By Nick Pantages
@nick_pantages22
Baseball: After a fairly successful trip to Fla., the Pride have been on a roll since. They started off with a win, after a stellar seven inning start from Connor Caverly and a walk-off sacrifice fly from Max Lepere. They also capped off their trip with go-ahead Michael Barrett sac-fly in the top of the ninth inning against St. Joseph’s (Maine). They ended 4-3 on their trip. since returning to Alden St. the Pride have won four out of five games. They swept double-headers over Elms and MCLA, including an extra-inning win over Elms with clutch relief pitching from Max Giacco and a Joe Traversa walk-off single. MCLA was held to just one run over 14 innings, with great starts from Connor Caverly and Nate Kelleher-Mochak. The final game was a narrow 1-0 loss to No. 8 Salve Regina, with the Pride unable to overcome the Seahawks excellent pitching.
Men’s Gymnastics: Competing at the USAG Championships, Sam Kaplan picked up All-American honors by finishing second in the all-around with a score of 77.550, helping them to a fourth-place team finish. In the individual portion on the second day, David Handron earned the best finish, with a 13.150 on the rings, which earned him a fourth place finish. Will Wilson and Peyton Cramer racked up sixth place finishes while Owen Carney was eighth on the horizontal bar.
Women’s Gymnastics: The Pride’s season concluded with a pair of athletes named as NGCA All-Americans. Sophia LeBlanc was the first, with her score of 38.745 good enough for second in the all-around competition, and Annie Kiley was the second, with a 9.725 that was good enough for her second straight All-American honor. Julia Reer, Ayako Maeda and Kelly McGuinness also all took part in the competition.
Men’s Lacrosse: Five more losses continued a nightmare season for the Pride. They fell to No. 15 Amherst by 10 goals and a strong Endicott side 15-7. They played a competitive game against No. 20 Babson, with a late comeback attempt falling short and falling 16-13, with hat-tricks by Mason Nocito and Matt Webb. They lost on the road to NEWMAC foe Emerson, squandering an 8-5 third quarter lead and eventually falling 12-10 despite a hat-trick from Jake Degnan. The final loss was a high-scoring affair with No. 19 Middlebury, with another hat-trick from Degnan and Nocito, and an eight point effort from Bryan Stensrud.
Women’s Lacrosse: Following a 4-0 start, the Pride split their last four games, now sitting with a 6-2 record. They traveled to Fla. to take on Bowdoin, falling 11-9 after being shut out for the final 19 minutes of game time. They responded to their loss with a 19-5 thrashing of Emerson, scoring a whopping 11 goals in the first quarter, capped off by five goals from Samantha Andresen. After losing a tight contest to No. 13 Trinity, the Pride bounced back with their best ever single-game performance, scoring 26 goals in a win over Salve Regina. 15 players found the back of the net in the win.
Softball: Excellent hitting and pitching has propelled the Pride to another strong start to the season. They ripped off five straight wins to begin the season, and finished with three out of five wins in their final five games. In total, they left Fla. with an 8-2 record, one game behind their pace from a season ago. In a double-header on March 22 against Eastern Connecticut, they won a 1-0 pitchers duel in Game 1 with a walk-off sacrifice fly, with Breannah McCann scoring pinch runner Marissa Seyfert. Offensively the Pride have got it done with a large supporting cast of players. Carissa Pecchia has been an offensive powerhouse, but five other players also have double digit hits, including Emily Whalen and Amelia DeRosa. However, the Pride’s pitching has been their strength. Ashley Pugliese has been dominant, with a miniscule .70 ERA over 30 innings, and DeRosa has been just as good, with a 1.03 ERA and just 28 baserunners allowed in 34 innings.
Women’s Swimming and Diving: Four athletes traveled to the NCAA Division III Championships in Greensboro, N.C. Maddie Symecko, Nina Lamb, Erin Kelaher and Kay Shen competed in the 200-medley, 200-free, 400-medley and 400-free relays, with their best finish in the 200 medley, where they finished 12th and set a new school record. Shen and Lamb also competed individually, with Shen’s best finish as 25th in the 100-free in a season best time of 51.56, while Lamb’s time of 1:03.65 earned her 18th in the 100-breast.
Men’s Tennis: Following three winless matchup in Fla., the Pride’s return to Mass. resulted in a win over Emerson to open NEWMAC play before falling to Roger WIlliams. Some players who have seen strong starts to the season are Zach Taub and Tatsuya Kimoto. Taub is 2-2 in singles matches, with each loss coming in the decisive third set, while Kimoto won NEWMAC Singles Athlete of the Week for his 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 1 Singles in the win over Emerson.
Women’s Tennis: A slow start to the season has plagued the Pride, as they are winless in four contests. They fell to Bethel, Trinity and Ithaca in Florida before they were narrowly defeated by Mount Holyoke in their NEWMAC opener. Kapom Vettayawaikoon has been great for the Pride in her debut collegiate season, with two singles wins, one at No. 1 and the other at No. 2.
Men’s Volleyball: The Pride used their 17 day gap between games after their loss to New Paltz St. to propel them to two wins on March 23 over Russell Sage and Hunter. They cruised through the two games without dropping a set. In the first game of the afternoon the Weislo twins, Noah and Ethan led the way, with Noah’s eight kills and five digs and Ethan’s 20 assists leading the way. A balanced effort in the second game as well guided the Pride to a win against Hunter, with no player getting over 11 kills as they improved to 17-3.
Photo Courtesy of Springfield Athletics.