NORTHERN VALLEY AREA, N.J.—A local women’s 55-plus softball team, Jersey Gals, qualified in the New Jersey Senior Olympics to represent New Jersey in the National Senior Games, being held in Albuquerque, New Mexico in June.
Many of the team members have deep roots in the Northern Valley. The team was organized by Lillian Giannotti, a 42-year resident of Northvale who was a member of the Northvale recreation department for 10 years and whose husband Danny was a captain on the Alpine Police Department. Danny Giannotti, who passed away in 2010, was also a past chief of the Northvale Fire Department.
Two players on the team, Dot (Falkenstern) Walter and Cyndi (Sloat) Kucera met on their first day of kindergarten at Norwood Public School in 1968, played organized softball together in the Norwood recreational league throughout elementary school, played high school softball together at Northern Valley Old Tappan and continue to be on the same team, making them teammates for 50 years.
Another team member with deep roots in the Northern Valley is long time Northvale resident, Nancy Lorenzini, whose father-in-law and husband owned and operated the iconic Northvale restaurant, Lorenzini’s.
The National Senior Games are played every two years and Jersey Gals team members are selling 50-50 raffle tickets as well as fundraising at local restaurants in hopes of raising some of the funds required for the upcoming trip across the country. The next fundraising event will be at Tommy Fox’s Public House in Bergenfield on Thursday, May 9, when the restaurant will donate 20% of its sales that night back to the team.
This will be the team’s fourth trip to the National Games in their quest for a medal. In Minneapolis in 2015 the team won a silver medal but returned home empty handed from Cleveland in 2013 and from Birmingham in 2017.
The team also has a Facebook page and a GoFundMe page to augment its fundraising efforts.
For more information about the Jersey Gals, feel free to email JerseyGalsSoftball@gmail.com.