The Winning Moments | Season 2 Ep. 2

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Coach, what's your favorite sports movie?

SPEAKER_01 0:29

I got two. I have Hoosers. No, it's it's it's it's Hoosers and remember the Titans. Little known fact about Sunshine. Sunshine was bass. Bass played for South Carolina football when I was a young kid.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Really? No, not some of the University of the Big Bang. I would say Major League. Um I just like Field of Dreams. Um I'm big, I'm a baseball movie guy. Right. You're going to be able to do that. Boxing movies, they're like some of the greatest movies ever made are boxing movies. Right. But you gotta go, that's what I'm saying. Cinderella, man. You gotta go, you gotta go um non-boxing. Box has got to be separate, its own category.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Okay. So all right, so you pick pick one. Go be the book.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

I'm gonna go Field of Dreams.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Field of Dreams. Okay. Yeah, it's so hard to your point. Like like boxing is is great. I listen, remember the Titans is is probably the one that gets me the most hype, I think. Um but Major League, Major League One, yeah. I can watch that all the time when it comes back off. Right. So Claudia, what's yours?

unknown 1:33

Miracle.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Miracle? Miracle. Oh nice 1980 hockey team. All right. All right. Well, listen, uh, welcome to the winning moment show. Uh we're back here on the spring session, and we're first real week of our new format here in the studio. We have uh legendary Coach Ward. Okay. Here to my side, and to my other side, we have the hardest working man in section one, the legendary Kevin DeVinny Jr., who uh, as we talked about the last two shows, one should have his own award, and two, uh, you'll find him a lot of times here on the show, probably on location from the links, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 2:09

Yeah, I mean, we could do. I've I've only played two rounds so far. Oh. Two rounds of golf so far this season. Weather hasn't been. It's been cool. I'm just I play enough golf now uh at this point in my life where first off, like physically, I can't play every day anymore. Just like I'll I'll I'll fall apart. Um, but then I just don't need to play when it's cold or when it's raining or anything like that. I just I can pick my spots.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

All the athletes right now that are watching this, all the parents who know what you're going through. All the athletes are like, wait a minute, he can't play golf every day? Golf every day? Like, what are you talking about? Golf every day.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Yeah, no, it where's you at? Where's your at? Like physically. I don't I'm not a I'm not a big stretcher. I haven't taken a practice swing in probably five years. Do you walk the course or do you uh I I so where I play at Summit Club and Armonk uh member, and um you can't walk it. You can walk it, but you're not you're not cutting home. Like it's gonna be it's a tough walk. It's a tough walk. You got and walk a carry a bag, they don't have pull carts. So I I need to uh I need to really be motivated to walk. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Okay, so I can't play golf every day, even though I drive the cart.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

And um I want to say this to Kevin should warm up a little bit because this is an area that I know my my brother's a seven handicap.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Okay. He stretches out like he's turns and does all the twists, puts the golf, you know. Yeah, yeah. You should really stretch out before you grip and rip. You really should. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

I'm sure I should. I won't though. It's tough, though. You're back the torque on your back. So I I was the first person out on my on the club on Tuesday, the first round of the year, and the pro wanted to uh take a video of the first swing of the year, and I walked up, put the ball down, and I hit it. And uh he's always you didn't even you didn't even take a practice swing. I said, No, no, no. Let it go.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

And that's and that that that that's how that's how good it is. I love it. So listen, let's uh let's let's kick the show off officially the spring season here.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Let's uh well first of all I want to say thank you to you guys because you guys were incredibly generous with your uh compliments towards me um in the last show. So I I appreciate that. You guys are very nice. Um and uh I'm happy to be back. You know, it was uh two weeks away. I I we had obviously spring break, so a lot of people took some time off. I didn't go anywhere. I was at home. Um did you go anywhere? You didn't go anywhere?

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah, I went to I went to my house.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Your house, yeah. AAU, the palatial estates. Absolutely. So um the uh it it it was uh being away for two weeks and watching you guys last week. I'm like, man, I miss it. I miss uh maybe when I I will say this, I and and watching what Claudio and um and Justin with the group did um at the county center, that I was like, I gotta figure out a way next year where I can split my time between doing both. Because that was still, when I look back, it was still posting those reels, and they're they're still awesome. So just share sharing in the excitement with the kids, it was like kind of what I felt like I missed out on. Like I got to announce it, and then like you guys got to be there and kind of like relive it with them, which is pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Well, listen, Matt, since you you dedicated yourself the old man on the show, I just want to mention that uh during the county center, coach coach did do double duty. He did he did sit next to you and commentary and didn't make it over to make sure he could talk to the kids as well.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

So you didn't bring a sweat, by the way, doing the doing the commentating. Somebody else brought to me recently about how good he how good Coach Ward was at it. Um and it wasn't like someone who I would expect to compliment people, like one of these coaches didn't. Oh God, I hope he's watching and knows who I'm talking about. Um but when he came out of the company like, well, that's a that's high praise. High praise. That's high price.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Well, I mean, but you but Kevin also, you know, in the fact you have to write up a story, you have to do other things to kind of but I hope next year that you know you're there with us right after to do post-game and and and and halftime analysis. But there's no hope.

SPEAKER_00 5:37

We gotta get him locked in, like coaches all locked in right now. He's got the locked in gear, he's all locked in today. I got all my paper bracelets. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

Swinging, swinging, right? Yeah, now it's now it's spring season, and um the spring season's interesting. It's it's cold. Well, it's it's only gonna be cold for like another couple days. Thank god. And then you're gonna get 80s next week. Um, a lot of the baseball teams obviously travel to Florida, they're playing games, exhibition games, whatever. Um, lacrosse gets underway. It's so hard. And like, so our first week of show, we're gonna highlight the best that's happened so far in all five sports that are going on, like the five main sports that are going on now. But like nothing early in the spring really matters because only because like the weather's gonna change, the teams like you know, a lot of teams are like me and golf. Like they stretched out a little bit before the season started, but they don't really get going in lacrosse baseball until they hit their stride, which happens usually right around middle of April, which is where we're at.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Injuries are the most important thing that the spring happens because you're right, it's cold. You're spring sports, you're not you're not used to being the cold, and and playing outside in the cold is a is a big, big difference than anything else. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

No, definitely. And uh obviously it's uh it's an interesting time too, because the other thing is uh, you know, there's a lot of basketball players in Section One that are gonna be in our show today as lacrosse players and um baseball players and baseball and softball players. And uh some of them are seniors, so this won't apply to them, but it's also AAU season for basketball. And so there's a couple like you know, Brooke Green from Pelham, we're gonna talk about um she's not playing AAU because she's a lacrosse player, she's a division one uh level lacrosse player, and she's showing why. Um, but there are players, athletes who are doing spring sports and doing which is which is pretty remarkable, and it's kind of speaks to their talent. I mean, that's really what it does. Absolutely. It's pretty pretty incredible. So you're gonna hear some names, you're like, oh, they also played something other than basketball because we only know them as some of us only know them as basketball players.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

For for baseball, you gotta be careful with the arms for pitching at this time of year with the with the cold. Gotta really be careful that way. For lacrosse, obviously, you gotta make sure they're stretched out. You don't want to strain hamstring, you don't want to pulled hamstring, you don't want any muscle pulls. So to be to stretch and and do all the preparation prior to pregame is gonna be really important at this time of year with the weather being what it is now.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

But do you remember the day where you'd have to stretch and it just felt good and you're not worried about anything?

