As the high school spring sports season enters the homestretch, the girls’ lacrosse team remains undefeated in their conference and appears to be a lock for the state tournament, while the fates of several others still hang in the balance. The track and field team is flying high again — literally and figuratively — with one athlete setting a new school record in the high jump this week.
Track and Field
The boys’ track and field team, under coach Joe Schroeder, did well in most events during a joint meet at home Tuesday against Coyle Cassidy. But it was Randall Jette, also a standout on the basketball and football teams, who sailed the highest, setting a new school record in the high jump with a distance of six feet, two inches.
The boys won by a total score of 103-34. Although the girls’ team dominated the throwing events, the women of Coyle Cassidy were equally strong in the jumping events, hurdles and distance runs, and won 96-43.
Vineyarder Maggie Riseborough won the shot put with a 34-foot throw, while Sidra Dumont won the discus with an 86-foot, 11-inch throw and Constance Chandler won the javelin with a throw of 81 feet, 4 inches.
On the boys’ side, Devin Balboni won the shot put (39 feet, 5 inches) and discus (106 feet, 3.5 inches); Jacob Lawrence won the long jump (18 feet, 7.5 inches); Rafael Maciel took the low hurdles (63 seconds) and triple jump (38 feet, 8 inches); and Norberto DeAssis won the 400-metre (53.6 seconds).
Softball
The team has fallen to 4-8, and may be a long shot to qualify for the state tournament. But first-year coach Donald Herman is not counting out his team just yet. “We could win six out of our last eight games,” he said. “Unlikely? Sure, but not impossible.”
As the newest member in the Eastern Athletic Conference, with some of the stronger softball programs in the region, the Vineyarders had an unusually hard schedule this week. But playoff talk aside, Coach Herman said his players have made strides. Number one pitcher Martha Scheffer continues to impress, while position players like Katie Hines, Taylor Perrotta, Gail Herman and Caroline Davey have battled in every game all season.
Coach Herman is quick to give credit to his team’s senior players, many of whom have played together for four years or more.
But ever the perfectionist, he said the team lost a chance for at least one more win. “The only game we could have, should have won was last week against Oliver Ames. We lost 3-2, but we left seven girls in scoring position and left the bases loaded twice. We can’t win games when we are doing that,” he said.
He also said: “We knew we had a tough schedule this year, and I think we improved as the season has gone on, which is all you can hope for.”
The girls play at home tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. in a rematch against Oliver Ames.
Baseball
Speaking of tough schedules, the baseball team has also struggled in its first full year in the Eastern Athletic Conference, with a record of 1-12. “We’re still a year or two away from really being able to compete in the new league and having a shot at qualifying for the state tournament,” coach Gary Simmons said, adding:
“We can’t compete at the level that some of these larger private schools can in [baseball], but we’ll get there.”
And he said there have been bright spots, including junior pitcher Ben Ciciora and sophomore hurler Will Stewart. Hitting has been a problem this year.
“We will have games in which we have a lot of hits, but we can’t string them together in one big inning. Then we will lose games when the other team puts together a big inning on us . . . and errors have killed us,” the coach said.
Girls’ Lacrosse
The girls’ lacrosse team continues to shine under coach Betsy Dripps, with an 8-3 record overall and a perfect 7-0 record in the Maritime League (it is one of the few teams that do not play in the Eastern Athletic Conference).
At home on Tuesday, the Vineyarders rebounded from two tough losses last week against Hopkinton and Norwell to defeat Bourne 18-12. Coach Dripps said it was a great bounce back.
“Frankly we had our work cut out against those two teams last week; both teams are ranked number one and number two in division two south — and played in the finals of the state tournament when Norwell became state champs. So I think those games got us ready for Tuesday’s game against Bourne . . . and I think we played brilliantly against a very tough opponent,” she said.
The girls beat Bourne at home earlier this season, so the Canalmen came in looking for payback.
They scored the first goal of the game, but Hayley Pierce found teammate Molly Fischer in front of the net just 30 seconds later, tying it at 1-1. Fischer scored minutes later to tie the game again at 2-2, and Maddie Hughes scored on an assist from Jennie Lindland soon after to give the home team their first lead.
The two teams exchanged goals for the rest of the half, until the Vineyarders finally built a three-goal lead on goals by Pierce, Kate Cecilio and Hughes. The Vineyarders came out firing in the second half to extend their lead to 16-7. With a large lead in hand, Coach Dripps let everyone on the team get some playing time, and the Canalmen outscored the Vineyarders 6-2 in the final minutes for a more respectable final score of 18-12.
Fischer finished with five goals; Hughes, Pierce and Lindland had three, and Brianna Davies and Angela DeBettencourt each scored once. Goaltender April Hargy has seven saves.
The girls play at home tomorrow at 11 a.m. against Pembroke.
Boys’ Tennis
The team continued to roll this week with wins against Sturgis and Coyle Cassidy, but also lost a tight match to Sandwich with a squad that featured five freshman in the starting lineup. In that match last Friday, Reid Yennie lost to Luke Martin in straight sets (6-4. 6-4), although the Vineyard’s Kent Leonard prevailed over Ben Sitanosian (6-2, 6-2).
In his first varsity match, freshman Harrison Rodrigues played well against opponent Jamie Bryant, splitting the first two sets before dropping the third (6-4, 4-6, 6-1).
The two teams split the doubles; Winn Grimm and Ryan Sawyer lost to Dan Farrinton and Taylor Doloway in two tight sets (7-6, 6-4), while Justice Yennie and Justin Smith defeated Matt Crowley and Peter Allarenga in extended sets (6-3, 6-7, 6-2).
The boys beat Coyle Cassidy two days later 4-1. All three singles players, Reid Yennie, Winn Grimm and Thomas Tilton-Heylin won their matches in straight sets. On Tuesday the team easily defeated Sturgis at Cape Cod Academy with a 5-0 sweep.
Dylan McCarthy and Jackson Koorse played their first match at second doubles and won (6-3, 6-2).
The team is 8-2 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in the conference.
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