A season to remember

PITTSTON – Going into the 2024 softball season, Pittston Area Head Coach Frank Parente was hoping for a good year to complement the four-season starting pitcher Gianna Adams’ career.

Game after game over four-years, Adams got stronger and stronger and her teammates always felt they had a fighting chance to win a game behind Adams.

Parente admits, he not only wanted to have winning seasons, he wanted to win every single game, and he knew it was possible with a pitcher the caliber of Adams.

There were few players on the 2024 team that were a part of the 2022 PIAA 5A State Championship team and even though the team came up one run short in 2023 to advance to state finals, 2024 was going to be an interesting year.

“The goal was always to win it all when you have Gianna, so you have a shot in every game,” Parente admitted. “This year we knew it was going to be a lot harder because the inexperience around her (Adams) was so great, there was a lot of new parts and you just don’t know how the new parts are going to do.”

Right out of the box for 2024 of the first four games, Adams got down to business with four no-hitters, including a perfect game. The season was young but looked very encouraging for a group of girls that had not played together coming up from Little League to high school.

“The girls overcame so much,” Parente said. “Julia Long never played second base a day in her life and we asked her to play second base her freshman year in high school, Julianna Cocco, a sophomore, never caught a meaningful inning in a high school game before, these were examples of the challenges we faced going into 2024.”

Coach Parente said he is extremely proud of the 2024 squad and how far they got into the PIAA 5A state title game.

“It was great to watch the girls grow throughout the year,” Parente admitted. “There were times when they were nervous when Gianna gave up a hit to being scared to go up the to the plate when we were losing to embracing a challenge and it got them all the way to the state finals.”

We had a great bunch of girls and you take someone like Tori Stephenson, who was disappointed she didn’t play much last year, and you take a girl like that, we’ll I don’t think she made a mistake all year, I don’t think she made an error in the field, she had a lot of pressure on her,” Parente said. “She had a lot of her plate and man did she go above and beyond expectations and she had a great year and a great year in the field.”

Stephenson left the team her sophomore year and sat out her junior year, was excited to step up her senior year.

“As a senior, with it really being the only year I played, exceeded my expectations,” Stephenson said. “The whole team did really well this year and I’m proud of the whole team.”

Stephenson ended up leading the team with a .450 batting average, adding to her stellar play at third base.

Getting her start in softball during Little League years, Stephenson is looking forward to moving on to college at East Stroudsburg University where she will try out for the team this fall.

Another player taking it up a notch was Liliana Hintze, another sophomore that came through for Parente, turning out to be one of the leaders on the team.

“She took it to a collegiate level,” Parente said of Hintze “This girl can help on the next level having a great year at the field and became one of our biggest forces at the plate going down the stretch at the end of the season.”

Gabby Gorzkowski, a rising senior and two-year starter at first base, brought her experience and bat to the team this year. She ended up the season batting over .400 leading the team in doubles with 12.

“I never played with any of the girls on the team before this year but Marina (Antal) and Sam (Herbert) and it was hard to adjust, but once we did, we just clicked,” Grozkowski said. “I really enjoyed our season and I know it didn’t end the way we wanted to, but I built so many more friendships and that seems so special, so honestly however it ended we are still the same people and we had a lot of fun and a lot of good memories together.”

The bottom line for the Patriots in 2024 came down to Gianna Adams and Parente would agree she was a one-of-a-kind player that you don’t see everyday in a high school line up.

She’s been a pitching ace for Pittston Area since her freshman year giving the team great confidence in knowing she was the strength of the team and a key ingredient to the future of the Patriot program.

Unofficially, Adams completed her season with over 80 strikeouts freshmen year, 202 in her sophomore year leading to the state title, 233 her junior year and finishing up her senior year with nearly 300 strikeouts. She ended her illustrious high school career with over 800 strikeouts.

“I’m just so proud of her,” Parente remarked. “What she did on the field, and you’ll find a lot of coaches agreeing with this, I think she’s the most dominant pitcher this area has ever seen and because she’s pitching, you can say the most dominant player.”

Parente said Adams had a lot of pressure on her and she handled it well knowing she had to be almost perfect.

“She never had a bad game, but she’s even better off the field than she is on the field,” Parente stated. “She appreciates every second you give to her and she makes you feel good, she’s unbelievable. She’s had tremendous support from her family, they are very close.”

“I have just the greatest coaches ever,” said Parente, who admits his season is 365-days-a-year. “I have amazing coaches that I just can’t thank enough. Incredible coaches and they are great friends of mine now.”

Parente’s coaching staff consists of Michael Callahan, Anthony Bellino, Kimberly Roman, Jess Parente and Pat Roman.

“I love our coaching staff, they always push us to be our best,” Grozkowski said. “Coach Frank is 100% all the time and he wants it more than anybody. He always gives us long talks, but they are so beneficial.”

According to Gorzkowski each coach provided his or her special touch and expertise to the team.

“They put in so much time, I don’t think people realize,” Gorzkowski admitted. “With Coach Frank, I never had a coach like him. He’s such a good coach because he can get through to people without yelling. He has a good way of explaining things thoroughly and I don’t know how. You can pick out an issue and just like that, he knows how to fix it.

As for playing alongside Adams, Grozkowski feels Adams grew at the varsity level and just got better and better over time along with taking over the leadership role as captain of the team.

“Over the last two years I’ve had a chance to play with her, with her in the leadership role, she ran with it,” Gorzkowski added.

Adams will enter Carnegie Mellon University this fall and as for Gorzkowski, she’s looking forward to her senior year and there are question marks with the absence of Adams, but she said she and her teammates will be ready to go.