As the weather warms, so do high school athletics, and several teams surged out of the gate early this spring, including girls’ lacrosse, girls’ softball, baseball and the ever-steady track team.

Girls’ Lacrosse

The girls’ lacrosse team has been dominant in almost every game this season, and continued the trend with a 16-7 thumping of Nantucket at home last Thursday followed by a 12-2 win on the road against New Bedford. The girls met their toughest opponent of the year Tuesday on the road against unbeaten Bourne, but were again up to the task, jumping out to an early lead en route to an easy 11-6 win.

The Vineyarders, who advanced to the third round of the state tournament last year, now stand at 5-0 and lead the Maritime League.

The game Monday was their second of the season against New Bedford. Laura Jernegan led the team with four goals and an assist; Hayley Pierce had three goals and an assist and Kate Cecilio had two goals and three assists. Sophie Lew, Leah Selby and Nikki Alexander each scored a goal, while Cristina Wiley and Kat Todd each had assists.

Leading 9-1 at the half the Vineyarders used the clock in the second frame, and coach Betsy Dripps was sensitive not to run up the score.

There was some history behind the next game with Bourne, a team the Vineyard defeated last year in the second round of the state tournament. The Vineyarders got out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Jernegan and Pierce, although Bourne tied the game at 3-3 mid-way through the first half.

But the Vineyarders finished strong, getting goals from Jernegan, Wiley and Molly Fischer to make it 6-3 at the break.

Coach Dripps said her team played some of its best lacrosse of the season in the second half, shutting down the Bourne attack while scoring at will. Brianna Davies had two nifty assists and a goal in the half, while Pierce and Lew each had two goals of their own. “The entire team played well together for the win,” Coach Dripps said. “But I would say the most outstanding player of the game was senior Zoe Fisher, who had her best game of the season with 14 big saves . . . she was incredible.”

Girls’ Softball

Things looked bleak halfway through last Thursday’s game against Dennis-Yarmouth at home, as the Vineyarders trailed by two runs. But they came back, thanks largely to the timely hitting of Emma Frizzell, and won in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Frizzell went 3 for 4 in the win, with a double and the game-winning triple in the bottom of the seventh.

On the road at Harwich on Monday, the Vineyarders easily defeated Cape Tech 7-2 behind the outstanding pitching of Caroline Davey, who had a no-hitter through five innings and struck out 10. Holly Robinson and Emilyanne Williston each went 2 for 3 in the win, while Emma Forbes scored three runs.

On Tuesday at home, the girls lost 9-2 to Somerset. The game was close early, but Somerset scored five unearned runs to put the game away. The team record is now 3-2.

Baseball

The baseball team had an up and down week, winning big against Dennis-Yarmouth 16-5 last Thursday, before losing 4-3 to Bourne the next day. The Vineyarders then lost to Dennis-Yarmouth at home on Wednesday 6-2, dropping their record to 2-4.

In the Dennis-Yarmouth game starting pitcher Ben Ciciora went five and two thirds innings, gave up three earned runs and struck out six. Tad Gold was the star on offense, going 4 for 6 with four runs scored, two RBIs and a home run to left center that cleared the fence.

Catcher Jack Wadleigh had a sacrifice bunt to score an early run on a safety squeeze, while Cody Coutinho had a two-run single.

“We got big hits when we needed them . . . I think this game did a lot to boost our confidence,” coach Gary Simmons said.

The Vineyarders again had strong starting pitching the next day against Bourne, as Nick Billingham pitched a complete game, giving up only five hits and three earned runs while striking out 11. The Vineyarders trailed throughout but tied the game in the top of the seventh on a single from Anthony Piland that drove home Lamar Moreis.

But Bourne put their lead runner on in the bottom of the inning on an error, and eventually won 4-3.

“That was a frustrating game. But overall we played well. It’s a game we easily could have won,” the coach said.

Track and Field

Coach Joe Schroeder’s boys’ and girls’ track and field teams are again off to a fast start. Both are undefeated and won matches against Sacred Heart at Kingston on Tuesday. The boys won 73-63, while the girls prevailed 75-61.

Micah Agnoli for the Vineyard boys won the shot put with a throw of 39 feet 11 inches; Agnoli also won the discus with a throw of 115 feet.

Will Bettencourt won the javelin with a throw of 136 feet; Taylor Smith and Willy Nevin finished second and third in the two-mile race, and Mark Reppert won both the 800-metre and mile run. Doug Asselin won the 400-metre low hurdles with a time of 61.1, while Randall Jette won the 200-metre with a time of 24.6

For the girls, Loren Gibson won both the shot put and discus, while teammate Emma Lee Iverson finished second in the discus and Sidra Dumont finished third in the javelin.

Hilary Dreyer won the high jump with a 4-foot 8-inch leap, while Ellie Hehre and Shivonne Schofield finished first and second respectively in the two-mile. Maddy Penicaud won the 400-metre low hurdles with a time of 13:26. Kim Carlomagno finished the 100-metre dash in 13.1 seconds and the 400-metre in 61.1 seconds, qualifying for the state match later in the season.

Boys’ Tennis

The squad won two matches and lost a third, beating Dennis-Yarmouth and Bourne on the road last week before dropping a match to powerhouse Cape Cod Academy at home on Tuesday.

In the match against Dennis-Yarmouth, Nik Wojtkielo and Win Grimm played solid doubles for their win, although it took a while for Reid Yennie to settle before he beat opponent Ben Bastian in two sets on the singles side. In the second singles match of the day, D-Y’s Zach Eldredge easily handled the Vineyard’s Dylan Hutchinson (6-1, 6-1), although the number one singles player Andrew McHugh outlasted opponent Dan Boninovich (7-5, 2-6, 6-2) to seal the team win.

The match against Bourne was never in doubt; the Vineyarders won all matches in straight sets. McHugh easily disposed of Kyle Johnston (6-1, 6-0), while Hutchinson won his second singles match, (6-4, 6-4).

Cape Cod Academy returned the favor against the Vineyarders on Tuesday at home. The team would have lost in straight sets if McHugh hadn’t battled to a tiebreaker against opponent Jonathan Zelman.

The tennis team is now 3-2.