SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW: Rye High

 Garnet Laxers Set Eyes on Post-Season Success

 

By Melanie Cane, A.J. Chabot, and Michael Gilbert

Garnet Laxers Set Eyes on Post-Season Success

Rye High girls’ lacrosse team won the Class C Championship before losing in the State semi-final playoffs.

 

The team lost eight seniors including six starters to graduation, three of whom went on to play college lacrosse.

 

This year’s lax squad has just four seniors, including Captain Scarlett Sulliman, a midfielder who plans to play at Fairfield University next year.

 

Other key returnees are: sophomore midfielder Charlotte Tucci, who is committed to Duke, junior defender Alex Bennett, junior defender Addie Chabot, junior defender Kate Whiston and junior attacker Momoko Yoshida.

 

Key newcomers include freshman goalie Micheline DiNardo, freshman defender Mallory Lynch, freshman midfielder Addy Abate; and sophomore midfielder Payton Emery.

 

Despite graduating so many star players, Coach Dennis Hurlie is confident that by mid-May, the team should be challenging to win the Section title again.

 

According to Coach Hurlie, Sulliman and Tucci are two of the best players in Section 1.  

 

“I think we will once again be very competitive in Section I and I think we should be considered the favorites to win Class C once again,” Hurlie said. “I also believe that a run to the final four at SUNY Cortland is well within our reach.”

 

Their opening game is at home Saturday against Somers as part of the inaugural Garnet Weekend.

 

Hurlie called the team “a coach’s dream” because he has “plenty of talent, plenty of hard workers, plenty who love the game, and all who are coachable.”

 

Last year, Rye High boys’ lacrosse team lost to Yorktown in the Section 1 Class B semifinal and Yorktown went on to win the Championship. The Garnets graduated seven seniors, but this year’s team welcomes four returning starters: Michael Benincasa, Jack Hasselman, Peter White, and Chris Santangelo. Among the leading newcomers are sophomores Noah Spaeth and Billy Haynes.

 

Coach Brian Dooley said the team’s goal is to get better every game. “I’m looking forward to a positive and action-packed season,’’ he said.

 

 

Garnet Baseball Team Is Green But Talented

After close to an eleven-hour, grueling bus ride to Orlando last month, the Rye Garnets baseball team arrived for a spring training trip.

This year’s squad has a core of new faces that could offset some of the holes left by last year’s graduating class. Two of the team’s three captains aren’t seniors, a symbol of the relative youth of this year’s club.

Three players from last year are currently playing college baseball: Willis Robbins at Columbia, Jake Meyerson at Rochester and Matt Degraw at Stanford, who was redshirted.

The deep loss of veteran talent has been offset by adding four freshmen and three sophomores to the mix. Freshman Trevor Johnson starts at third base, while freshman Chase Pratt and sophomore Sam Lubeck are splitting duties as catcher. Freshmen George Kirby and Ryan Anderson are taking on major roles in the starting pitcher rotation. Junior Brendan Tripodi transferred from Iona Prep and will take over first base duties. Captain Greg Hale thinks the new players will be key contributors to the team. “Having the freshman and sophomores around will help develop for this season and many more seasons to come,’’ Hale said.

The spring training trip started with a 6-3 loss to Sheboygan High from Wisconsin, which was fairly well-played, except for a few mental blunders in the first inning, leading to five runs. After that came a 12-12 tie against Pleasantville. The spring trip allowed for some team bonding, as the team visited three different Florida theme parks during their stay. They also watched the Atlanta Braves play the Houston Astros in a spring game.

“The trip’s been great for teambuilding,” said Coach Mike Bruno. “We’re starting to trust one another on and off the field, and the players know they’re accountable for someone other than themselves.”

Last season resulted in a first-round playoff exit to JFK. Coach Bruno said he hopes this year’s young team can land a home playoff game, and advance deep into the post-season playoffs.

 

 

Tennis Players Vying For Top Spots

The boys’ tennis team is 19 players large this year. Coach Sue Dickson said she’s pleased by the “nice group of upcoming talent.”

Several seniors who will be contributing to the starting lineup in singles play: Grant DeBease, Harry Bonay, Will Friedman, and Spencer Smith. Friedman also is a great doubles player. Seniors Brandon LaBella and Hunter Baldwin also will be adding experience, according to Dickson.

There are some younger players who will be challenging for the top spots: Juniors James Reid and Kosuke Tremmonte, and sophomore Andrew Emmanuel.

 

“Andrew will be a shining star for our program; he is very talented,’’ Dickson said.

 

 

Garnet Runners in Rebuilding Mode

Rye’s track and field team is very young and inexperienced, according to Coach Jim Yedowitz, who lost 25 seniors to graduation last spring. Yedowitz called last year’s squad “arguably my best team ever in 33 years of coaching. It is difficult to replicate the success we had last year.”

That doesn’t mean that we won’t be competitive on a League and Conference level,” Yedowitz said, “but we are probably a year away from being competitive at a County or Sectional level.”

Senior Captain Joey Viger is expected to do well in the 400-meter and 800-meter runs. Other senior veterans are Rory O’Callahan, John Tuttle, Chris McGinnis, Matt Maloney, Matt Sherman, Colby Ellis, and Matt Brunner.

 

 

Softball Team Returns Ten Players

Rye High’s softball team is returning 10 players from last year’s varsity squad. The returning seniors are tri-Captains Darianne Cardino, Catherine Livingston and Nicole Alimena along with Jennifer Cassano, Audrey Love, and Laura Thornton-Smith.  

 

The Garnets’ pitchers include Thornton-Smith and Molly Herbold, a freshman. Other newcomers to the team are Audrey Spencer, Kelsey Chapderlane, Amelia Kaufteil, Maddie Murcko, Sarah Mackay, Amelia Haddad, and Kaitlyn Pryor. Their opening game was this week at Hackley.

 

Coach Alex Tejera said, “The goal is to make the post-season and improve from the previous year.  We just returned from a successful Florida trip so I am optimistic.”

 

 

Garnet Golf Teams Aim For Titles Again

 

By Melanie Cane

 

Last spring, the Rye High boys’ golf team won the League title with a regular season record of 13-3. The Garnets placed second in the Conference Team Championship.

The team’s top golfer has graduated, but RHS has top quality golfers returning in seniors Henry Bailey, Thomas Henderson and Jabril Whiteside, and freshman James McHugh.

Coach Pat Romano knows it is a very competitive League and said it will take strong, consistent play to win it. In addition to winning the League title again, Coach Romano said the team aims to qualify for team Sectionals, which is based on season aggregate scores, and to qualify as many individual players for Sectionals as possible.

Captains and the final roster will be chosen soon. The team’s opening match is Monday at Pelham Country Club.

The Garnets girls’ golf team won the League title for a third consecutive time last year and has only lost three matches in three seasons.

Last year, the girls’ top five golfers advanced to the second day of Sectionals and the Garnets’ top player, Jen Lee, qualified for States.

Now that Lee has graduated, junior Captain Alexis Hios and sophomore Frida Henningsson will step up to fill her shoes.

“We are excited for the new season,” Coach Rich Savage said. “We know there will be many difficult teams, like Ursuline and Scarsdale, but we hope to defend our league title.”

In addition to Hios and Henningsson, Coach Savage thinks returning sophomore Christiana Villani and sophomore newcomer Emily Depauw have the potential to be key players.

Their opening match is Tuesday at Rye Golf Club against Keio.