Emma Prinz and the Brewster softball team won all five games they played last week, and is ranked as the top team in Class A.
File photo by Jim Sannerud
With playoff time now upon us, softball teams throughout New York are gearing up for the unpredictability and excitement that comes in the postseason. But that doesn't mean there aren't some interesting softball storylines that go beyond the score.
All in the family for Section 1's Swertfagers
Theresa Swertfager's performance for Section 1 team
John Jay (Cross River) in a 12-0 win over Somers couldn't have been much more impressive. But considering her family's success in athletics, it shouldn't come as a surprise either.
The University of Florida-bound senior threw a no-hitter with nine strikeouts in picking up her seventh shutout of the season.
Swertfager's brother, Mark, is a catcher on the baseball team at Marist College. Her dad, Bill, is the longtime wrestling coach at John Jay and was a state championship wrestler at Horace Greeley High School. Her mother,
Diane Swertfager, is the longtime head coach on the volleyball team at nearby Hendrick Hudson High School who has 500-plus wins, 13 Section 1 titles and three state championships. Theresa, a libero in volleyball, in fact, squared off against her mother's team in several noteworthy matches during her varsity career.
Pitching in to honor dad
Steve Piorkowski coached three sports at Queens'
Bayside, including softball. In February, he lost a battle with cancer. He was 54.
Piorkowski's daughter, pitcher Katherine, and her teammates at
Kellenberg Memorial (Uniondale) honored her father's memory in a game against
St. Anthony's (Melville) to benefit the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation held April 18 in Rockville Center.
Through the end of last week's action, Piorkowski had recorded 10 of Kellenberg's 14 wins.
Noto comes close to no-no, perfect gameMaria Noto of
Cooperstown came oh so close close to throwing a rare perfect game.
The sophomore struck out 15, walked none and allowed just one hit in a 5-0 victory against West Canada Valley. She also contributed offensively with two hits.
For Noto, success at the varsity level is nothing new. She helped Cooperstown's girls basketball squad take the state title, finishing 25-1.
Brewster enjoys daily dose of winsBrewster, the top-ranked Class A team in the state, just wrapped up a frenetic week in which it played five games in a stretch of five days, winning them all.
The grueling stretch included outstanding pitching (
Makayla Koehler had nine strikeouts in a 2-0 win over Horace Greeley) and strong hitting (
Emma Prinz had a home run, double and four RBIs in a 13-2 win over rival Mahopac).
Averill Park hopes to go back to the futureThe strong start for
Averill Park in Section 2 has longtime followers of the program remembering a year in which Madonna's "Crazy for You" was at the top of the charts and one of the most popular movies was "Back to the Future."
It was 1985 when the Warriors last won a sectional title. But the team's torrid play in 2015 has been of championship quality so far.
It's especially noteworthy since Averill Park has been winning with a pitching by committee approach after losing star hurler Brittany Meka to graduation.
The offense has been led by University at Albany-bound shortstop McKenzie Bump and Caraline Wood.
Multimedia news and sports editor and producer Joe Lombardi is director of media initiatives and managing editor of the DailyVoice.com, as well as the primary author of the most recent edition of "Lacrosse for Dummies." Follow Joe on Twitter @Joe_Lombardi or e-mail jlombardi@dailyvoice.com.