SPEAKER_02 7:56

No, I'm so I'm only I'm only like sort of joking about the stretching. I do stretch at night, um not usually before I play. Um, but yeah, it's that is the thing. Like, so when you hear about professional athletes, like baseball players, I mean like guys are going on the on the injured lisp for hamstrings and whatever and I think to myself, he's a pro. Why didn't he just stretch? Like it's all would have taken cash strain for Juan Soto. Like, work your legs out, man. At least when you get paid to do, but I don't know, maybe it's not that easy.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

And and and and I'm um and I want to say this now can't handle the cold. I'm really I'm really happy that the spring is off to uh uh the spring's uh sports are off to a great start with regard to the weather. I know it's cold, but it's not raining. Yeah, it hasn't rained yet. We're good. Let's go get it. Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_02 8:40

All right, my bad. No rain at the masters this week, it's gonna be a good weekend. It's gonna be a good weekend. So, yeah, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

So let's kick it off. Let's go. Let's let's start with lacrosse, since we mentioned lacrosse, and plus it's also a sport that, yes, it is cold out there, but it's meant to be very, very physical. So the cold shouldn't matter to these kids. And uh let's kick off a little uh Boys Across.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

Yeah, so Boys Across this season in in section one, especially. I mean, you look at top teams in the area. I mean, just last night. I mean, last Thursday night was is probably gonna go down. It's probably the best night of the year in Boys Across in this area. Um, Iona Prep beats Don Bosco, National Powerhouse, which is a big time win. Absolutely. And the Bosco program obviously keeps getting better. So is Iona Prep. Iona Prep Bobby got three or four of the best players in the region right now. Um, and Crew Davis is already in North Carolina. He would have been right in that mix too. So um remarkable um what what they have continued to build uh there at Iona Prep. And then the same night, Yorktown beats Darianne last night. So that was like I saw that score coming across. I'm like, whoa. Like, because here's the thing about Sexual on the Cross is that it's really good and there's just great talent, and you see what they where they go to college, but then they play Long Island and Connecticut, and you know, Mamarinick loses to New Canaan, and you see teams lose to Wilton, and like listen, that's they're they're national programs as well. But then you never feel like you don't always feel like they always get like the marquee wins until Thursday night, and they beat a powerhouse from Jersey and Yorktown beats Darianne. That's a that is a major victory for Yorktown, maybe one of the biggest ones they've had in some years.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

That is a great statement as to where our lacrosse teams and the development of our players are going to beat Bosco, Bergen County, and and then to beat a team up from Connecticut. Anytime it's Darian, Greenwich, Wilton, you do that, you're doing something.

SPEAKER_02 10:22

Yeah, so that that so we've seen some of those, seen some of the teams early on um falter and lose to some of these uh to the Long Island powerhouses, the Garden Cities, and you know, Manhassas, whatever. But um, those are some good wins. And and that kind of gets the season kind of going the right direction. But the problem is, in a lot of ways, is that there's very clear favorites right now in Section One in Boys Across. I mean, Mamarinick in class A, um, Yorktown in Class B uh with uh Mezzotesta and the goalie. He's headed to play at UVA. He is as good as they come at the position. And um, so with Hunter Mesa Testa in goal, Yorktown is gonna be a really tough team to beat. I mean, you're gonna have I don't know how you're gonna you're gonna slow them down offensively, and then let alone score enough goals to beat them. I just feel like that Yorktown is so much in the driver's seat after losing last year to Horace Greeley. In the last couple years, you had these section championship games where there was a buildup, and it was like you're waiting for Ryan Somers to meet with each other in the championship, waiting for Greeley in Yorktown. And they produce great games. This year, I don't know where that number two team is for the number ones, the favorites. And obviously, Ryan Somers and Class C will will meet. They already met, they met their first uh Section One game of the season. Rye won the game, I don't know, pretty pretty handily. I mean, they they kind of show that they were the better team of the two. Early season, obviously, cold night, Saturday night at Rye. Um, and then in D you got Bronxville. I mean, so it's pretty pretty established who the four front runners are in each class, and the next five weeks gonna be figuring out who's the second, you know, to those teams.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Do we have uh I I I think that for for lacrosse here, I mean, obviously, those four teams right now are juggernauts at this point early on. Yeah, and there's no doubt any but there's no argument about that. My thing will be is there gonna be a number two that can give them any sort of of competition down the road in postseason?

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Yeah, it's that's that's that's really what the theme of 2026 is right now. I mean, you're gonna find those teams. And and listen, it's not it's not that the other teams aren't good, it's just that the Marinick now has kind of just like they did in football and they did in basketball, they've reached like this pinnacle of success in lacrosse. And the Reese's are a big reason. Owen Reese, Jake Reese, two two basketball players, guys who who've made the transition over to lacrosse and don't look like they've really skipped a beat. You know, they've been. You know, obviously uh Jake's going to Princeton and Owen's going to Siena. And then you've got uh um you got some other talent division one players in this team as well. So like the Marinegs is so loaded.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Um and Jake and Owen with a lacrosse stick in their hand is a real problem for people at their size.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

And their atmosphere the switchover is easier. From like we talked about football to basketball, it's hard, they're a lot harder, I think, than from going from basketball to lacrosse. I don't think you need as much time to get your lacrosse legs or your lacrosse wind uh in that scenario. So that transition is good for them. And you to you to your point, like if I look at these teams that you just mentioned, most of them have great football programs. Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_02 13:15

They do. Brian Aker, he's a good football player. So I think only um there was only one one player um who played football and basketball. Uh Sam. I'm I'm thinking of Sam's last name. Um, and uh Sam was the only one who played both, and then Brian Aker plays football and lacrosse. The Reese's play basketball and lacrosse. So you have more more more kind of crossover players. Um but uh no, they're they're impressive. Just uh Mamarinick's depth of talent, just like in football. So in football, they didn't really have like a superstar player and lacrosse, they kind of have just like a lot of really high-level college players on the team. They great balance and it really what makes them and Rye so good.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

People outside of our region that know lacrosse, Kevin, say that section one is one of the strongest lacrosse uh geographic sections in the country, not just in Northeast. They're a section one's known for lacrosse outside of outside of the region. They really are. Yeah. And because it's amazing how many kids come out of here and go to college and play at a really high level.

SPEAKER_02 14:19

It was uh Sam McGill was the uh was the was the player um that I was forgetting that played uh both, who's a uh kind of a off-the-bench spark three-point shooter in basketball and uh football player as well. Uh and then Carson Winters is uh another all-American from America. I just kind of forgot about it. He's gonna Harvard. So him, he's going to Harvard, but then Carson Miller is going to Harvard. So it's Nigel Strazini from Rye, who's been, he is just, he's an absolute force in the middle uh for the Rye Lacrosse team. So those four teams separate themselves. Um, Thomas Freeman, Brady Dolan, two football players also on the Bronxville lacrosse squad, um, that are just elite level players, and Bronxville's just kind of the clear favorite team.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Do all four have a legitimate chance to win the state championship?

SPEAKER_02 15:01

No. Um, I wouldn't say they they do.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Or at least get to the final four.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

Well, the the problem is though. So last year, the final four meant going through Long Island in the quarterfinals, which is the way the rotations are. That's not the rotation this year. Somers did it. Once they beat Long Island, it was like, okay, state championship or butt. And that was it. They won the state title.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Um, and this is Somers, don't forget about Somers. They have Ken Violante and Brett Kennedy and Tristan Iglesias, also football players, lacrosse players, um, all Division I uh lacrosse bound players. So um they're they're not gonna be, we can't just like kind of push them aside because Rye's, you know, beat them the first game. But um four teams, you know, you'd like to see one of them break through. I think Bamarinick and Rye are the ones that is the buildup has been so big these last few seasons. They, you know, a couple years ago, both of them were in games against Long Island teams in Albany in the state semifinals and lost. Um, and the Long Island team went on to win the championship. It is so exciting. It is the hardest sport for a Section One team to win a state titles in Boys Lacrosse. So that's what makes Somers doing last year so great.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

Because the road goes through Long Island. Long Island's just so you have to you have to beat the Long Island teams.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

Yeah, it's just it's it they're they're too good. Yeah, they're just they're loaded.

SPEAKER_01 16:09

They're always and they're they're considered the top region for lacrosse in the country. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

