Scholastic Roundup: The Wave is on a roll

May 19, 2023 Andy Furman

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They’re re-writing history.

And it continues today.

Kingsborough Community College’s baseball team – sporting a neat 28-12 record – meets NJCAA Junior College Region 21 champion, Northern Essex in a best-of-three series, 2 pm at Kingsborough’s Field in Manhattan Beach.

Northern Essex Community College, in Haverhill, Mass., takes its 33-6 and 20-1 conference won-loss record to Brooklyn to face the Wave.

But history was already written for Wave coach Brian Dowd. His squad captured the program’s seventh CUNYAC CC Baseball Championship, and their second-straight title with a 14-4 win over Bronx CC. Thomas Laino, a 2023 CUNYAC All-Star, led the way offensively for the Wave, going three-for-four at the plate with four runs scored and two runs-batted-in. He was named the championship’s Most Valuable Player.

Jonathan Fonseca earned the win on the mound going 4.1 innings, surrendering two earned-runs on seven hits while striking out four. At the plate, he produced three RBI.

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Next – the NJCAA Region XV Baseball Championship — and fourth-seeded Kingsborough took-down the No. 1 seed – Suffolk CC last week. Then came a meeting with Monroe CC in the Second Round.

No problem. The Wave rolled to the title, Saturday.

And now – the District Series.

“It’s the first-time since 2003 a City University school wins Regional,” Dowd told the Eagle. “I’m not too surprised. Our guys play hard; believe in what we say; know how to win and come from a good culture.

“I think we have the best pitching rotation in the Region,” Dowd said.

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Joseph Burke’s admittance to the St. Edmund’s Prep Hall of Fame brought back some memories for Ike Pollack.

“Joe played at Nassau CC while I was an assistant coach there,” Pollack writes. “Not only was he already a good ball player, but a great person and teammate. St. Edmund’s turned out a real good one there.”

Pollack is a 1966 Lafayette High grad and served as basketball co-captain as a senior.

Burke was an All-American at Nassau CC, earned a scholarship to St. John’s University where he won back-to-back All-Big East Conference honors. St. John’s won the Big East tournament in 2005 and appeared in the NCAA Tournament. The New York Yankees selected Burke in the 18th round of the Major League baseball draft that year.

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Bishop Loughlin’s Varsity Girls Softball Senior Night was highlighted with a 14-3 win over St. Savior last weekend at Prospect Park, Field 14.

Senior girls on the squad included: Abigail Smith, Danisha Jose, Janiyah Bermudez and Jelissa Jonas. Elijah James served as Senior Team Manager.

Loughlin’s 4×4 boys who copped the 2023 Nike Indoor Nationals back in March at The Armory Track and Field Center in Manhattan, ended their 2023 indoor season as City Champs, State Champs, National Champs and All-Americans.

That squad featured sophomore Christian Walkere (50.0); senior Jelani Johnson (50.25); sophomore Rashuaun Uche (49.91) and senior Wesley Noble Jr. (47.55). Alternate was Kyaire Lawson.

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The Xaverian High girls’ lacrosse team defeated St. Joseph by-the-Sea, 11-6 last week, and now enter the GCHSAA City Championship for the sixth consecutive season.

Aryanna Agron and Marin Crowlewy each had hat tricks in the win. Kassidy Baez scored two goals, while Jolie Avignone, Ryan Schaffer and Ella Kushnikck each scored one. Winning goalie Val Fontana had 10 saves in the win.

In the GCHSAA Tier 1 Game, Saturday at Sacred Heart High School, the girls lost, 12-11 to Kennedy Catholic.

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A little inside note from former Tilden High School basketball coach Jeff Schrier: “Steph Curry’s college coach, Bob McKillop was the coach at Long Island Lutheran High School, before becoming coach at Davidson replacing Terry Holland, who went to the University of Virginia,” Schrier said. “Lutheran was a national powerhouse. My Tilden team bussed out to play Lutheran twice. We never shied away from great competition.”

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For the 11th time in Roy Kortmann’s 29 seasons as head coach, the LIU softball team has claimed the Northeast Conference postseason title and is headed to an NCAA Regional. The Sharks were assigned the Tuscaloosa Regional and will face fifth-seeded Alabama in the opener, 7 pm tonight.

Camryn Lyman, who hit .545 with five runs-scored over five tourney games, was named tournament MVP. Teammates Gabby Padilla, Alyssa Polemeni and Kira Buckner were named to the All-Tournament team.

Melissa Kammerer rolled the highest-series ever in the USBC Women’s Championships’ Diamond Singles in the tourney’s 103-year history – an 818 series. Her series included a perfecto in her final game – her first-two scores were 280 and 238.

The Diamond Singles tournament features bowlers with entering averages of 175 and above Kammerer is LIU’s women’s bowling coach.

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The Pratt Institute men’s and women’s track and field teams ended their 2022-23 season on a high note at the ECAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Goucher College, last week. Sophomore Siena Sujitno brought home the individual title in the 100-meter dash while junior Christina Sacho-Spore medaled in third-place in the 1,500-meter run.

After missing out on a medal last year, Sujitno posted the second-best time in qualifying and then ran a personal-best 12.87 to win the 100-meter title by .12 seconds. She also added fifth-place points in the long-jump with a leap of 4.83 meters.

Sancho-Spore lowered her personal best in the 1,500-meter to 5:01.84 to medal in third. Fernanda Alatorre also joined Sancho-Spore on the podium in fifth with a time of 5:37.03.

Sophomore Thomas Perrone just missed out on a medal for the men in the 800-meter run crossing in 2:02.8, just shy of his personal best, to stand on the platform in fourth.

Senior Bruce Westgate closed out his career earning a sixth-place podium finish in the 1,500-meter run in 4:32.80. David Valentine wrapped-up his career finishing in 10th in the event in 4:54.34. David Bhopaul rounded out the trio of Cannoneers in the event in 11th (4:57.30).

The Pratt women totaled 26 points to finish tied for eighth in the 10-team field. The men accumulated eight points for a 10th place finish out of 12 teams.

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Four men and three women from the Pratt Institute tennis teams were selected to the 2022-23 Academic All-District squads by College Sports Communicators.

For the men, juniors Mehul Bhargava and Ryan Nelsen and sophomores Matthew Stachura and Johnny Xie were honored. For the women, senior Nastazja Cancellaro, junior Victoria Delgado and sophomore Julia Ognibene earned the accolade. They are all first in program history to receive Academic All-District honors.

Bhargava, Nelsen and Xie combined for a 23-14 singles record and led the men to a 6-6 record this season, culminating in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference quarterfinals.

Cancellaro, Delgado and Ognibene amassed seven singles victories each in a combined 21-7 mark to help the women to a 9-3 campaign that also ended in the C2C quarterfinals.

* * *

The 2023 season came to a close for the No.3-seeded St. Joseph’s University (Brooklyn) softball team as they fell to the No. 4-seeded Mount Saint Mary College, 5-3 in the Skyline Conference Softball Championship, Friday. The Bears held a 2-1 edge after Arianna Heinsch (Fontbonne Hall Academy) drew a bases-loaded walk in the second inning.,
The Bears round-out the season with a 25-14 overall record.

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St. Francis (Brooklyn) College sophomore Malachi Aiken, qualified for the national championships with a triple-jump of 15.30 meters at the ECAC/IC4A outdoor meet at George Mason Field, Lexington, Va., Monday.

Aiken goes for the national title in Jacksonville, Fla., May 24-27 at the NCAA East Regional.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR