Southampton Spring Athletes Are Excited To Return To Play After Year's Hiatus

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 spring athletic season across all of New York State, this spring marks the first time in two years that sports such as baseball, softball, lacrosse, girls golf and track and field will be played in two years.

Because of that fact, Section XI, the governing body of Suffolk County high school athletics, has dedicated itself to ensuring that this season goes off without a hitch. To that end, the county has scheduled the spring season to run from May into the second week of June, which it was able to do when the state canceled all of its championship tournaments. Typically the season starts in late March or early April, but the fall season was pushed back and ended in late April.

The county has used the previous two seasons, the winter and the fall, as a springboard to this season, and has taken what it’s learned during that time as a way to improve how high school athletics are run during a pandemic. Furthermore, the county just loosened its COVID testing requirements (see separate story) for high-risk sports such as boys lacrosse, in an effort to give those athletes as normal a season as possible, which is the ultimate goal for this season.

The following are brief previews of where each program stands going into the spring.

The Southampton-Pierson girls golf team will be looking to extend its impressive 24-0 start in league play since joining the varsity ranks in 2017 this season, but it will have to do so for the first time without Caraline Oakley, who has since graduated, and with a new head coach, as Dan White replaces Kim Hannigan.

The Mariners had a strong team behind Oakley, evident in their back-to-back finishes as the runner-up at the Suffolk County Championships. A number of players return from those teams, including Ella Coady, now a sophomore, who was All-County back in 2019. Southampton senior Kiera Gil and junior Caroline Wilutis also played on that 2019 team and also return.

Southampton junior Haley Marcincuk and Pierson junior Francesca Vitale are both new to the team along with a large group of eighth-graders in Vivienne Archer, Kathryn Blackmore, Emma Vail, Zaida Triffit and Jillian Swiatocha. Isabel Doyle, Eleana Merola and Sophia Beech make up the rest of the roster.

White said that there will be at least nine players competing throughout the season to be in the team’s top six. Southampton’s first match is April 10 against Longwood at Spring Lake Golf Club in Middle Island.

The South Fork boys lacrosse team, comprising student-athletes from Bridgehampton, East Hampton, Pierson, the Ross School and Southampton, was expecting to take a big leap forward in 2019, but an off-the-field injury led starting goalie Hudson Brindle to miss most of the season, which ultimately led the Islanders to going 3-13 in Division I. The Islanders were eager to quickly turn that around in 2020 but the season was canceled due to COVID.

With the team back and healthy, the South Fork team, which was ranked 17th out of 21 Division I schools this preseason, is finally ready to prove it can play with the top teams in Suffolk County. Luke Marro, a two-time All-Division and All-County player who has led the team in goals every year since he was in eighth grade, returns for his final season. Hudson Brindle, a Pierson senior, Southampton senior attack Zac Mobius and East Hampton senior defender and four-year starter Aiden Cooper all make up the team’s captains along with Marro.

Southampton seniors Cooper Brindle, Andre Aponte and Jai Agoglia all return as well. New to the team this season are Southampton seniors Owen Koszalka, Jarrett Helgerson, Riley Fisher, Reece Nugent, Sebastian Frowein and Griffin Wei, junior Justin Marro and sophomore Chance Brindle, and East Hampton seniors Bryan Pannasch, Lucas Nordlinger, Ethan Stein, Kai Esposito and Nick Lombardo, junior Colin Schaefer and freshmen Jack Cooper and Charlie Corwin.

The boys started the season on Tuesday against William Floyd and also play Copiague and Riverhead on Thursday and Saturday of this week, respectively.

The Mariners were building up to have a very competitive team in 2020 before that season was canceled. Zach Epley, now entering his second season, officially, as head coach, thinks this year’s team can be competitive as well, but it’s all dependent on a trio of seniors in Ethan Walker, Steven Kraszewski and Paul Guillo. Walker and Kraszewski will be the team’s top two starting pitchers and most potent bats in the lineup while Guillo will be their battery mate behind the plate.

