Emmaus shortstop Marah Sisonick decided to try out for the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup team after her high school coach, Brittany D’Agostino, made the suggestion.

“I want to keep playing and keep improving,” said Sisonick, who will also play second base and has experience as a catcher.

“For awhile, I caught and would often go back and forth,” she said. “The action behind the plate is a different point of view.”

Sisonick is one of five players who is a lone representative of her school. There are 15 players on this year’s Lehigh Valley roster.

“I don’t play on the tournament teams they play on, so I’m starting out on the outside, but meeting them,” Sisonick said. “They are very open. I’m excited to play and see what the other teams are like.”

The teams competing in the tournament are from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.

“It’s exposure you wouldn’t see normally,” she said.

Sisonick also noted the different coaching styles she has experienced and will experience.

“Coach Britt is great with connecting to us, and her assistant varsity coach is my tournament coach, Terry Csrenko,” she said. “He knows and loves the game and has a different passion for it, physically and mentally. There are a lot of different styles, and from what I’ve seen, [the Lehigh Valley Carpenter Cup] coaches seem very nice and very open.”