Daily Sports Digest: Mamaroneck Softball Preview

The Top Spot:

The Mamaroneck High School softball team finished at 11-10 last season. This year the Tigers and Head Coach Diane Campbell are coming into it with a very talented young team.

Patch recently caught up with Coach Campbell to discuss the upcoming season.

Larchmont Patch: As far as age and, more importantly, experience goes, what type of team do you expect to have this season?

Diane Campbell: I have a young team this year, but they are very talented. With the experience they will receive on the varsity I see good things happening.

Larchmont Patch: What were some of the weaknesses your team had last year that you hope to improve upon this season?

Campbell: The weakness we had in the past was we had a hard time pushing runners in when they were in scoring position. We will be focusing on that a lot during practices.

Larchmont Patch: Who are some of your returning players coming back who you see being big contributors?

Campbell: First, I have a senior pitcher Sammy Gitlin returning. I expect good things from her this year. She has worked hard in the off-season to prepare for the season. Also pitcher Jessica Stingone who is only a freshman. She has perfected six different pitches that she will be using this season. I see good things for her in the future. Kimi Chiapparelli who is a power house at the plate. Last year as an 8^th grader she had the best batting average for the season.  She is a force behind the plate as well. I also have two other seniors returning: Megan Gerspach, and Brittney Jackson who will contribute to the team both offensively and defensively this season. I also expect big things from teammates Melissa Marks and Zoe Schmitt as returning varsity players. 

Larchmont Patch: Who are some of your new players you are expecting to thrust into a larger role on the team?

Campbell: Newcomer Lisa Glauber will be a huge factor in the field and this year.

Larchmont Patch: How has the team been preparing in the off-season?

Campbell: I have been working out with the girls two nights a week since November.  My pitchers have been working out all year long to get ready for the season. Most of the girls have been playing summer travel and fall ball. They have been working hard in the off-season to get ready.

Larchmont Patch: What are your goals for the season as a team?

Campbell: Our goals as a team are to win our league and section and to make it to states. Also for the girls not only to learn about the game but it also to teach them life lessons along the way. I am big on having the team always supporting one another no matter what’s happening if we are winning or losing.

Larchmont Patch: Are there one or two games circled on the schedule this season?

Campbell: We are always looking forward to playing our rivals Scarsdale and White Plains. Those are two big games for us.

Larchmont Patch: What are you personally looking forward to this season?

Campbell: As the coach I am looking for the kids to have fun and to learn the ins and outs of the game and hopefully to learn some important life lessons along the way.

Major League Baseball Opens Today:

The rosters are set, the grass is cut and the lines are drawn as Major League Baseball is set to start another season…in Japan.

By the time this article is posted game one between the Mariners and Athletics will already have begun and the baseball season will be underway.

Patch’s own Ryan Buncher takes a look at .

College Sports Notebook:

West Nyack’s Kivlehan Hitting Stride at Rutgers

Patrick Kivlehan of West Nyack has made a meaningful transition from the football field to the baseball diamond in his senior season, and helped Rutgers University (11-10, 2-1 Big East) move above .500 for the first time this season with a series win at rival Seton Hall.

Kivlehan, who was slowed in the early going by a virus, had an impressive series against the Pirates, reaching base in 12-of-15 plate appearances with seven hits to earn Big East Player of the Week accolades.

An alum of St. Joseph’s in Montvale, NJ, Kivlehan also hit his second home run of the year in the finale to cap a six-run second inning that propelled the Scarlet Knights to a 9-6 victory.

Kivlehan leads the team with a .421 batting average, with seven RBI and eight stolen bases in nine attempts.

Sophomore Brian O’Grady of Warminster, PA, had a career-high five RBI in the game, as six relief pitchers combined for the victory. Junior Rob Smorol of Clark, NJ, earned the win in the middle contest to help Rutgers to its largest margin of victory this season, 10-2.

Senior Ryan Fasano of Stony Point, second on the club with a 3.34 ERA, will make his seventh appearance of the season and sixth start when he takes the mound this afternoon against Wagner at Bainton Field in Piscataway, NJ. The right-hander pitched a shutout in 1 hour 59 minutes last week against Rider to earn his first victory of the season.

Game time is set for 3 p.m.

Wagner (9-14, 5-3 NEC) split a four-game conference series over the weekend at home against Monmouth.

The visiting Seahawks have successfully stolen 27 bases in 32 attempts, with Ian Miller of Downington, PA, racking up eight steals. Bill Murphy of Cranford, NJ, leads the squad with a .340 batting average, while Nick Dini of Monroe Township, NJ, has 21 hits.

Starter Nick Pavia of Staten Island will make his third start of the season for Coach Jim Carone, who is in his first season as the head coach after serving as the pitching coach at Villanova.

The Scarlet Knights lead the all-time series over the Seahawks, 17-2-2, in a matchup that dates back to 1960. Rutgers has won nine of the last 10 meetings, but Wagner won 11-5 last season at Bainton Field.

Rutgers assistant coach Joe Litterio was the head coach of Wagner for the last 12 seasons before returning to Piscataway at the beginning of the season.

The Scarlet Knights are scheduled to meet Georgetown University on Friday at 3 p.m. in Bethesda, MD.

Mortarboard musings

• The St. Thomas Aquinas College men’s and women’s track and field and cross country teams will be hosting a fundraiser on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Spartans’ cafeteria in Sparkill. The school is having a Wing Night with chicken fingers, fries, salad bar, ice cream bar, and a raffle during the Final Four that night. The cost is $20.
• The Dominican College women’s lacrosse team (2-5) fell to unbeaten Queens College, 18-5, in Flushing. Sophomore KC Jentzen of Nanuet and senior Aubree Williams of Great Meadows, NJ, each scored two goals in defeat. The Lady Chargers hope to rebound today when they travel to Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) rival Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, PA.
• Mercy College pitchers Tyler Savin of Wantagh and freshman Bryan Greig of New City were named East Coast Conference Co-Pitcher of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively. Savin pitched a one-hit shutout in the second game of Mercy’s doubleheader sweep of Molloy College, striking out five and picking up his second win of the season.  Greig, a graduate of Clarkstown South, picked up his second Rookie of the Week award following a brilliant eight-inning effort in the extra-inning win over Molloy, in which Greig gave up just five hits while striking out nine.  He also batted .300 in 10 at-bats as a designated hitter during the week, scoring his first run of the season and knocking in another. His 1.89 ERA leads Mercy starters, and he has struck out 14 over 19 innings while walking only three.  Chris Salvo of Yorktown Heights, a graduate of Lakeland High, is third on the team in batting at .243. Coach Bob Greiner and the Mavericks (4-15 overall, 2-2 in the ECC) open a three-game road series at C.W. Post (10-10) on Saturday with a doubleheader scheduled at noon in Brookville. Mercy and Post meet again at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
• Nyack College shortstop Phil Delisle of Montreal has been recognized as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Region Hitter of the Week.
  Delisle batted .500 (14 of 28) while leading the Warriors in a 5-1 stretch. The junior drove in nine runs while scoring six. The Warriors entertain Felician (NJ) College today at noon for a twin-bill at Provident Bank Park in Pomona, and then visit Post University in Waterbury, CT, for a doubleheader on Saturday at noon.

Weekly Sports Poll:

With March in its final week this week’s sports poll deals with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four in New Orleans. Kentucky and Louisville will play the early game on Saturday night quickly followed by Ohio State and Kansas. Now the only question left in the NCAA Basketball season, is

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