Yorktown Patch Weekly Sports Report

It was a week that saw two big pitching highlights for Lakeland (7-2).

One of those highlights was the performance of senior Joey Arena. Arena threw 5.1 shutout innings at Walter Panas April 30, struck out eight, walked just two and allowed only two hits in a 12-5 win against the Panthers (6-3).

“He was able to spot the ball,” Lakeland coach Dennis Robinson said. “He has a college level changeup. I am happy that he was able to do what he did tonight.”

For Arena, who will pitch at C.W. Post next year in college, it was his most impressive performance of the year after not being able to pitch last season.

“I have worked on staying on top of the baseball a lot more in practice, pitching to my spots in and out,” Arena said. “I threw more inside just for today so that helped and my velocity is getting up there.”

Arena showed he could pitch in a big spot when, after Lakeland broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the top of the fourth inning, Panas  attempted to rally in the bottom of the fourth when Carmine Gentile reached first on an error and Tom Dinnen walked.

The Lakeland senior hurler responded by striking out Zac Preuss and Brandon Cohall to end the threat.

“I was thinking that I had to put a little extra on the ball, pitching to my spots as always but mostly to again put some extra on the ball,” Arena said.

For Arena, the win was extra sweet because not only did he pitch well but he did it against Panas, Lakeland’s sister school.

“We wanted to prove to our rivals that we could play with anybody,” Arena said. “We wanted to prove mostly that we could hit the ball. We really smoked the ball tonight. That was a big thing for us.”

Besides putting up runs, Arena said another positive of having a great hitting attack behind you is that it makes a pitcher more relaxed on the mound.

Leading that hitting attack was Jonathan de Marte with three hits. David Judisky, Dom Priore and Nick Mariani had two hits apiece for Lakeland.

Lakeland’s other great pitching performance was from Nick Caruso, who threw a no-hitter in a 14-0 win against visiting Putnam Valley on April 26.
 
"I never pitched a no-hitter in my whole life,” Caruso said. “It was great to be able to do it. In the fourth or fifth inning, I was just feeling it. All my pitches were working."

That type of performance from Caruso showed why Robinson has so much confidence in him.

“I would throw Nick against anybody,” Robinson said. “He walked just two guys and had 15 strikeouts. It was an outstanding performance.”

A performance that Caruso looks to build on.

"I just have to keep throwing like I did that night with the same mechanics, same velocity and same location, and hopefully I will do good again,” Caruso said.

Girls lacrosse

Four-time Section 1 Class A champ Lakeland/Panas goes into the week with a 7-2-1 overall mark and 4-0 in its league.

Senior Rebel Anna Jeszeck, who led the team with 28 goals and 26 assists through nine games, feels her squad is right where it should be at this point in the year.

"Our team since day one has been improving and that’s all that matters," Jeszeck said. "We haven’t peaked yet, but that’s OK because we want to be peaking at the end of the season when it matters the most. The fact that we are getting better day by day is a good thing.”

What also is a good thing for the Rebels is that Jeszeck, who will play lacrosse at University of Richmond next year, has become a scoring dynamo in addition to being a playmaker this season.

“As a sophomore and a junior, I took on more of an assist role because we had such prominent scorers in Cassandra Honovich and Kelsey Bub," Jeszeck said. "I was looking to pass the ball and put other people in position to score as well as myself. However, now as a senior, I have been giving opportunities where I have been set up to score in addition to setting others up.”

What helps Jeszeck is having four other teammates who are in double digits in goals.

“It’s a good thing that we have so many players that are scoring because it’s better than just relying on one certain player," Jeszeck said. "I think part of the reason we are so balanced is because we go in thinking the opposition is looking to shut off Alexa Bonnes and Emma Bozek, so we need other people to step up like Megan Bradbury and Alexa Caffrey, which they have done.”

In addition to having a balanced attack, the Rebels are also in fine position with senior Amanda DiDomizio in goal. DiDomizio, who is a high school state and Empire State Games champion field hockey goalie, has done a fine job handling the pressure of replacing two-time All-American Alex Fitzpatrick.

 “It’s great," Jeszeck said. "To come in after Fitzpatrick is a hard role to do but she is doing it very well. We love having her in goal and we wouldn’t want anybody else.”

Big local showdown

Yorktown (5-4) will host Somers (6-3) in a boys' lacrosse matchup at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3 in a game that will be televised by MSG Varsity.

The game pits two of the elite teams in local lacrosse. Yorktown, the patriarch of Section 1 lacrosse, has won six state titles and 33 Section 1 championships, while Somers has won six sectional crowns since its varsity program started in 1996.