They’re young and undersized, but the Shoreham-Wading River Wildcats are also soccer savvy and headed to the playoffs.
For a high school boys soccer team to lose 11 players (about half of whom were starters) from last year and return with only four seniors, that can be a worrisome thing for a coach. Russ Mitchinson was concerned, and he had good cause to be.
Or at least he thought he did. READ
It could have been called Mercy Appreciation Day.
Although the activities surrounding the Bishop McGann-Mercy softball team’s home game against Center Moriches on Tuesday didn’t have an official designation, Mercy Appreciation Day would have been as good as any. Signs were made for the occasion, with green and gold balloons hung from fencing. The players were presented with home-plate-shaped plaques that included the words, “FOREVER A MONARCH.” READ
The Department of Defense released the names Saturday evening of the four New York Air National Guard members assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing in Westhampton Beach who were killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq. READ
The playoffs began for Bishop McGann-Mercy and Center Moriches on Friday night. Well, at least the game between the two Suffolk County Division IV football teams was tantamount to a playoff.
With both teams needing to win in order to have a shot at reaching the real playoffs, the hard-hitting game in Center Moriches featured playoff intensity — and the finality of defeat. READ
The Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School girls tennis team is living a charmed life. Not only do the Monarchs have six beautiful brand new courts, which were formally dedicated before their match on Wednesday, but they are now one win away from a second straight undefeated regular season.
Commit errors against the Center Moriches High School softball team at your own risk.
Center Moriches is too good a team to give extra outs to. The Red Devils will punish teams that don’t play a clean game, as Bishop McGann-Mercy was reminded on Wednesday.
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The previous meeting between the Bishop McGann-Mercy and Center Moriches high school softball teams was what ESPN would have labeled an instant classic. And Thursday’s rematch? Not so much.
In that memorable game on April 15, Mercy gave Center Moriches a scare before falling short, 7-6, in eight innings. Thursday’s game didn’t last a full five innings. READ
When the curtain on the drama that unfolded on the Center Moriches High School softball field finally fell, Red Devils coach Rich Roberts heaved a sigh of relief. His counterpart, Bishop McGann-Mercy’s Jackie Zilnicki, agonized over what might have been.
McGann-Mercy was one out away from pulling off an upset and winning the Suffolk County League VII game, which was full of chills and thrills. But Center Moriches is undefeated for a reason. The Red Devils can hit the ball and they have a knack for coming through under pressure.
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