THEY ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

The Rockaway Township Thunder won the Minors Division Championship of township's summer recreation league by beating The Heat, 3-0, at Peterson Field on Tuesday, June 23. The victory gave the Thunder a season-ending 12-1-1 record. Thunder team members were Shannon Treible, Monica Morris, Brielle Bodycomb, Erin Granese, Jenna Draney, Emily Luke, Victoria Aspiazu, Helena Pallay, Taylor Starks, Gabby DeMary, Kayla Chevalaz, Maya Rozen, Alyssa Smith and Jessica Heitmann.  The Thunder's head coach was Jon Heitmann and he was assisted by Dan Smith, Karen Luke, Dawn Morris and Tom Draney.   Photo Courtesy of The Thunder 

     ROCKAWAY TWP. - The Rockaway Township Rampage 8U girls traveling softball team won the West Milford Xtreme Tournament in West Milford in June ... without having to play a game on the final day of the event.
     The Rampage won two games Saturday, June 13, beating the Sparta Diamonds, 12-6, and the West Milford Xtreme Black, 16-4 - to earn the top-seeded spot for games scheduled for Sunday, June 14.
     The entire day's slate of games was rained out, however, and the Rampage were awarded the tournament's championship by virtue of earning the No. 1 seeded spot.
     Several Rampage players had outstanding two-day totals and every player in the lineup had at least two hits for the tournament.
     Danica Lee had a triple and four singles and scored five times; Jessica Heitmann had a homer, double, two singles and scored three runs; Emma Snead and Jenna Draney each hit three doubles and scored three runs; Victoria Aspiazu had a double, five singles and scored three runs; and Alli Esposito had a double, four singles and socred five times.
     The offensive outburst enabled the Rampage to outscore their opponents, 28-10, and led to their No. 1 seed ... and, when the rains came, the tournament title.

     ROCKAWAY TWP. - A lot of defense and a lot of offense keyed the final two victories of the Morris County Youth Soccer Association season for the Rockaway Township Riptde U9 girls traveling team.
     The Riptide beat the Parsippany Hawthornes, 1-0, on Thursday, June 25, and then came back that weekend with a 6-1 win over the West Essex Bobcats on Sunday, June 28. Both games were played at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall Field in the township.
     In the first game, the Riptide scored the game's only goal in the first half when Emma Snead scored from the 18-yard line after taking a throw-in from Victoria Aspiazu.
    Alli Esposito had one save in the first half and Carly Vitale and Aspiazu split the keeper duties in the second half and each finished with one save. Jamie Ingling led a strong back line that contributed heavily to the shutout.
    Against the Bobcats, the Riptide fell behind 1-0 in the first four minutes of the game.
    It didn't take long for the Riptide to pull into a 1-1 tie as Jessica Heitmann scored off a corner kick from Aspiazu less than two minutes later.
    Aspiazu scored what prove to be the game-winner when her corner kick went off the Bobkeeper's hands and continue on into the net at the 18-minute mark and Vitale scored an unassisted goal five minutes later to give the Riptide a 3-1 lead at the break.
    In the second half, Heitman scored her second goal of the game on an assist from Danica Lee; Aspiazu scored another unassisted goal for her second score of the game; and Shayda Daneshvari got her first goal of the season for the Riptide when she scored off a nice crossing pass from Ingling.
    Esposito and Vitale combined for five saves with Esposito stopping three shots in the first half and Vital making two saves in the second half.
    The two wins gave the Riptide a 6-2-2 record in the MCYSA's, putting the team in third place in Flight 3 with 20 points, five points behind flight champ Summit (8-0-1, 25 points) and three behind runnerup Pequannock (7-1-2, 23 points).)