What what do you why do you think that is? It's just where the sport originated, it's where the sport's most popular. I mean, you know, not say anything bad about Long Island basketball, but like it's not competitive to Section One at all. No, yeah. Not in AAA, double A or A. You know, you'll you'll you'll have some teams like Carl Place beat beat uh Woodlands and B. Um but typically the Long Island schools just can't compete at at the Section One level. So like you watch Bayshore this year in Boys and Girls Across too. But so uh when I was going out to the uh state final uh state's quarterfinals for for basketball tap and Z and YMA were playing in girls, I drove into uh SUNY Farmingdale, I think, was where it was. Yep. And I'm driving in and the parking lot was packed. And I'm like, wow, there's a good crowd here. And I'm like, now there's a lacrosse tournament uh on the fields over here. But it was early March. Wow. It was my that's it's it's a lacrosse area, it's just where it's always been. Yep. So listen, uh so the so, like we said, and you know, those teams we'll we'll talk about those teams over the course of the season. But early on in the season, you know, you're saying, coach, about who the number two teams are gonna be. Listen, someone's got to contend in in class A. North Rockland's been great. North Rockland's 4-0. Um, they were down five goals to Pearl River, who's Pearl River's a rising program. They've done a great job. They come back, they win 11-10 on Wednesday. Um, they beat Fox Lane. Uh Noah Hilliard has been awesome uh for them. He had uh three goals and assists and an 8-7 win over Lakeland Panis. Beating Lakeland Panis is a is a is a very solid win for them. Yes, it is. They beat Clarkstown North. Um, and then uh Sapinski had four goals, Hilliard had two and two um in the win over Pearl River. So North Rockland being undefeated. You know, to me, like North Rockland's one of those schools where, you know, they've they've been in the upper echelon in class A, but they've never kind of been able to get over the hurdle and get over the net. But like you feel like it's you know, the tide could change for this program soon. Um I think North Rockland athletics in general have just kind of better. They've always been good, like they're good in every sport, but like the the football winning a couple years ago, baseball's by the way, if you want to go some, if you're ever gonna go to high school baseball game, go to the North Rockland High School's stadium that they built. It's unbelievable. Really? You would you would walk into you, you're gonna walk up and be like, what the heck is that? It it is it is a full stadium, like you're like a like a minor league, like a minor league. They have an overhang, it's like seats above dugouts, it's awesome. We guys I'll show you some pictures. Okay, but this is what athletic programs do when they when they have success. It usually originates from like building up facilities and absolutely increasing the morale and the and the kind of the the image of the school, and uh they've done an amazing job in North Rockland doing that. So to me, Boys Across, we'll take another step um this year and uh being the hunt. We mentioned Pearl River too. Um they're in class C. They've quietly been like one of the programs that's continued to get better, and we recognize a lot of these names. You know, Tommy Mahoney, he's going to Cornell. Uh, he's the face-off guy. Uh he was great in the uh North Rockland. Entering North Rockland, he had uh had won 16 of 17 face-offs for the season. Um, just controls the game. That's amazing, by the way. TJ Lanise, basketball player, uh football quarterback, five goals against Brewster, two two and three um early in the season as well. Great player, both ends of the field. And uh Pearl River, as we said, you know, they're are they gonna contend for a section championship? Like, you know, it's gonna be hard to kind of be in the mix with Ryan Somers, but they're good. Um, and this is the type of team that kind of sets up for the future. Um, with the group they have Shay Sullivan, uh Jack Pritz, and um, you know, they have they have good balance and all you know, teams that win, like I look at Horace Greeley last year winning the section championship. They had been kind of coming for about five years. And so the guys in the team five years before that deserve some of the credit for the success of last year.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

The classes before.

SPEAKER_02 19:51

Yeah, you kind of you kind of get like that vision um for Pearl River because it's it's a big sports town. Baseball teams do a great, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

It's but we're not but they've never traditionally been what they are right now in lacrosse at this point.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Coach Mike Sullivan's done a great job. He's done a great job. Yeah, he's done a great job. So I think uh Pearl River is um, you know, they're gonna reap more of the benefits down the road for the success of this season, is kind of what I what I feel.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

And and I want to go back to North Rockland real quick. North Rockland winning close games and not losing close games means that your program has taken another step.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yeah, no, totally. And um listen, as I said, they they've uh steps lacrosse is about taking steps because it's hard to go and just like Carmel did it a few years ago. It's very rare that you have a program that's kind of down or in the middle, and all of a sudden makes the section championship game and challenges Mamarinik. Um and they did it, and it's hard to sustain success at that level. Um, but um, it's hard to do what they did. But Pearl River and North Rock, and they're kind of just keep getting better. And the fact they played that game the other day, um, 11-10 game, just an exciting back and forth matchup. It's uh you know, disappointing for Pearl River to you know have a five goal lead and lose, but listen, it's gonna probably make them better down the road.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Absolutely. A lot of it goes to face-offs, like you talk about Tommy Mahoney with 16 to 17. We talked about it off the show last week, coach, about how important if you don't know the cross, look lacrosse face-offs are extremely everything. Possession's everything in lacrosse.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yeah, I mean that's that's uh how girls' games are basically just decided before the shot now they have a shot clock. So um you used to win a face-off and then that was you, you it's over. You win enough of them, you're gonna win the game. Very rarely would you win the face-off battle and not win the game. So um, you know, possession, as you said, is everything. The game's changed a little bit this year. I'm very curious to see what coaches feel about the um about the shot clock in the last couple years and how it's you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

So I've watched Girls Lacrosse for four years now. Prior to me award played at Argley for four years. I'm so happy, quite frankly, that there is a shot clock now.

SPEAKER_02 21:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

It is because it was tough to watch the team hold it and hold it and hold it.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Should there be a shot clock in AAU basketball? That's my other question.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Absolutely. Thirty thirty five seconds.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

But yeah, I mean there should be a shot clock.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

But I'm glad there's a shot clock in Girls Across now.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

That's true. Totally agree. Just before we get to this, the the my other team, but uh White Plains, another team that's been been coming on strong. Um Eddie Ryan, great athlete football player as well. Um he's been he's been awesome. Alex Pista, Chris LaRosa, and Patrick Dooley. Patrick Dooley's been kind of their main goal scorer. Um but White Plains undefeated. And uh as we said, it's you know their team down the road. Mamarinick is uh is a team to beat, but White Plains has got talent and the program's continued to grow as well. But Valhalla is a team that, you know, let's uh let's give them their their uh their credit because started the program, first year varsity program, they won their first game. It was the greatest thing that ever happened, and then they started 4-0. So here's the thing. So they start 4-0, which is great. They lost on Thursday, but they lost a Fox Lane established program, obviously a larger school, much larger, three times the size of the school. Yep. Uh lost 4-1. So I gotta tell you, like, 4-1, you don't see 4-1 in the crossing. No, you don't. No, no, you don't. So it's um, you know, that they they held Fox Lane to four goals. I mean, they're a very physical team, they got football players in this team. Um, maybe one of the best foot, maybe the best returning football player in the section, and Luke Foysette. Um, he's been he's been great. He's, you know, um he had four goals and four assists in the first win. So um and they've beaten they've beaten teams that have programs that have been around for a while in Dobbs, North Salem, Clarkston North, beaten New Row. Um And convincingly. Yeah, convincingly then they lost the Fox Lane, which kind of like if before the season, you were just like, if you looked at their schedule, a first year program, you thought, like, all right, hopefully they don't get blown out. 4-1. I mean, it's like nice, it's totally respectable.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

If I'm the defensive coordinator, John Lim for the uh the um Valhalla um you know, Valhalla lacrosse team, yeah, and you told me we're only gonna give up four goals to Fox Lane, I'd have signed up for that immediately.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

Yeah, AJ Pesci has been awesome as well. He's uh their main attack, and he's uh seven goals to assist in the first game, five goals and assists in the next game. So uh they've you know, again, building building the program. So we we we talk so much about like you know, new uh in all sports, but like remember, there's only like 40 section one lacrosse teams, you know, or program, maybe 40s, 42.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

We have 68 schools or 70 schools, 70, 70 plus schools.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

I mean, obviously Yonkers schools combined for one team, but um eight of those. And uh, but yeah, so like it's to and I it just surprises me a little bit that they hadn't had a team. They've been a baseball, it's baseball town, baseball at no pleasant area is very baseball-centric, yeah. Um, between Pleasantville, Westlake, Brian, Sherman Park.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Sherman Park's always done well in Little League down there.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

But that's uh it's nice to see Vahala kind of having this success early on. And um, I'm not surprised when I see you know guys like Pesci and Foysette in the middle of it. So I you know if you're gonna start a team, those are good guys to start with.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Great start, great athletes, great athletes to start your team like that. Yeah start your program at the varsity level.

SPEAKER_02 24:53

So that's that's the uh the boys lacrosse in the first uh couple weeks.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

Well, listen, we have a lot more to come for Boys LaCrosse uh and lacrosse in general. Parents, coaches, we would love uh a list of our 100 goal scorers and 200 goal scores that uh that you guys have. Email it to show at the winning moments.com. This way we can celebrate all the kids. Remember all the highlights. You can go to the winning moments.com to upload highlights that we were not able to grab uh and tell us about about some some players. We got some submissions this week. We're very very happy to talk about it in a little while. Because one of those submissions came for Girls Lacrosse, a uh young lady that we are very much familiar with. She uh in basketball, she calls her own place to win the game, and then she executed her own place to win the game. And uh I appreciate the submission for Casey Cummings, which we'll talk about throughout the show. But uh Casey Cummings Lacrosse.

