Sports Shorts

Erin Redden felt she had a fitting conclusion for her cross country season at Brick Township after running in the Foot Locker Northeast Region championships at Van Cortlandt Park last Saturday.

“I felt pretty good. It was a nice way to finish the season,” said Redden, who clocked a 20:53 for 122nd place on the course that starts off smooth but becomes hilly during the second mile. High school teammate Amber Hessenkemper clocked a 21:30.

No New Jersey runners were among the top eight finishers who advanced into the national finals. Redden and Hessenkemper will be joining Brick Township’s girls indoor track team that has preseason workouts in progress, as long distance runners.

“I’m really excited about that,” said Redden. “I just want to carry on the strength and training I got from cross country.”

The Brick Dragons, who played last weekend for the Hudson County Youth Football League championship, are accepting donations for this week’s trip to the Super Bowl Youth Championships at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Contact Gary Owen at (732) 213-3926.

The Central Jersey Tornado 10U softball team is looking for a few quality players to this newly formed team. All positions are open. The team will be trained by high school coaches, former players and the coach of the 1999 10U PONY national champions. Winter workouts begin this month. For more information or to arrange a tryout, call Steve at (732) 577-6876 or fttornado@aol.com.

The Howell Hitz, an 11U baseball team, will be holding tryouts Dec. 11 starting at 9:30 a.m. at Lakewood Prep School, Howell. The Hitz will be playing tournament baseball from Jersey City to the Jersey Shore. The team was founded three years ago by Kevin Kenny, John Casaletto and Jack Ross, all of Howell, who wanted youth baseball players to have more competitive baseball than just Little League.

For scheduling tryouts or other information, call John Casaletto at (732) 751-0336.