Story bt Paul Schwartz / NorthJersey.com
Delilah Tabaka
Sport: Softball
School: Wallington
Class: Junior. Age: 17
Accomplishment: Tabaka struck out 42 and allowed just eight hits in wins over Becton, New Milford and Pompton Lakes. She also had six hits of her own, including two home runs.
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Delihah Tabaka says she’ll play her last game of softball when Wallington High School plays its last game next spring.
“I don’t want to play in college,” said the junior standout who has been an important cog in the Panthers’ softball program since her freshman year “I want to study, and do other things.”
Then she vacillates a little. “If I get to a school with a club team, maybe I’ll do club.”
At first thought, it might be surprising that a girl who’s been devoted to the sport since 6 years old just give it up. But Tabaka is quick to allay the thought.
“Of course I’ll miss it, it’s been a big thing in my life for 12 years,” said Tabaka, who also plays basketball and volleyball. “But I play softball for fun and I think that college ball might be too much for me.”
Tabaka started playing when she followed her sister Abbey, now a junior first baseman on the Lehigh softball team, to pitching lessons.
“She inspired me to play and I wanted to do what she did,” the younger Tabaka said.
Delilah joined Wallington Recreation softball the year after trailing Abbey to pitching practice and found a sport she loved. But even at a young age, she felt travel and club softball weren’t for her, and she stuck with rec ball.
That didn’t mean she didn’t travel. Wallington and Lodi had a combined team in Little League softball, and in 2018, that team went to the 9-10 year old New Jersey state championship and into the Northeast final in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where they fell to a team from South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
“There were a few girls on the team that are still on our high school team, and we play against some of our former teammates from Lodi now,” Tabaka said. “It’s always fun to see them and it brings back great memories.”
So do frequent trips to visit her grandparents who lived in Sun City just outside of Hilton Head, S.C. before recently moving back to the Jersey Shore. So much so that her dream school is nearby Clemson University, where she hopes to major in criminal justice.
Before that, there are two more seasons of high school softball and a chance to win another sectional title like she did with her sister two years ago after Abbey transferred from the now-closed Immaculate Conception of Lodi.
Delilah was thrilled to spend a year with her sister on the varsity level but she’s never gotten a chance to pitch against Abbey. She’s thought about that hypothetical at-bat, though.
“I know she could get a hit off of me but I also I know I could strike her out,” the younger sister said.
“First I’d throw her a changeup to throw off her rhythm, then I’d jam her inside with a screwball. I’d waste a hard one outside and then throw her a drop ball.”
Does that sound like someone who is ready to leave the sport?