SPEAKER_02 25:42

Casey Cummings had a pretty good winner, didn't she? I mean, I mean, that was this Nyak Rye rivalry. Um, and we can kind of start there with these two. It's just it's real. Um, and it's it's funny because you think about rivalries, you think about like Lakeland and Panis or schools that are neighboring each other. You gotta cross a bridge and go across the county to get from Nyack to Rye. Um, but it's just it's what success does, and success at a high level. So Rye's always been one of the premier programs. Always Rye's Rye, right? Yeah, Rye's Rye, Rye is Rye. Rye is Rye in every sport. That should be a t-shirt for Rye, Rye, okay, Rye is Rye. Rye is Rye. I'm gonna play. That's actually really good. Rye is Rye. So um, if someone so uh a friend of mine, their kid uh plays Byram Hills baseball, and they said, How's Rye this year? And I'm that was my answer. I said, Rye is Rye. Rye's Rye. So in Girls Across, Rye is really good. Um, and uh the talent that they have returning from last year's team that lost in the section championship to Nyack Um is really is really good. Uh it's really high level. Um, you know, they're gonna go out and face the toughest competition, they're gonna face the best teams in Connecticut, Long Island. Um, their section one schedule is gonna be probably maybe a little less than half, and they're gonna play national powers everywhere else to prepare for the Nyack game. Uh get the championship is really what it's all about. It's unbelievable. But to me, you know, what Nyak does last year, Casey Cummings, who's gonna go play at Syracuse. Um what I saw, so you could see things differently on a basketball court because you could see a player's face, you could see um you get closer, you could see, you know, during timeout, you watch players differently. And I gotta tell you, there's just something about Casey Cummings when you watch her compete that you're like, wow. Like just different than many female athletes. There's no doubt about that. Um a level of determination, a level of um just you know, she gets frustrated um when she's not like in basketball. I think to myself, I I I called it her second sport very often uh on game broadcast, whatever. And it probably wasn't fair because she's really good. It could be her first sport if she wanted, she chose. Um she could play college basketball. 100%. I mean, 100%. And I'm sure the work that she puts into lacrosse is at the sacrifice of work she puts into basketball. So flip that. Um, but to me, this Nyack team is sort of a phenomenon. They they they had been good in Girls La Cross over the years, but nothing kind of what they are now, where they're like national level. Yeah, they were solid, Kevin. Yeah, they were never, but they're not what they are now, and it's really kind of just this whole nucleus of talent that they had that's come through. And it's gonna be interesting to see how they sustain it after this group. I think most of them are a lot of them are juniors. Juniors are really talented as well. So um, when they leave, what it's gonna be like. But listen, we get to enjoy it now because this Rye Nyak thing is is real, and it's gonna be fun to watch over the course of the season. They're always gonna kind of be judging against each other. Um, I believe it was an overtime win last year for Nyack um over Rye, and um they're the two teams to beat in in their classics.

SPEAKER_00 28:31

It always amazes me how how one player, all right, in lacrosse, when I started watching lacrosse because my my son Nathaniel plays lacrosse, Blindbrook, one player can really change the essence of that team game, right? It's it's very similar to like professional soccer, I think about it, where there's so many players on the field, but you could have a Ronaldo or a Messi, like just one player that can in seconds change the course of the game.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

Well, you have one at Blindbrook, don't you, in Boys Cross? Tyler?

SPEAKER_00 28:55

Tyler Tyler, I mean, listen, Tyler Terracine. Thank you to Tyler for how well he treats Nathaniel because uh I didn't grow up in lacrosse. Yeah, I wish I wish I played lacrosse. Um, I knew nothing about lacrosse until Nathaniel started playing. Nathaniel's a sophomore uh now playing lacrosse. He's actually his game on Monday should start um and be the the face-off. Uh he's a he's a face-off guy, so he's been working hard on that side. I think that's where he he excels. Tyler's a great mentor to him, and Tyler as a lacrosse player, like watching Tyler play lacrosse. I watched Tyler play a lot of sports. Watching him play lacrosse, though, it's like a symphony for him. Yeah, he just moves around, right? He's a big guy, so obviously you hit him and you're gonna bounce off him, but he just moves around at a different speed, and it's it's insane. 200 goals and and a chance to break the record. But yeah, one dominant player, and you think about it, you could put three guys, for example, when we talked about basketball, I said I never saw in a in a game where when they did it at the Figueroa, where you put two players on one guy and say, hey guys, we're gonna play three on four. Yeah, when you're gonna go. You can put three guys on him and he still makes a difference.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Like I said, you're talking about one and and Nyak has that player in Casey Cummings. Yes, she does still in that. Yes, she is. But if you look at Rye, and then you say you should go through the Rye roster and you're like, Oh, this girl's going. So Bo Whaling, she's gonna go play at Duke. Uh Annie Toulouse is gonna go play at Georgetown. You have um who else did I see on here? The other ones on my list. Paige Sepadina. Uh Claire, uh Claire, she's not playing, but she's otherwise, she's gonna play at US. Southern Cal. Uh Claire Nemsick is gonna go play at Buffalo. I mean Buffalo. Um, Bucknell, and then you have uh the last player on my list here was uh Mary uh Mary Ebling, and she's gonna play Notre Dame. So, and there's more. There's more, and that's just five other players. And look at their schedule early on, Ken. So, yeah, so anyway, so this that that that to me is that that's was the headline of last season in in Girls Across, and it's his headline this season as well. But the team that's made the most headlines, I think, that's really kind of caught the eye is Pleasantville. Wow. I mean, the scoreboard uh life's gonna have to be adjusted because they have so look at what they've done so far. They beat North Shore 20 to 7, they beat Somers 17 to 8. So you're talking about Long Island Powerhouse, but North Shore is very good. Sure. Somers is Somers 17-8 win. They beat Greenwich, Connecticut. Um six Division I players in that Greenwich team, and they beat them 19-15. Um, they are so we stream the games on Sports Engine. The speed at which they play, obviously, the foot speed is one thing, but just the just the precision, the passing, the movement, um, it is really fun to watch. They are down that field. Yeah, and they spend as much time celebrating as they do, Pat. I mean, it really is it's incredible. They have 18 goals, um, averaging 18 goals a game. Ella Collins has 36 assists. They've only played five games. That's amazing. That's amazing. Baith Brown, she's going to U Penn. Um, she's been she's been dominant scoring. And uh just the whole, you know, the whole thing is just that, and it doesn't end with them. There's so many players in this Pleasantville team. They are they're special. I mean, they really are. They're they just uh this is a it's a it's a it's a very good era in in girl sports in Pleasantville and all grades, like they kind of have eighth graders and ninth graders. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 31:59

Um but um what this team right now in lacrosse is is too to be to be down on the road at Greenwich where you may not get a call, you may get it, may you know, it could go either way with regard to the officiating in lacrosse. For them to come back late from late in the third quarter from a late third quarter deficit is a testament to those girls.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Totally. I I love your line. Uh they spend as much time celebrating as they do playing the game.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

Yeah, no, they do because it's you know, it's 18 goals. It really is, it's incredible. Who's their coach?

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Uh do we know you asked me questions on the air?

SPEAKER_02 32:33

I know it is. I I forgot.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

That's the first. I'm not supposed to do that to them.

SPEAKER_02 32:39

I love it. What do you mean? And he's gonna watch, he's gonna be like, I I just I I'm I'm sorry. Mental Rodex is not what it wants to do.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

I know, all right. But who their coach has done an outstanding job with them? I'm gonna start asking you questions. Yeah. So uh he does that point. I won't do that again.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Fire away. Fire away. That's the point of the uh of the show. And as people watch the show, they see that you know we're not uh we're not scripted here and at the winning moments. No, we're not.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Anna Tiso is the coach. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 33:08

Who knew it was Anna Tisso?

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Hannah Tiso, she's done a great job there. Amazing what that team's done.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Coach will never forget that name, by the way. Coach will never forget the name.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

If you remember, never forget the talk I'm gonna give it to him after. He gave me the lecture. And that's the point the bad thing is I got the lecture before and should have known better. You know what the problem is coaches change so much. And then in defense to you, you're right. They do change all the time. So, but um, I, you know, I I remember. Now I'm back I'm back on script.

