By Wayne Witkowski
Faith Weber had an earlier end to her basketball season than she wanted and now has a later start than she expected on the softball team at New Egypt High School.
In the third quarter of the NJSIAA South Jersey, Group I girls basketball semifinals, Weber injured her left hand while colliding with a Clayton High School basketball player for the ball.
Although she felt some pain, Weber decided to get back into the game that New Egypt lost, 68-38. Weber notched a typical double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. Little did she realize at the time the injury was a multiple fracture.
“I can’t play any softball for the first month,” said Weber, the No. 1 pitcher from last season’s team that won the South Jersey, Group I championship. “I broke my hand, had surgery that went really well and have three screws in my hand. Fortunately, it’s not my throwing hand, but I can’t field with it. I’ll be OK in four to five weeks. I’ll miss all of the scrimmages and hopefully will be back in early April but probably will miss the first two games.”
She’ll also have trouble hitting the ball, especially in chilly temperature days, until the hand heals.
Weber said she still is able to attend softball workouts three days a week as she did all winter with the New Jersey Bandits, a weekly session with her pitching coach and a once-a-week practice run by the New Egypt softball players who officially began practice March 4.
Only two players graduated from last year’s Burlington County Scholastic League co-championship team that shared the title with Riverside High School (both were 7-1 in the division) during a 21-6 season overall. The team beat Pennsville Memorial High School, 8-3, for the sectional title before losing in the state semifinals to Henry Hudson Regional High School, 8-2, to end a 12-game win streak.
The 6-foot-1 senior said she still is pondering a college career in either sport, depending on which school comes across with the best offer. The University of Buffalo has drawn Weber’s greatest interest for basketball, while George Washington University and Bucknell University have made the greatest impression on Weber for softball. She said a number of other schools are in the mix for either sport. Towson University and Tufts University were early recruiting front-runners last year.
Weber finishes her basketball career as the school’s first to reach the 1,000 mark in two categories: career points with 1,400 and career rebounds with more than 1,000. She helped the basketball team set a season record for victories in a 21-7 season.
“It’s one of the best individual careers you’ll ever want or see. She’s all heart,” New Egypt girls basketball coach Matt Brogan said.
Weber admitted her season surpassed what she thought it would be, but she credited her success and her team’s glory to players fulfilling their roles.
“I just think we came every day to play and took nothing for granted,” Weber said. “We played every game like it was the last.”
Her efforts could not rescue New Egypt from a frustrating loss to Clayton.
“Clayton shot really well from the field, really well,” Brogan said. “They did a good job really draping Weber and trying to keep her out of the game. She was clawing for everything she got.”
For now, Weber is going at a slower pace preparing for the season than the memorable run she had last year when she had a part in three different championships. Weber again played a major role in the New Jersey Bandits’ drive to the coveted title in the United States Special Sports Association (USSSA) National Championship 16U tournament in Ocean City, Maryland, and was named the tournament Most Valuable Player after she blasted three home runs and drove in seven runs in the 11-0 title victory over the Churchville, Maryland, Lightning.
When she returns to the lineup, Weber wants to take New Egypt farther into the state tournament with an experienced supporting cast that returns all but two starters who graduated — Danelle Lewis and Sarah LoRicco. Weber said after last summer that she plans on working a changeup more into her repertoire that includes a fastball and slider.
“I’m excited. I think we’ll do good things this year,” said Weber, who has her catcher, Gabby Medina, back in the lineup, as well as center fielder Meagan Smith, utility player Rebecca Lombardo and Sam Goetz, who came on strong during the season.
Chloe Lewis, who was a leading pitcher last year, will handle the No. 1 duties as Weber works her way back.
And having an NJSIAA Hall of Fame coach in Kevin English, who has coached the Warriors into four state championship games while building one of the strongest schedules in the area, can only help New Egypt’s mission.
