The Pride of Rye

A number of Rye sports teams and individual athletes garnered our attention, advancing in post-season Sectional playoffs toward Regional and State championships.

By Melanie Cane

A number of Rye sports teams and individual athletes garnered our attention in recent weeks, advancing in post-season Sectional playoffs toward Regional and State championships.

Holy Child

Holy cow! Holy Child’s softball and lacrosse teams made school history by landing playoff spots in the New York State Association of Independent Schools finals. On May 29, Holy Child capped its phenomenal 12-3 softball season by winning the State NYSAIS Championship at Manhattanville College. 

Meanwhile, several Rye High School teams and players advanced in post-season playoffs, including four golfers who qualified for State Championships.

This is the first time in Holy Child Coach Jen Cirillo’s four-year tenure that a softball team advanced beyond the quarterfinals.

The Gryphons earned a berth in the NYSAIS Championship game by beating Poly Prep Country Day in the semifinals. Holy Child defeated Horace Mann 5-3 to win the school’s first State Championship in softball. Senior Kathleen Samuelson of Harrison, the team’s only senior, was the winning pitcher in both games.

 “It’s one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me,” Samuelson said.

In post-season lacrosse, Holy Child had won just one playoff game before, back in 2009.

As the 6th seed out of eight teams, the Gryphons were shocked but thrilled to make it to the lacrosse finals. But Holy Child lost a heartbreaking game against Hackley, 13-6, in the State Championship game last Wednesday at Manhattanville College.

Senior captain Charlotte Elcock scored five goals in the loss, giving her the school record at Holy Child–105 points. Elcock broke the 2009 record of 101 points set by Hadley Duncan, who is now a junior on the Division III National Championship lacrosse team at Trinity College.

Rye High Lacrosse

Closer to home, the Rye High girls’ lacrosse team paved its way to the school’s first sectional final since 2008 by beating Pearl River 12-11 in the semi-finals at home on Tuesday.

Rye topped Byram Hills, 12-11, for the Section 1 Class C crown in Bedford last Thursday.

Rye rocked Red Hook 17-3 in the first round of Regional playoffs in Kingston on Wednesday (May 30).

On Saturday, Rye slammed Section 2 champion Albany Academy 18-5 at the State University of New York at Albany, Rye faces the regional winner of Section 5/Section 6 in a State semifinal playoff at SUNY Cortland Friday at 9:30 a.m.

Rye High Golf

Three Rye girl golfers advanced to States led by senior captain Jen Lee who scored a 77 last week and an 80 on Wednesday for first place in Section 1.

Alexis Hios, a sophomore, snagged fourth overall to advance to States with a two-day score of 174 at Hollowbrook Country Club.

Freshman Frida Henningsson placed sixth. (the top nine qualified for States at SUNY Delhi June 9-10.)

Three Rye boy golfers, senior captain Andrew Gladstone, junior Henry Bailey, and eighth-grader James McHugh advanced to Sectional playoffs last week. McHugh failed to advance to the finals by just one stroke;

Gladstone led the RHS trio and qualified for next month’s State Championships at Cornell University, with scores of 76 and 80.

More photos and play-by-play coverage of these and other local athletes can be found online at www.RyeRecord.com and in our sports pages in the June 8 print edition.