SPEAKER_00 33:37

Well, listen, listen, I think I think this I think this is great because uh we this is the first show that we're covering multiple sports. Yeah, so what's different in basketball where we can kind of have you a let's stump Kevin in basketball right or in one sport because he has all the data and so forth right there. So doing multiple sports, we're trying to put it together on the show to be the new sports center for section one. And we put some rules in place before the show. Like when we have our previous.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

I don't think we put rules in place. Guidelines.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

There was a rule and it got broken.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

All right, next to Pelham, Pelham, Pelham, Brooke Green. This is easy, this is an easy one because uh obviously we're taking a basketball player and putting on the crossfield. No, she's a cross player on the basketball court. She is She must be like a force, the most physically dominant player in the section I've seen. I mean, I've obviously watched these on streams, but physical dominance, it's she and it's exactly what she's good at in basketball is like tight spaces, being the strongest, being the fastest, being the smartest. And like, and sometimes show she is she's had multiple eight goal game this year, and a lot of her goals are just kind of off-script goals, right? So we'll we'll we'll say, you know, obviously, you know, you go you go through a lot of um technique and and drills and footwork in lacrosse, like you do in every sport, but sometimes she scores goals whereas she just throws it all out the window, and she's just bigger and stronger. And uh it's it's impressive. Um she's been she's been awesome for Pelham so far. Um seven goals against Mamarinick, and then she had eight goals, five draw controls against Bronxville. Um yeah, no, that Pelham's four and two, they're you know, they're gonna be in the mix. Um, it's gonna be tough, you know, competing um in the class with uh in class C, obviously with uh with Rye, and uh, but listen, they are um, you know, it's they're right there.

SPEAKER_01 35:21

When you have one player like Brooke Green on a lacrosse field, and if you can make if you can get keep possession at the face-off spot, yeah, and your goal is is just solid, you have a chance, Kevin. You really have a chance in lacrosse.

SPEAKER_02 35:39

Yeah, so I mentioned about Ryan Ayack. I Ryan are in Nyac and B, Ry's and C, and they meet on the 5th of May. So May so single to Mile. So single to Mile, play accordingly. Single to Mile. Little Fiesta we're gonna have to. There we go. Uh little party.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Little fiesta at the Nyak Rai game? Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

Yeah. Good. So um so Pelham is gonna be in the mix with Rye. Um, and uh again, they're another team that's gonna face a lot of good uh uh, you know, out of section competition as well.

SPEAKER_00 36:06

So I mean seven goals. Seven goals in one game is is is a lot.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Reed Datois from Barm Hills Boys had 10 goals in a game this week. He only played first half. Oh, yeah. Uh yeah, so Reed is uh, but we didn't you know back to boys real quick, just uh a Dominicle score who has a chance to lead the section in goals because he's just you know kind of Barm Hills is uh best hope up front, up top. So he's he's very talented. Um so that's that's the girls across uh whip around there.

SPEAKER_00 36:31

Now, coach, do you know who the coach of uh of Pelham is?

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Um let's move on.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Kay Kaylee Howe. Kaylee Howe. Kaylee How uh Fridays. Well listen, lacrosse and baseball are are similar skill sets. Like I said, when I was younger as a kid, like uh I wish I played, I wish I even knew about lacrosse, good high-end uh uh hand-eye coordination and being able to to have your bat speed in that case. You can translate it as long as you could be agile, like move your feet and have some of those things. Uh catching, of course, I think there is a translation across from it from the skill sets you need. So it's a great segue to talk about some boys' baseball.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

Baseball in uh in section one so far this year has been uh a testament to the depth. So obviously, catch them has dominated class triple A the last few years. Forever. Forever. Um, and uh Pat Milley's as good as it come as a coach. Guys work it out for him, though. I mean, you know, we saw it, they face memarinick. Mamarick to me still baseball is a sport too, remember. Like you can't you can't live day to day. Oh, this team lost, they're no longer there. Overall, big picture, memarinick to me is going, it has a chance to be the best team at the end. The last team standing to win the section championship. We'll plunk it, a major reason why. When he sees pitches, which is not going to be often, uh, he's gonna play. He saw one the other day. Tell him the other day, let's catch him. They hung one, he put it over the fence into the trees. He saw a hanging curveball. You asked me the distance. I I would say it probably went about 380, maybe a little more than that. Insane. It wasn't 36 degrees in Windy. It might have gone 400 feet. It might have gone 400 feet. Yeah, I mean, that's he just smoked at it. He had two, he has two runs in the year. He's five of thirteen batting. He's walked five times. I think he's hit walked four times and hit by a pitch once. Um he's he gets on base, he scores. Um, he is just uh he's he's good, man. He has been awesome. Seven runs scored. Um he broke 100 hits. 100 hits, yeah. And again, we talked about Casey Cummings, and this is why like when you see a kid, and this is the confidence level, junior to senior year, and his confidence is so high right now. Memoric's question is gonna be about are they gonna have enough pitching? Um, and uh, you know, we saw them yesterday on Thursday, they went to John Jay's Fishgill, lost eight six in a game, but they booted the ball around. I mean, they just, you know, you gotta play defense.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

You can you cannot give extra outs at the high school varsity baseball level, any place.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

No, and so to me, memoric is the team to beat, which is music to the ears of the folks and catch them because they love when nobody thinks they because like it last year it was like you know, two years ago, they three years ago they win the state championship. The next year they return all their guys. It's hard to repeat state championship. They lose in the state final. Um, all these division one players graduate, nobody expects them to be good, and they win the section again. And they went to the state final. So um, you know, they're they're they're still gonna be in the mix here. They probably are the one A and one B them in Memarinick. It's gonna be on the right day. It depends on how the pitching works out, but they have an ace in Tyler Durkin. Um, he had seven strikeouts against Yorktown, also their top hitter, three for three, four RBI against Rye, Homer against Memarinick, um, you know, Nikki Mondessando, Shane Riley, this catch them team, and then they they got guys. I mean, they catch them baseball. It's just like it's just a turnstile of the next young talent that comes through. They're gonna have guys who are gonna probably be sophomores and freshman sophomores, they're gonna struggle early on, turn it around. You know, Coach Mealy, in terms of develop in season development of players, there's nobody better.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

It's it's nobody.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

And I've seen girls' basketball and I seen it baseball.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

I'm gonna say this with regard to catch them's baseball program. You would think because it's upstate New York, where they're located geographically. No, I'm but I'm I'm being honest. Up in Dutch, yeah, you would not assume that they would be there would be a program up there like that. But they've been doing this for a long time like that. Their feeder system, their youth program must be pretty outstanding too. Yeah. In order for them to get to this place and be at the level that they've been at, and Coach Mealy doing what he does. That's it's it's incredi. It really is incredible what catch them's done up there baseball wise.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

Impressive. And and year after year, um, and uh, you know, his guys going to play in college, they're doing really well in college. His son, his son, Ryan, is doing awesome college uh pitcher. So um, yeah, they the the way they develop players and uh for their for their season and for the future is is amazing. But Meredith, as we said, you know, they know they have to go through catch them. They kind of hope they don't have to go through catch him. And Arlington, who's also in the mix, yeah. Um, the the bracket in triple A baseball, it's so critical. You know, obviously it's double elimination. So, you know, once you lose, you don't want to lose before that final four because then you gotta, well, if you lose before the final four, you're out. But if you get to the final four and you lose double elimination, you want to win that game and then go to the championship, let everyone else just use their pitching to get back to have to beat you twice. It's such a it's it's the best thing that Section One did was Chris McCarthy and baseball making it double elimination because the best team has won every time.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

In most in most states, and I can speak attest to this from when I played it at Somerville High School in South Carolina, it was ding, yeah. It was it was dumb. State playoffs. State playoffs were double elimination. The state playoffs have have always been down there. Yeah, double elimination. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 41:43

And normally that's states they don't have that here in New York.

SPEAKER_01 41:45

Yeah, state playoffs have always been that way. And then when you got to lower state and upper state, it was best two out of three. And that and it's still that format. Yeah, and really normally the best teams do get there.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

No, absolutely. So Arlington's, you know, Arlington's makes them dangerous, is the pitching, man. Their pitching has been. It's all about the pitching. Um Lucas Howard, five innings, six strikeouts against Brewster. Uh Carl Blayback was great. They threw a combined no-hitter uh against Scarsdale. Scarsdale was also no hit, um, John Jay's Fishgill. So we're talking about a team with elite level pitching, depth of pitching. It's how you win in the postseason. So Arlington to me, you know, obviously you want to be the number one seed and get it high. But like to me, when the playoffs come, you got to be careful. You don't want Arlington on your side.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

It's all about it's all about pitching and defense when you are apples versus apples at the top tier in our section.

