Bushwick is coming off one of its best seasons ever and perhaps the biggest win in program history, a PSAL Class A first-round playoff victory over New Dorp of Staten Island, the city’s best softball borough.
But coach Pat Moyse says the expectations have lowered a bit since 2010. The Tigers graduated six starters and he and assistant coach Robert Cortez have to rebuild a bit with young players now.
“We’re not Madison or Tottenville,” the fourth-year head coach said. “We don’t get lucky and get these girls that come in and have played for years. We have to sit there and we have to mold them into ball players. It’s hard work. It’s strenuous.”
He and Cortez are both softball gurus, though. They teach windmill and are adept at training players in the fundamentals of the game. That’s why Bushwick went from 2-15 in Moyse’s first year when he started late to 9-8 two years ago and 9-6 and second in Brooklyn A behind eventual city champion Madison last season. The Tigers even pushed powerhouse Susan Wagner in the second round of the playoffs before falling 6-5.
Though he isn’t expecting that kind of season again, Moyse knows the past two winning seasons have not fallen on deaf ears in the area.
“A lot of the girls in the neighborhood see the success and might want to come to the school and play,” he said.
Maria De La Cruz, who missed last season for medical reasons, will step into the void left in the circle left by Maria Guerna. It’ll be her first year pitching, but Moyse says so far, so good. The coach expects a breakout season from power-hitting, slick-fielding first baseman Kassandra Steward and Bushwick will be leaning heavily on junior shortstop Bianca Cruz this year.
“She’s like the epitome of a softball player,” Moyse said of Cruz. “She puts her heart in the game. She has the intelligence, the drive and the desire to perform to her best. She has heart. She leaves it all on the field.”
Milagros Rosario, a precocious freshman who can play the infield and outfield, should see a lot of time right away. She leads a young group of Tigers who could be the future of the up-and-coming program.
“It’s definitely a rebuilding year, but we do have a lot of promising young players,” Moyse said.
Grand Street Campus will have a veteran group, but coach Andre Johnson is unsure of how it will come together. The Wolves do have back pitcher Laurissa Mota, catcher Veronica Rodriguez and Chelsea Andino, who will slide over from second base to shortstop from a team that went 6-9 and fell in the first round of the playoffs. So they will be experienced up the middle.
“Pitcher and catcher are the two most important positions,” Johnson said. “So we’ll see.”
If pitcher is the most important position, Lincoln should be in good shape this season. Coaches Kim Procida and Nicole Adisano have brought in pitching coach Nicole Grilli, who pitched at Madison and Hunter, to help their hurlers. Grilli has had an immediate effect on junior windmiller Erica Juarbe.
“She throws really hard,” said Procida, the head coach. “Her control is the issue. But she has shown a big improvement from last year.
Juarbe, one of the stars of the school’s girls basketball team, will be joined in the circle by Amanda Rosado. The Railsplitters have a nice mix of veterans and budding young players, like freshman outfielder Michelle Popovitch, but they will be relying heavily on their pitching after going a disappointing 3-12 last season.
“We’re making the playoffs, definitely,” Procida said.
Midwood coach Jenny Ferrarin thinks that’s a possibility for her squad also. Like most other teams in the division, the Hornets are iffy in the circle with Geena Bell filling in for the graduated Traci Kent. They might be one of the fastest teams in the city, though, with basketball players Monet Keane Dawes, Camera Miley, Amber Rivera and Breanna Maresca all on the roster.
“Athletically, we’re solid,” Ferrarin said. “Softball wise, we’re a work in progress.”