Manhattan Center enters this season knowing it has a lot of question marks, but believes it has the talent to win the PSAL Manhattan A title.
“Pitching is going to be the key to our success,” coach Randy Cantor said. “We have the talent to win this division and stay competitive.”
For pitching, the Rams look to Idaysha Quinones to carry the load. Cantor noted that Quinones has improved on her changeup and has become more consistent with throwing strikes.
Manhattan Center had a key injury when star catcher Yen Pham went down with a torn ACL over the summer playing AAU basketball. Pham is fully recovered now, but is going to play first base so that she doesn’t reaggravate the injury behind the plate.
“Yen’s leadership is unparalleled and that leadership will be big for us,” Cantor said. “Just having her on the field will be huge for us.”
Filling her role behind the plate will be Tatiana Branch, who Cantor expects to bat sixth in his lineup. Cantor has slated utility infielder Dzifa Avalime to lead off followed by Vienly Cabrera (CF) then Rosa Dashani (SS/3B) in the three hole. Quinones will bat cleanup followed by Pham and Branch, though with his team off to an 0-2 start, Cantor said he may change it around.
“Our lineup will take a little work,” Cantor siad. “It’s going to take awhile to get their timing down but we’re gonna play a lot of small ball and we have great speed.”
Cantor added three members of the team from JV including Brenda Hernandez (P/OF), Cabrera and Dashani, and is hopeful his team can win the division.
“Any team can knock off any other team in our division,” Cantor said. “I’m excited for this year and our primary goal is to win the division.”
While Manhattan Center hopes it has enough skill to win the division, Stuyvesant is hoping some key additions will mesh with its returning players to help it reach its goal of hosting a playoff game.
“We really hope to make it deep into the playoffs and we think we can,” coach Vinny Miller said.
The Renegades will rely on the leadership of senior Morgan Higgins and sophomore Marie Frolich, as both are penciled in to take the mound for them. Frolich is a rookie because she didn’t play freshman year. Higgins will carry most of the pitching load and Frolich will play a utility role when she’s not on the hill.
“Both of our pitchers have been looking good,” Miller said. “Morgan looks as good as ever and feels confident. She throws three different pitches and hits her spots.”
Higgins will bat third for Stuyvesant and will be followed in the order by third baseman Ana Slade and first baseman Gabrielle Gillow to round out the heart of the order. Frolich will bat second for the team.
Miller looks to both Higgins and Slade to lead the team.
“Ana and Morgan lead by example and are very vocal in practice,” Miller said.
Miller hopes that their leadership in practice will transfer come game time and lead to some success for his team.
“We have a solid team but need a lot of work,” Miller said. “I’m confident we’ll do well, we’ve put in the effort to hopefully win the division.”
LaGuardia, on the other hand, is all about rebuilding.
“We are pretty young,” coach Greg Brummell said.
For pitching, the Athletics will look to sophomore Casey Cady to lead the way. Cady played shortstop for the first five games last season, but after star pitcher Alex Sappington (now at Furman) was sidelined by a season-ending ACL injury, Cady was slated as their starter and brought them to the second round of the playoffs before being knocked off by Construction.
LaGuardia would like to repeat that success, but after losing Sappington and standout catcher Chelsea Correa to graduation, the Athletics just hope to rebuild and make the playoffs. In order to do so, it will need leadership from third baseman Gabriele Davis and right fielder Madeline Smith.
Brummell has slated Davis to lead off and Smith to bat fifth. In between them will be second baseman Brianna Levy followed by Cady in the three hole. Shortstop Erin O’Brien will bat cleanup. Even though O’Brien is only a freshman, Brummell has been impressed with her enough to bat her fourth, though he admits the lineup isn’t set in stone.
“I think she’ll be a really good surprise to the league,” Brummell said of O’Brien. “So far she’s stepping up big with a hot bat and it’s nice to have a player like this in a rebuilding year.”
“We’re still really young,” Brummell added. “I wanna make the playoffs and I hope that we can.”
Beacon, moving up from the ‘B,’ also has a chance to compete under new coach David Aronson, who guided the Blue Demons girls basketball to a successful season this year. George Washington, Hunter College HS and Murry Bergtraum will be in the mix.