An Icy Wind Blew No Good on Bonac’s Fields Monday
Three East Hamptoners, Brian Damm, Cole Shaw, and Logan Gurney, scored goals for the East End boys lacrosse team, the Islanders, that’s based at Southampton High in a game Monday with Hampton Bays.
Damm had five goals, Shaw, two, and Gurney, one in the 17-3 win, the East End team’s first of the season vis-à-vis three losses.
The news was not as good for several other East Hampton teams: On Monday, the baseball team lost 18-8 here to Mount Sinai, and softball, also playing here, was shut out 12-0 by Sayville. On Saturday, the girls lacrosse team, which had only one senior starter that day, Lucy Emptage, lost by a large margin to East Islip. Elizabeth Bistrian, another senior starter, was away Saturday.
“We’re very, very young,” Lisa Farbar, Robyn Mott’s assistant, said. “We’re trying to build a program.”
The roster includes one other senior, Elizabeth Lesser; three juniors, Rianna Helier, Emily Hugo, and Emily Lupercio, all defenders; a sophomore, Maria Gomez, the goalie; six ninth graders, Marilyn Bruehl, Asha Hokanson, Anna Hugo, Grace Perello, Lucy Short, and Stella McCormack, and an eighth grader, Sofia Mancino. Sophia Bitis, a junior, is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
It was back to reality for the baseball team, which had just returned from what its coach, Vinny Alversa, said was a productive spring training week in St. Petersburg, Fla. “We went 2-4 on the week,” he said before Monday’s game, played in icy weather, began. “What with games and practices, the kids played baseball five to six hours a day on average,” he added. “They didn’t have much free time.”
East Hampton, with Elian Abreu on the mound, went down 8-0 early, because of walks, errors, and timely hits, but came back to score eight runs of its own.
While it lost 12-0 to Sayville, the softball team, coached by Kathy Amicucci, defeated Elwood-John Glenn 12-0 here last Thursday, despite the fact that three starters were missing.
“We played incredibly that day,” Amicucci said over the weekend. “Mary McDonald, who was on the jayvee last year, played right field for us, batted fifth in the lineup, and went 3-for-3, all doubles, driving two runs in. Sophia Ledda went 3-for-4 with three doubles and four r.b.i.s. She hit sixth, and if it hadn’t been for the wind blowing in, Becca [Kuperschmid] would have had two home runs.”
Sam Merritt, the pitcher, notched 13 strikeouts, her highest total of the young season.
“Everyone was ready to hit,” Amicucci continued. “I think it had something to do with the fact that during a recent practice, the kids faced live pitching in the cage in the gym. Sam was throwing fastballs, curves, changeups, risers. . . . It helped get their timing down. We sometimes use a pitching machine in outdoor practices, but there’s no variation. Those sessions inside helped boost their confidence. They realized they could hit.”
Boys tennis played one match last week, minus its number-one, Jonny De Groot, and despite the altered lineup easily defeated Shoreham-Wading River 7-0. Shoreham, presumably because of spring break absences, had to forfeit at third and fourth singles, and at third doubles.
At one, Ravi MacGurn won 6-0, 6-2; Jaedon Glasstein won at two, 6-1, 6-1; Brad Drubych, whom Glasstein defeated in a recent ladder match, and James Fairchild won at first doubles, 6-3, 6-1, and Matthew McGovern and Miles Clark, both freshmen, won 6-1, 6-1 at second doubles.
A big match looms at Westhampton Beach. East Hampton is to play there at 4:30 tomorrow. The Hurricanes edged the Bonackers 4-3 the first time around, but Luke Louchheim, who has yet to be defeated at third singles, was missing from the lineup that day.
Kevin McConville’s team was 2-1 in league play as of Tuesday and was 2-3 over all.