SPEAKER_03 42:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

If you got pitching and you have defense, it it keeps you in the game. Yeah. Because those games are going to normally be 2-1, 3-2 down the road. So no hitters.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

Like the pitch, you're right. To pitch a no-hitter, you got to play defense too, right? It's not a pitcher in that case. So that's a testament to a no-hitter in high school to me. It's not like pitching a perfect game in pro, but it's it's damn near close. Like it's it's really hard to do that. Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_02 42:57

Absolutely. Austin Sype from John Jay's Fishkill will put John Jay's Fishkill in the next. They beat America on Thursday, so obviously don't don't count out John Jay's Fishkill. But I think those four teams kind of separated themselves in uh class triple A. Class in class double A, there's a team that's kind of clearly established themselves as the favorite. That was Mayapack, who lost in Lashester's championship to Fox Lane. Uh, they beat Fox Lane on the road on Thursday. So some of the numbers that Mayapak has put up so far, they they're kind of, you know, I talked to uh Fox Lane baseball coach uh Matt Hills the other day. And we're I you know going into the Mayopat game and I said, you know, how about Mayapak? He's like, man, they're going for it. He's like, they're all in, man. These these he's like, I've watched them play, you do a little scouting of them, watch them online. He's like, they are as deep, talented, and then there is his vocal and his, you know, they are just they're a team that just you you watch them and you're like, wow, these this is a group. This is a group of guys that has a chance to do something. It's really hard to go see it all the way through in baseball. First of all, there's health issues, but also just hard in baseball just to go, you know, game in, game out. Um, but when you've got Drew Lichtenberger dropping absolute bombs. He might be the only guy that I've seen hit a home run this year that was farther than the home run that Will Plunkett hit. He's had a couple home runs, but one of his one of his home runs, he had two in one game. Home run at home in the first game of the season was an absolute mission. Bomb. Yeah. Um so Drew Lichtenberger, as as good as they come, uh power bat. He's gonna play to Delphi. Um Vin Cataldo has been great. Ryan uh Grabelkis, nine of thirteen, seven runs score. He has 12 strikeouts pitching in six innings. Um and then Mick Nick Mascarelli, who's just been absolutely maybe the best pitcher in the section so far this season, is gonna go pitch at Wagner next year. 31 strikeouts and 14 and two thirds innings pitched. Um 14K's against Eastchester. That's crazy. 10 strikeouts against Han Hud. So he had struck out 14 of the 18 batters he faced against Eastchester. He struck out 10 of the 14 he faced against Han Hud, and then he struck out seven of the 16 he faced against Fox Lane. He's 3-0. Uh Mascarelli, as I said, he is that this manpack team is deep, loaded, and uh they're ready.

SPEAKER_01 44:54

They're putting up video game numbers right now, John and Kevin. They are putting up numbers. Yes, they are pitching and hitting.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Yeah. Uh you look at Horace Greeley, they're kind of like them, them, Ryan, Clarkstown North, they're kind of all in the next mix, but the the what makes them all dangerous is the pitching that all these three those three teams have. So Mayapak could put up the thing about baseball is you could bat. I've watched Walter Panis over the years and different teams that had like one through nine, four hundred hitters, and then they face a top pitcher and it neutralizes everything. It's like it didn't happen. It didn't exist. Um the run that Mayapack, and listen, we're talking about playoffs now, it's kind of crazy. But um Zach Bond, um, he's gonna go pitch Delaware. He throws in the 90s uh for Horace Greeley, he's terrific. Um Greeley's five and one. They they they've they've really put things together this season so far. Um he has 13 strike, uh 13 innings pitched, um 21 strikeouts, only two walks on the season is Zach Bond. So Bond is an ace. Um you don't want to line up with him, obviously, in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Uh the opponent's batting average 188.

SPEAKER_02 45:52

Yeah, that's that's low. That's really you better believe it.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

And then he's averaging more than 21K's to two baseline balls. So he's not putting people on this.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

No, no, no, definitely not. Um Rye, you know, makes it last year's state championship game in class A. Um, returning Luke London, Luke Antoneda. Maybe the state final four. Luke Antoneda, Jackson Panault, um, you know, Rye's Rye's Rye.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Rise Rye.

SPEAKER_02 46:15

Rye is Rye. Clarkston North has two two great pitchers, Quinn Miller and JD Santulli. Quinn Miller's gonna pitch at West Point. Uh Santulli, another ace, and North is gonna face a really difficult. So North is probably the team that when the playoffs come will be the most has a chance to be the most battle-tested because of the Rockland County schedule. Yeah. Um, you know, every team, and you're gonna hear about another Rockland County team in a minute. Every team on their schedule is good. I mean, it's like, so you know, they're gonna be really tested. Um, the bats in this team, um, there's a there's a this is a deep middle of this lineup, it's really, really good. So uh North is his uh don't don't write them off just yet. I know they lost a couple games early on.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

Real quick, Kevin, I want to go back to John J. East Fishkill. Tell me about Austin Sype and and uh uh Bonaventure going to Bonaventure, and then the kid Alex Gendris came back.

SPEAKER_02 46:58

No, no, he tries to two, he rests it away. So that's that that's a tough one that hurts them. He's he's gonna play at University of Houston. So he still doesn't hope well, so he's still in our area, but uh he's playing at Trinity Paul and University Houston, big time, big time baseball number.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

But I think you put a good point. Like you could have a 400 batting average all the way down. And if you look at the if you look at Mayapak here, we talk about that, and they average almost 1.5 strikeouts per inning for these pitchers. Like I know you can't you can't do anything with that. It's a pure neutralization of of almost every hitter.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

No, it's so the one thing is that strikeout numbers tend to go down. Opposing teams stop striking out, strike out less over the course of the season. So that number is gonna have to go, it's probably not gonna stay where it is. Um, a lot of early season strikeouts, but um, I don't know, maybe not. I don't know. Mescarelli is awesome. Um, so we'll uh he's he's fun to watch. I watched him a little bit yesterday uh against Fox Lane and impressive.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

Command he has, toss the ball. They need to get those beautifully. The PTA should now get the K's, right? Make sure you have the right Ks. But no, yeah, backwards. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 48:02

They can do that over Tap and Z also. Uh the clear class A favorite in uh in section one, and because of their pitching. So so far that they their wins are 8-0, 18-1, 1-0, 2-1, 2-1, 7-2, and 12-1. Not a lot of runs. They've only got up six runs, four of them earned in seven games to start the season. So talking to Mark Stanford. So Mark Stanford, um, he's a baseball coach at at uh Tappen Z. He also does the he's also the bookkeeper for the girls' basketball team that won the state championship. So I used to see him all the time in the winter, and I say, You ready for baseball? You ready for baseball? He goes, Kev, our pitching is awesome. He's like, our pitching is really has a chance to be good. He's like, we have three guys that we give three aces, you know. Um, you know, Caleb Hertzell is obviously the the main guy. Um he's committed to play pitch at Stony Brook. He's 3-0 to start the season, 20 innings, only six hits, 29 strikeouts, and 20 innings.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Um opponent batting average. What is it, coach?

SPEAKER_02 48:55

0.070. 7-0, yeah. Um, he's that good. And so they're gonna line him up a little bit. So if you I what I've liked about Tabazi and looking at the box scores is how much they don't overpitch their pitchers. They have 70, 60, 70 pitches. They're they're kind of uh Mark Stanford is he's won a section championship as a coach. He's been there uh I think maybe 20 years. Um, he knows what it takes to win when it matters, right? But he's he's kind of getting his pitchers going uh because Thomas Campanella is another one. He's uh a six-foot lefty, so two lefty pitchers at the top. Oh uh, nine strikeouts, eight innings pitch, and then Dylan Kim, who just pitched amazing um in their win over North Rockland, five innings over the road. And he's lefty. Uh yeah, not left pitch. They've got three lefties. Yeah, so Kim is Kim has been dominant as well. I think he's he also is pitching against Westlake as well. So um to me, this this uh Tapman Z team has a chance. I mean, there's a the only thing about this in Class A, it's it's again, it's so hard because there's just there's no top contender, but there's like seven teams that are like on the right day, the way the things line up, they can beat you. They can beat you. Okay. So we're and we're looking at Panis, Pleasantville, Westlake, Nanuet. Panis is uh traditional power, obviously, and multi-time section champion. So um they bench the finals. And so I think that when you look at this, the group of the pool of contenders in Class A, Tappan Z is gonna have to go through some good teams. Pleasantville's off to a great start. They're six and one. They have a uh a major college bound player in Reed Soprano with another lefty uh pitcher. He's gonna URI, 30 strikeouts and 18 innings. This lineup's been good. Declan Bruder, remember that name? Absolutely, yeah. Uh he doesn't really make many outs. 13 of 20 at the players to win. He's 1400. Yeah, he's he's been he's been great. Again, confidence carryover from one sport to another. He's just been very confident. Jake Van Seiss, 13 uh RBIs in 26 plate appearances. So they're they are a machine offensively, Pleasantville. They haven't faced the pitching that uh Tapazi has, but um, they're gonna be a confident team. When I look at a Pleasantville like this, I kind of I I'd be a little weary of them because they're just they they're gonna be a team that's gonna come in very, very poised. These are most of these guys have been varsity players for two or three years already. So uh Patis obviously is great. Jacob Malfont's going to UConn. He's uh one of the elite defensive players. When you watch Jacob Malfon, so like Julian Guzman from Iona Prep and Jacob Malfont, when you watch them take uh pregame warm-ups like in the field, you're like, wow, that's like you don't have to ask which one of these guys in this field is going to make you see the glove and the arm and everything, you're like, wow, Jacob.

