The majority of East Hampton High’s eight springs sports teams saw action last week, the results of their contests, while mixed, constituting a rather good start to the season.
The boys tennis team defeated Islip 5-2 here last Thursday, with Pablo Montesi’s three singles players, Henry Cooper (in summary fashion), Chase Bohnsack, and Adrian Bello winning, as did the third doubles team of Joseph Martinez and Lucas Centalonza.
At first doubles, Kiefer Mitchell and Griffin Beckmann lost 10-7 in a third-set tiebreaker. C.J. Baumrind and Wyatt Smith lost in straight sets at second doubles.
Thus, doubles drills took up most of Friday’s practice session.
Also last Thursday, the flag football, softball, and girls lacrosse teams lost — the softball team by a 3-2 score at Rocky Point, the flag football team by a score of 27-6 to John Glenn here, and the girls lacrosse team, also playing at home, by a score of 14-4 to Hauppauge, a nonleague opponent.
Joe DiGirolomo, the lacrosse team’s coach, said he was hoping that Caeleigh Schuster, East Hampton’s standout field hockey goalie, would soon tend the lacrosse nets. In her absence, three field players took turns in the goal, one of them, Hailey Welsch, prevailing in a 19-18 win over Hampton Bays here on March 25. East Hampton, despite having lost most of the draws, led 10-9 at the half. Bonac’s scorers that day were Ava Tintle, with 7 goals and 2 assists; Lola Eldridge, with 5 and 1; Cali Wilson, with 3 and 3; Katie Grande, with 2 and 3, and Abby Perello, with 2 and 3.
The game with Hauppauge was tied 4-4 at the half, though the Eagles dominated utterly in the second. Eldridge, with 2 goals, Tintle, with 1, and Grande, with 1, scored for the Bonackers that afternoon. “Unfortunately, we played sloppily, with a lot of turnovers,” DiGirolomo said afterward.
Asked what his charges needed to work on, the coach said, “Offensively, we need to work on throwing and catching while under pressure, and moving our feet to create easier passing lanes. Defensively, we need to work on our slides and crashes during drives.”
Flag football’s debut here did not go well. The visiting team, John Glenn, apparently in its first year playing the sport — East Hampton is in its third year — dominated the first half, by the end of which it led 27-0. East Hampton reportedly played better in the second frame, with Kerri O’Donnell scoring the team’s sole touchdown, a long one, by way of a catch-and-run.
Molly Brignati, Glenn’s quarterback, scored two touchdowns, and Brianna Mauro and Alexa Narvaez one each in the first half. The Bonackers drove all the way down the 80-yard field when play began again only to have a pass picked off in the end zone.
East Hampton’s boys and girls track teams made their debuts this week, both losing — the boys by 23 points, the girls by 21 — to strong East Islip opponents.
There was plenty of good news, however. Sean Knight, the boys coach, cited the performances of Thomas Cardenas (the 100 and 200-meter dashes’ runner-up); Edmar Gonzalez-Nateras (the 1,600 winner); Max Bellenoue (the 1,600’s runner-up); Jasper Samuelson (second in the 800); Liam Knight (second in the 400); Marcus Oransky (second in the triple jump and third in the 100 hurdles; Will Schmitz (third in the high jump), and Andrew Perez (third in the triple jump).
Knight added that when Jai Feaster, Xavier Johnson, and Alex Brito, all of whom represented Bridgehampton High in the state’s recent Final Four basketball tournament in Binghamton — get in enough practices, “I believe, thanks to Davin Johnson’s coaching, they will make an immediate impact in the sprints and jumps. . . . We are in a strong league this year, with the county champions Eastport-South Manor, East Islip, and Half Hollow Hills West, all of them very competitive teams.”
In reporting girls track’s result, East Hampton’s coach, Yani Cuesta, said, “Although we lost the meet 85-64, we were up against the league champions. We show a lot of promise in several events, have a lot of young athletes who are trying things for the first time, and many veterans who already are improving on their previous best performances. We should continue to improve as the season goes on.”
C.J. Echavarria, in the 100 high hurdles; Laura Martinez in the 1,500; Sara O’Brien in the 400 hurdles; Greylynn Guyer in the 3,000; Kaili Moore in the shot-put, and Leah McCarron in the discus were winners at East Islip. Bonac’s runners-up were Lucia Mogavero in the triple jump; Sophia Figueroa in the high hurdles; Josie Mott in the 1,500; Bennett Greene in the 1500-meter racewalk; McCarron in the shot-put and long jump; Alessa Picco in the high jump, and Moore in the discus.
Third-place finishers were Maggie Greenwald in the 400; Martinez in the 3,000; Alex Kolhoff in the long jump; Sierra Stumpf in the high jump, and Beth Daniels in the discus, an event that East Hampton swept.
