Yorktown Patch Weekly Sports Report

Lakeland pre-season All-American and senior hurler Jonathan de Marte continued his outstanding career at LHS with a 2-0 complete game victory against visiting John Jay-East Fishkill Saturday afternoon. The win enabled de Marte to tie Dennis Robinson Jr.’s school record of 23 wins, set in 2000.

“It means a lot just to be in the same level as him with the wins,” de Marte said. “He was such a great pitcher and to be in that same category is great.”

Robinson Jr., who now coaches at Terry Parker High School in Jacksonville, Fla., was happy to hear that de Marte had tied his record when reached by phone after the game.

“I root for guys to do that kind of stuff,” Robinson Jr. said. “I wish him the best. He is going to pitch in more important games down the road, I know that.”

Lakeland co-head coach, Dennis Robinson Sr., was proud of de Marte’s accomplishment as well. “Records are meant to be broken,” he said.

The Lakeland senior did it by throwing a five-hitter, striking out eight and walking only one, which was intentional. He got some help from his defense with center fielder Ray Bozek gunning down a Patriot runner at home plate in the fifth inning and third baseman Zack Lenane turning a nifty 5-5-3 double play in the sixth frame.

“Both those plays were big, Zack’s defense was great all game, and the play from Ray was clutch,” de Marte said. “Even the pick from Dave [Judisky] was great. We just were solid all-around defensively.”

Lakeland (14-2)  got the runs it needed when it broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth with two runs. A lead-off homer by Brian Wallace, a bomb that easily cleared the centerfield wall, and a single by de Marte, which drove in Dom Priore, brought home Lakeland’s runs.

“Top of the order and always later innings, we start hitting the ball,” Wallace said. “The pitcher starts to come down to earth a little bit and just makes mistakes on his pitches and to me he made a mistake right down the middle.”

John Jay (10-5) attempted to rally when it got runners on first and second with one out in the seventh, but de Marte, who recorded his 250th career strikeout in the fourth inning, halted the threat by recording two strikeouts to end the game.

He now has 253 strikeouts for his career at LHS.

“The slider, I got it down towards the end of the game which was good, which helped out a lot but the change-up was huge,” de Marte said.

The win against John Jay is the type of game Lakeland will need to win come sectional time.

“This is the kind of competition that we are going to face in the sectionals,” Wallace said. “It was a great to come out of this game with a win. We are just going to try to finish off the regular season on a hot streak going into the sectionals.”

Scott leads Huskers

It was a successful night for the Yorktown girls' lacrosse squad, led by a game-high six goals from senior All-American and North Carolina-bound Lindsay Scott. The Huskers (13-3) defeated their crosstown rival Lakeland/Panas 17-12 on their senior night on Friday.

“Obviously, it’s one of the greatest feelings ever,” Scott said. “We lost to them on senior night last year, that was a big blow for us and this year we lost a game to them (14-13) earlier in the season. So we were just fired up tonight. Everything just clicked for us. We have a big senior class that just came out fired up, that was a big part of our win today.”

Part of that senior class is Scott's sister Sarah (three goals), who also will be playing at North Carolina next season. Lisa Littleton (three goals), Katy Cartelli (one goal and three assists), Nikki Fioretti (one goal), Aileen Kurpis (one goal), Marissa Makar and Kristin Hodgkinson are part of the Huskers’ vaunted senior class.

Also contributing to the Huskers’ win in their last regular-season game of 2011 were juniors Bianca Raniolo (six assists), Stefanie Ranagan (two goals) and Katie Frederick (12 saves).

“This senior class is fantastic, they are a great group of friends,” Yorktown coach Ellen Mager said. “In particular, I took the coaching job back over in ‘08 and the Scotts were freshmen. Spending four years with them, they are great kids, they are hard workers, they are outstanding players. Their friends have come forward and grown into the program with them. It’s been a great experience for everybody. I don’t think we have started eight seniors in the history of the program.”

Keying the win for Yorktown was its 5-1 lead in the opening quarter.

“You don’t want to spot Yorktown four or five goals off the bat, that’s a problem,” Rebels coach Sharon Sarsen said. “We played hard, we did some good things, but we just made too many mistakes to win a big game.”

Playing a big game for the Rebels (11-3-1) was Alexa Bonnes, who registered four goals and one assist. Teammates Anna Jeszeck (three goals, one assist) and Emma Bozek (two goals, two assists), also stood out for Lakeland/Panas.

“We always used to play midfield together,” Bonnes said. “When we are on the field, our heads are just looking for each other and we know each other can get it in the back of the net. It was my day today. It is everyone else’s day every other day.”

Megan Bradbury (two goals) and Melissa Hanson (one goal) also scored for the Rebels with their goalie, Amanda DiDomzio, making 10 saves.

Lakeland/Panas will have its own senior night at 4:30 p.m. Monday, May 16 against Brewster in its regular-season finale.

Lax sectionals

The boys' and girls' Section 1 lacrosse tournaments will begin Thursday, May 19, with the seedings being determined on May 17.

The Yorktown teams will be competing in the Class B tournament, while the Lakeland/Panas boys' and girls' squads will play in the Class A bracket.