SPEAKER_01 51:22

And then the way they take the ball, they take grounds some balls. Julian Guzmont, Iona Prep, he's going to Maryland. He's another one. Well, listen, Panis has been good for a long time. They had a great run um up there with Stafford and Witters and that and and crew. And um I know those kids because my kids grew up with them up there. So Panas continuing their tradition and their hit and their uh of excellence, it says something, but I want to get back to Tappen Z one thing. Here's my thing with Tappen Z. They've blown people out and then they've won close games. One nothing of a ride, one of a north rock game. Right. So now a team like that, for me, that I feel like, you know, at this point in A, with regard to what they've done early, they have to be kind of like the favorite at this point. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

No, but I think the Kevin's point too. Sorry, it's it's uh it's confidence. So you said uh when I play baseball as a kid, to me, baseball is the number one sport where you need the most confidence. You're at the most superstition. Oh my god, yeah. Uh as you guys you guys both know, as big baseball fans and baseball former baseball players. But if you have the confidence more than any other sport, I think it confidence can win you the game. Absolutely. And confidence can lose you the game. It's such a superstitious plus mental game. So mental. Right, probably second to golf. I mean, golf's obviously the most mental sport, but baseball to me is second to that case. Have a lot of time to beat in your head before you get to that next to bat, or or before you get it.

SPEAKER_02 52:46

The difference is that in golf, no one no one else is depending on you, but in baseball they are. So there's that that added pressure. You're very individual, but also dependent. Your team's dependent on you. Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's it's uh it's different. But yeah, these these teams are uh A is gonna be interesting. Obviously, Tap and Z is team to beat. I think Panis likes being where they are. Um kind of in not like let Tap and Z get all the attention because Panis was that team a couple years ago and lost one year in the championship when they should have won, you know. So correct. Um they uh, you know, they it's gonna be uh a fun postseason in class A as we get closer to that. B Putt Valley won last year. They're back being the team to beat uh in class B. But last year, I don't think that you know they faced they beat Hastings in the championship. There was there's more teams that are that are a threat this year, I think, in uh in B baseball. Um Ryanek, Davy Ryan. I know he just got uh lost his last game against Pauling, but to me, Davy Ryan's gonna give them a chance to beat anybody. Um, you know, big big time pitcher. Um lost to polling on Wednesday. He was 2-0 going in, 17 strikeouts, and 14 in a third innings pitched. Um Ryan to me, uh I and John, you would you agree with this? Like, I watched him in basketball and I was like, man, I I did not realize how good he was, so I saw him live. And it's sort of the same thing in baseball. Uh, when you watch him pitch, just the just just the way he kind of goes about his business um and the way he carries himself on the mound. He's he's uh he's very good. But to me, Putt Valley with Nikki Benedetto, uh six for eight batting, five walks, no strikeouts so far, Louis Peduto batting 429. Um, you know, they're and the the crazy thing is that two seniors in the starting lineup and none of them are pitchers. So like Putt Valley has a chance to be good for a couple years. Um this this would be the kind of the year where you think like maybe there might be a opportunity to beat them because next year no one's gonna beat them.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

Okay, and and so with with regard to that, um, I want to speak to pitching, obviously class B, you know, being different, small enrollments. Kevin, who you know, who out of this emerges with regard to the depth of pitching?

SPEAKER_02 54:42

Um, Putt Valley probably is in the mix there. I think Hastings has some good talent. You know, Valhalla's the team. We didn't mention Valhalla. Um they've got they've got depth of talent pitching, so they're gonna be a threat as well. Um Dallas Ferry's got a pitcher named Anthony Ficorata, by the way. He came back to pitch this year. Yes, he did. He's playing first bases. Getting his legs under him again. Uh, you know, so Pauling's a sleeper. Pauling's an absolute sleeper, um, by the way, as well, out of uh out of upstate New York, as you called it.

SPEAKER_00 55:11

Traveling there to Dutchess County, upstate New York. Yes. Yes, they're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02 55:16

Class C Tuckaho and North Salem, the two teams. But Tuckahoe's got the you know, I again, another guy, you know, the eye test with Connor Bryce, obviously quarterback football team.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

Oh man, he's a stud athletically.

SPEAKER_02 55:26

You know, he's going to Villanova to play baseball. He is awesome. He pitched against Somers. Um, three on runs and five innings, probably not, you know, but nine strikeouts against a you know a class uh A school. So uh they're good, and it's all the same guys Rocca Prianti, Luca Del Conte, Jay Rom uh Romeo, all those guys who are good in football and basketball or yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:46

So do they have a chance? All right, so in our lower, in our lower, you know, our small enrollment schools, do any of them have a chance to make noise outside of our section down the road?

SPEAKER_02 55:56

Coach, it is so hard to know that yeah because like it it doesn't like I've seen teams, I was like, oh, this Tucko team, especially Tuckahoe. They look like state championship teams, they lose in the first round. And then I watched, I covered North Salem, they went back to back state championships. And both years I was like kind of surprised every time they won. You know, I was like, I can't wait to beat this team. Baseball is just a tricky sport. There's a lot of dynamics in baseball that come into play that people don't think about late school year, senior year, um spring, focus. Um there's a lot of things that are just that kind of play a lot of spring break in the Bahamas. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 56:32

I'll give this I'll give this personal experience. We were number one team in the state of South Carolina my senior year. The team at Somerville High School. Um we we won we won the Charleston area tournament in the uh during spring break, which was a big thing, a hand-to-hand invitational tournament. You know who won the state championship my senior year?

SPEAKER_02 56:54

Who there?

SPEAKER_01 56:55

The fourth place team in our region.

SPEAKER_02 56:57

Yeah, of course. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 56:58

Buford High School won it. Everything that needed to happen for Buford, they only had two pitchers. It rained, because it's two hours away. It would rain, they would save the arm. And they ended up winning the fourth, and they got in by 0.5 of a PowerPoint. They won the state championship by senior year. That's the point that you're trying to make. That's baseball. Baseball's like that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 57:20

You see it in in especially in uh softball as well. So does this want to do softball next? Yeah, yeah. Let's do softball. Breeze through because we we've obviously taken up a lot of time, but we'll uh we'll kind of dive into baseball, uh, softball and gross flag more over the course of the season. But you know, softball to start, it's kind of been what you expect so far. You know, it's a little bit so not as many teams travel for softball as they do in baseball. So a lot of teams are just starting their season now. Um, pitching's different, you don't need to spread your season out in softball like you do in baseball because to get days off for pitching. So you can play five softball games in a row. Absolutely. Um White Plains got off to a nice start, defending champions. Um, Alexis Teague, four for four, five RBIs in their win over Austin uh this week. White Plains is still, to me, the team to beat until proven otherwise. Um, they've been impressive. Their lineup is good. Uh Noel Kanonis as well. So um they've got things going on pretty good at White Plains in triple A. South, again, Clarkson South, double A champions, made it to the state final four last year. Uh Carly Vos, Carol Luna, uh Kaylor Wire's back as a pitcher. I mean, when they won last year, you automatically start thinking about well, whatever happens in the state playoffs now is great, but they have a chance to win the state championship next year, and that's where they are. I mean, they they really do with the with the young players returning.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

Do both teams have a chance, White Plains and Clarkstown South, they get to the state championship?