Outside of that senior trio, though, Southampton is relatively young and doesn’t have much varsity experience. Epley said that the team played in a few preseason leagues and he was encouraged by what he saw out of senior pitcher Tommy Kreymborg, sophomore centerfielder Riley Herrmann, junior outfielder Harrison Gavalas and senior outfielder Robert Sior.

The Mariners will play in League VIII and begin the season this Friday against Babylon at 8 p.m. and will play Center Moriches on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games will be played at the Eastport-South Manor Sports Complex.

Southampton has four returning players from 2019 and six seniors, which is a lot when compared to some other teams, but it’s deceiving — only one of those players really has varsity experience.

Senior outfielder Anna Armandi, senior first baseman/outfielder Reilly Zorko, junior third baseman Ellie Avallone and junior shortstop Maggie Gabriele are the returning players for the Mariners. Gabriele was an outfielder in the past but head coach Tania Ciancio said she is coming in to play shortstop, which was vacated by now graduated Taylor Pike. Ciancio said Gabriele looks good at short early on.

Summer Stelling, a junior, will be taking over as the team’s main starting pitcher, and Ciancio said she has been working hard to improve, even through the pandemic, and is excited to see how she performs this season.

Ciancio said that the program had to drop its junior varsity team Monday morning, but that will create good depth at the varsity level with 17 players. Southampton opened its season on Monday against Center Moriches and will play at Center Moriches this Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Tony Dottin said he has one of the smallest groups of athletes he’s had in quite some time but he has some athletes who should compete well at the varsity level.

Leading that group will be Billy Malone, who used to play baseball in the spring but has now dedicated himself to running cross country and track. He’ll run in the 800-meter race and the 4x400-meter relay along with Griffin Schwartz, Evan Simeoni, and Justin Jane. Schwartz will run in the 400 and Simeoni will compete in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and in the relays.

Southampton hosted Hampton Bays on Wednesday and will compete at Wyandanch on April 11.

The Southampton girls track team is returning a number of strong athletes from the 2019 season. Bridget Ferguson, who reached the state meet in the high jump as an alternate, will be going for All-County honors this spring after missing by one spot two years ago. Gabriela Arnold, Amanda Mannino and Dreanne Joseph make up three-fourths of the reigning Division IV championship 4x400-meter relay team. Head coach Eddie Arnold said he is looking to fill that final spot left by Rebekah Moritz, who has since graduated, but he has a number of runners to choose from.

Alexis Armandi will lead the 4x100-meter relay, along with Carli Cameron. Coach Arnold said he needs to fill two spots on that relay team but can do so with his daughter Gabriela or Mannino, or a number of other sprinters on the team.

Emily Zukosky will continue to compete in the high jump and she’s started to compete in the hurdles as well now, Arnold said. Charlotte Cardel, Lucy Wesnofske, Georgiana Gavalas and Ariana Pike are all key distance runners for the team as well. Hallie Beeker is another distance runner and makes up the team’s captains along with Gabriela Arnold, Joseph and Mannino. Kendra Jimenez and Elizabeth Terry are the team’s top throwers.

Southampton competed at Hampton Bays on Wednesday and will host Wyandanch on April 11.

Southampton will have three key returning players this season in junior Luke Sacconaghi and seniors Ryan Grigo and Tyler Moore, who all will be the team’s captains this season.

The rest of the team is playing varsity for the first time and includes juniors Kellen Jeffries, Yostin Sandoval Vasquez, Matt Villalobos and Luke Bryan and sophomores Yassine Boukaissi, Charlie Davis and Raphael Garcia. Sophomore Daniel Sibre was due to make the team but twisted his ankle and will miss multiple weeks in what is an already pandemic-shortened season.

Longtime head coach Richard “Juni” Wingfield is expecting his team to be competitive this season in a tough League VII. The Mariners started the season on Wednesday in a nonleague match against Brentwood and will play another nonleague match at Sayville on Friday at 4 p.m.