An Eventful Week For E.H. Teams
Four East Hampton High School coaches could be described as happy as of Tuesday morning, a group that included Ed Bahns, of baseball, Mike Vitulli, of boys lacrosse, Matt Maloney, of girls lacrosse, and Michelle Kennedy, of boys tennis, though the latter was as of Monday awaiting the outcome of a protest she’d filed with Section XI following Friday’s match at the Ross School.
Joe Vas, East Hampton’s athletic director, who filed a complaint on Kennedy’s behalf with Section XI, said Tuesday that the 4-3 result in Ross’s favor would stand, although he said he agreed that Kennedy’s allegation of unsportsmanlike conduct made after a Ross player had shouted “Hammer time!” before putting away an overhead that decided the closely contested third doubles match, had been correct.
Though presumably not happy with the dismissal of her protest, Kennedy was happy to report that her team defeated Shoreham-Wading River 5-2 here Monday afternoon, the only losses coming at first and second doubles. She recently moved her former top doubles pair, Dan Okin and Collin Kavanaugh, up to first and third singles, and dropped Nicki Neubert and Brady Yusko, who’d been at third and fourth singles, to third doubles — moves that seem to have strengthened the lineup.
The baseball team finally got some Ws last week, taking two of three from Amityville. Will Collins, Bahns’s assistant, said, “We were relieved and happy that the kids got their first win on Wednesday [April 10]. For most of them, it was their first varsity win ever. After losing six straight to start the season, they must have wondered if a win would ever come!”
“The star of that 4-0 shutout was Maykell Guzman, who went the whole way, striking out 13. He gave up four hits and walked three. . . . Brendan Hughes, Bryan Gamble, and Kyle McKee each had two hits.”
The teams went at it again last Thursday with East Hampton, behind Peter Shilowich’s three-hit pitching, prevailing 6-2. McKee, who’s a freshman, drove in three of the runs, including two with a key base hit in the sixth inning. Hughes, the junior shortstop, went 3-for-4 on the day with two runs scored, and Max Lerner, a sophomore, went 2-for-2 with two runs scored, as well.
Turning to boys lacrosse, Mike Vitulli, asked following Saturday’s 10-6 win here over Center Moriches if it were “a great day for Bonac,” replied, with a smile, “Well, it was a good day. . . . We got pretty much everyone in and played well in all three phases — defense, offense, and in transition. On offense we spun the ball and attacked their weak side. We shot pretty well — much better today than we have in recent games.”
“You know, we’ve got a young team — three or four freshmen and four or five sophomores — but they’re improving in every game, understanding more and more what you need to do to win.”
Drew Harvey, a Pierson student, had 3 goals and 2 assists; John Pizzo had 3 and 1; Cort Heneveld had 2 and 2, and Jamie Wolf and Jack Schleicher, another player from Pierson, each had 1 goal and 1 assist. Regis O’Neil also had an assist. Mikey Jara, the goalie, had 6 saves; his backup, Sean Toole, who was smothered by defenders after having run with the ball to midfield in the waning seconds of the game, stopped two shots.
The win improved East Hampton to 2-4 in league play and to 2-6 over all. Center Moriches dropped to 2-4.
The Bonackers were to have played Deer Park here Tuesday, and are to play at Bellport today. “Deer Park is a lot like we are,” Vitulli said. “There’s not a lot of difference between the 10th and 22nd-ranked teams in our division.”
Vitulli has been alternating three of his charges — Kelly Kalbacher, Wolf, and Jack Lesser — on the face-offs. “Each brings a little something different.”
“Yes, it would be nice to still have Ryan Shaw, who won 80 percent of his face-offs,” Vitulli said in reply to a question. “We’re around 50 percent now, which is an improvement over the past couple of years.”
In answer to another question, the coach said, “I like the way we’ve been growing. With all the freshmen and sophomores it was a little slow at first, but the seniors and juniors have stepped up and helped us become productive.”
Matt Maloney, the girls lacrosse coach, also had something to cheer about earlier this week given his team’s 14-13 win at Miller Place on Monday. It was the first win of the season for his team, which has been a bit unlucky thus far.
“We lost a heartbreaker to Huntington last week,” Maloney said at the start of an e-mail report. “We led 9-6 at the half, but couldn’t hold on, and eventually lost 15-14, failing to make good on two opportunities in the final minute.”
On Monday, however, things went East Hampton’s way as the Bonackers prevailed 14-13 at Miller Place. Carley Seekamp, Maggie Pizzo, a junior midfielder who’s already been tapped by Yale, Jenna Budd, and Cassidy Walsh all had hat tricks.
Maloney’s charges were to have played at Shoreham-Wading River yesterday, and are to play “a big game at home with Harborfields” tomorrow.