SPEAKER_02 58:36

Um, I would say South more. Okay. Uh more White Plains, uh, winning triple A softball is really difficult. Very difficult. You need like an absolutely dominant pitcher because you're gonna face one, and that's usually the team that wins. Someone who's some girl from upstate, um, like the real upstate, like Buffalo area. Some girl um who has like uh averages like 18 strikeouts a game, he usually comes along.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

And she's and she's popping it at like 59, 60, 61, maybe more.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

In Western New York is very strong, very strong. Yeah, so um, you know, it's it's hard to win triple A. Uh, you know, so I think White Plains has a chance. Okay. Anyone that wins section one has a chance, but um, it's double A, they have a legitimate shot. Um, I don't know who the team to beat in Class A is uh right now in section one. I I I love what I've seen out at Tap and Z. Again, talk about dominant pitchers. Um Haley Arvidson uh from TZ has been great. 201 strikeouts last year and 120 innings one innings pitched. Um that's like the baseline for being like an elite level pitcher is 200 strikeouts. And she got 201 last year and only 121 innings. Um so Tap and Z is gonna be really good. Pear River is another team, and those two teams probably, you know, if they were in the section championship, I wouldn't be surprised. Um, you know, with what they've the the core of talent they have, another young team. Um and then, you know, down in uh B, Hastings won last year. Dobbs beat them in the regular season so far, Ryanack is in the mix as well. Oh, Ryanicson A. Um, no, no, Rynexon B. Um, you know, they're they're in the mix as well. So uh, but to me, the team that's really, you know, you know, Tuckahoe softball, Coach John Diarco, um, what he's done at this program, so you asked me the obvious question. I said Tuckahoe is a team to beat. They went to the state final last year, uh, lost in the championship. And you said, Oh, is it a is it a lot of the the the basketball players because you just assume when it's class C school if they're good and it carries over because there are a lot of the great soccer players, basketball players. No, softball is kind of like its own thing in Tucko. Yeah, so this is how they have all things, all state level athletes in soccer and and in basketball. It's like a different group of girls for the softball team. And Katie Atwood is definitely stud pitcher. Yeah, Katie Atwood's the pitcher, junior pitcher, 219 strikeouts last year in only 109 innings. She bat over 500 um in the middle of this lineup. She's an elite level player in Class C. And uh, in you know, for you don't see Class C players mentioned as the top five player in the section, and she is. So um Atwood's gonna give him a chance to go on compete. The state championship is uh, you know, again, it's I was there last year when they lost the state final, and I was I sat there and I watched, I forgot the team they played, and I remember thinking to myself, I'm like, this is a class C school, like their number nine hitter, hit a home run. I'm like, it was it was insane how good they were. So um, you know, to to get that far, you gotta really pitch and play defense at the C level.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:20

You cannot give extra bats in and no, you cannot.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

And not not at that level. And uh no, you get punished. So Tucker with a chance, you know, they're gonna, you know, they're they're they're they're thirsting for that state championship in a in a in a girl sport. Softball can be their best shot, I think, with uh with this team this year. So those are the uh that's kind of where we sit so far to start the season so far. And softball, as we said, the season really gets going. The season goes a little longer, um, and uh playoffs are a little more condensed date-wise. So the softball season's kind of like just getting going.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:48

And it's gonna be a long season. It's gonna be a long season for them as well. And uh, to your point, we're in spring, yeah, but it doesn't feel like spring out there yet. And when it does, the bats start.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:57

That's normally warm up, but I will tell you this if you have a young lady that can bring it at the high school level 55 miles an hour plus, yeah. It's a bone, and and even if it's not that, you just throw she can throw strikes, she's got the rise, she's got the drop, and she's got an array of pitches, it's very difficult to hit her. Pitching wins in softball, that's what it comes down to.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:18

Absolutely. And everybody thought Coach Ward just did basketball the rise, the drop. I mean, listen, okay, he's the coach of all sports and moving to all sports to uh to wrap up here on today's show. Let's talk about a newish, newish sport, which by the way, it's gonna be an Olympic sport in a couple years, which blew my mind. Uh flag football. Girls flag football.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:36

The best uh the best thing that Section One did was kind of be on the at the forefront of of building girls' flag football.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:43

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:44

Um, you know, because you know, you hear about participation levels of girls' sports across the board is dropped in this part of the country. Um, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that just more girls specialize, more girls play one sport. That's really what it is. And and yeah, everyone thinks specialization is a is a boys' problem. It's more, it's more on the girls' side. You see more girls just focus on soccer or focus on the cross, and that's really what it or softball. Um, but girls flag football kind of gives an outlet because you see what you're you're gonna a theme you're gonna see here is a lot of the best girls flag football players are are stars in other sports. Um and you look at you know, um you look at Scarsdale, defending state champions, and and um and Leah Brown, and uh she's one of the top players in this section returning. They won the state championship last year. Um the Scarsdale team, Scarsdale is sort of like at is like the apex of of programs in the section right now. Tappen Z, though, is like kind of close. Um there's now three classes in uh in um in flag football, so they continue to expand and grow. Um Tabban Z wins uh the section last year. Eve Girardi, state championship point guard. Absolutely is unbelievably good in flag football. I mean, throwing the football, and so there was a play um in the state quarterfinal where she threw up like a three-quarter court shot um in basketball, like a buzzer beater attempt, and she hit the side of the backboard, and people's faces were like, what the heck was that? She just launched it because she's such a good arm, and I'm like, well, these people have never seen her play flag football. Um and she was on target and she missed the shot, but still, um Eve Girardi, and don't forget this name. Um Emerson Prendergas, eighth grader from Tap and Z, gonna be a superstar down the road. I mean, she's I mean again, Tap and Z is a sport, a school that has is kind of has things going in the right direction in all female sports. Um Girls Flag Football uh is one of those as well. Uh Greeley and Mayapak are gonna be in the mix. Horace Greeley's uh been solid so far. Mayapak's got another great quarterback in uh Maria Garrafalo, Fiona Kelleher is an elite level player. So Mayapak is probably the biggest threat um to compete for a section championship in class A. Uh, them and Neuro. Neuro as well. Neuro um, you know, only lost to Scarsville 7-0 in the start of the season. Scarsdale's a team that's in years past has, you know, kind of been close games, and then they beat them by bigger margins in the playoffs. They have always have. Um but Neuro's uh is right there. And then in C's, kind of the wide open one. Last year we had Arsley and Han Hud, but all their girls' basketball players on both sides competing for a flag football championship. Um, it'll be Han Hud's in the mix. Uh Kate Stratton, she's gonna play basketball, Cortland. Emily Amineto, who's only a freshman at Byram Hills, is been first year playing, just up in the field and just electric. Absolutely electric.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

I saw her in a basketball court. I can tell you this out in the open field in flag football. You might not touch, you might forget about touching a flag. You're not gonna touch her.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:32

No, she's she is, and she's still finding her way. Tiffany Mariscott is well from Byram Hills. I think Byram Hills is in the mix. Uh Westlake's 4-0, Putt Valley's 5 1. So I think Class D, like last year, is completely wide open.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

And this is the fastest growing sport, not only in our area, but I think in the country, isn't it, Kevin? One of the fastest growing sports.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

Oh, is that zero? So yeah, it is pickleball, cornhole, and uh flight football. No, it is. And so I'll tell you, wait till I've The Olympics, forget it. I mean my daughter, my daughter's playing, my daughters love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:03

Listen, as a fellow girl dad, I am extremely excited about flag football. And by the way, I'm gonna interject something.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:08

I know we're at the end, but Darry Devaney can get it done in flag football. He's a lefty quarterback. Lefty quarterback. I have uh flashbacks.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:18

You might quit basketball, just focus on flag football. Ken Stableback specialized as everybody else does.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:22

Ken Stabler, Boomer, Sason. Yeah. So absolutely. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:25

Uh and yeah, that's uh that's our show today. Please continue to submit the winning moments. Uh at the winningmoments.com. You can submit your highlights. Uh, the more highlights you can get us, the better we can be, and the more we can share. So thank you guys for watching. Please like and subscribe. Share it across all your social media channels. This way we can continue to grow the exposure for the kids. It's all about the kids, not about us. And again, thank you to Section One, particularly for this last segment of uh flag football. Kevin said right, uh Todd Santa Barbara, Daniel, Jesse, the team over there, the entire organization does a great job on being first. And yeah, I think we are the leading section in girls' flag football. And again, as a girl dad, I'm really excited uh about that. We want to cover all the sports, send us what you got. Until next time, that's the winning moments.