teams has engulfed the school.
“There are banners hung around the school, with slogans and rallies, mostly done by Rae Ferullo [the wife of Councilman Lou Ferullo],” Colasurdo said. “Kids pay attention to the morning announcements, featuring both teams, because we’re both winning. It’s really been a great year all around and that’s been good for all of Weehawken.”
Gordon said there’s been camaraderie between the two teams and the togetherness has been positive.
“The girls have been learning a lot from the boys about the sport,” Gordon said. “They’re asking questions and getting more involved. The whole year has been a lot of fun for everyone in the school. The boys and girls are going back and forth. One group is saying, ‘We’re in first place,’ while the girls are saying, ‘Well, we made history.’ It’s a fun time for us all.”
Terpak has watched the year evolve and has enjoyed it.
“Both teams are genuinely happy for each other and you can see it,” Terpak said. “They’ve enjoyed each other’s successes. At the baseball game the other day against Wood-Ridge, a parent with a cell phone announced that the girls had won, to make the state playoffs for the first time, and a big cheer went up. There’s genuine happiness and a feeling of accomplishment that we’ve finally gotten over the top.”
Last Saturday night, with more than 200 people in attendance, the baseball team enjoyed perhaps its finest moment in recent memory. The Indians defeated rival Secaucus 6-5, in 10 innings, after falling behind, 4-0, in the opening innings. The Indians scraped and clawed their way back into the game and watched freshman relief pitcher Chris Jodice pull out the miraculous victory.
“It was electric,” Colasurdo said. “That win really picked us up a lot and we’ve been playing so well since then. I think the whole town is getting excited about our team. We’ve beaten some good teams and now we control our own destiny.”
As for the wager between the coaches, Colasurdo is letting Gordon off the hook.
“Because they made the states, I said I’m buying this year,” Colasurdo said. “When they made the states, I was very happy for them. They’ve worked so hard and deserve it.”
“We’ve had a good year, but they’ve had a fantastic year,” Gordon said. “I just hope we both can keep it going for a few more weeks.”
The season should continue to bring exciting times for the players and good roast pork fried rice for the coaches. Add a dash of a championship or two and who knows what might happen?