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CHRONICLE
SPORTS
Rough Start For Reigning State
Champion Rough Riders
Harwich Must Forfeit Opening Day
Win Over Chatham
Eric Adler
HARWICH — The defending Division Three
state champion Harwich baseball team appeared to pick up where they last
left off, posting a 3-2 opening day victory over Chatham last week. But
the win over the Blue Devils will be forfeited because of an ineligible
player on the Rough Riders’ roster.
Harwich believed that fifth-year senior
Neil Pezzullo, a transfer student from Pelham High School in New York,
was cleared to play. He’s been with the team since spring practice began
in mid-March, he played a prominent role in the team’s pre-season
scrimmages and he was even elected a co-captain.
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| Mashpee’s Ken Destremps makes a
head-first dive for the dish as Harwich catcher John Charves
tries to apply the tag in Monday’s meeting between the South
Shore League schools. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
But according to rule 59.1 in the MIAA
handbook, “a student shall be eligible for interscholastic competition
for no more than four consecutive years after initially entering grade
9. This limitation shall apply without regard to actual participation or
attempt to participate.”
According to Harwich Athletic Director
Mark Sugermeyer, Harwich applied for a waiver, which would allow
Pezzullo to play, based on MIAA rule 59.2., which extends eligibility
for the year the student missed school due to medical circumstances.
In order to receive the
waiver, Harwich must receive “a doctor’s certificate on the student’s
behalf and a letter from the principal attesting to the inability of the
student to attend during a specific period due to accident or illness,”
according to the MIAA rule.
As of The Chronicle’s
Tuesday deadline, that waiver was still pending. But even if Pezzullo is
granted eligibility, Harwich must forfeit against Chatham, because it
did not apply for and receive the waiver prior to the game.
Sugermeyer said he verbally told
Chatham school officials that Harwich will forfeit. The paper work,
consisting of a drafted letter to the MIAA, will be sent soon, he said.
Sugermeyer said he first learned that
Pezzullo was a repeating senior “in passing” on Thursday, the day after
the Chatham game. That prompted him to look into the matter, which at
first, “seemed like a cut-and-dry rule.”
But after corresponding
with Pelham High School and looking into rule 59.2, he said, “I think
we’re a little better off than where we were before. But I don’t want to
guess which way the MIAA will rule.”
Harwich officials said
Pezzullo’s age and change in residence made him eligible to attend
Harwich High, but they were unaware that students in Massachusetts are
eligible to play sports for only four years beginning their freshman
year.
“This is the first time we’ve had to be
privy to that specific rule,” Sugermeyer said.
Pezzullo was not only in uniform, but
he batted and played the field when Harwich and Chatham met last
Wednesday.
Chatham Athletic Director Scott Thomas,
who doubles as the school’s baseball coach, said he had “no clue”
Harwich had an ineligible player until Harwich informed him later in the
week.
Harwich starter Bryant Warner struck
out eight over seven full frames, while Chatham ace Dylan Flynn fanned
13 in a complete-game effort. Those stats, and all others that occurred
in the game, are allowed to stand, according to MIAA spokesperson Paul
Wetzel. The record books, however, will show that Chatham beat Harwich
1-0.
Things didn’t get any
better for the Rough Riders on Monday, as they were dealt a 7-1 defeat
by Mashpee in their home and South Shore League opener at a
cloud-covered, cold and windy Whitehouse Field.
The Falcons (2-0) used a four-run
fourth to distance themselves and got six strong innings from
rubber-armed right hander Joe Ruo, who allowed just three hits and
struck out 11 in his spring debut.
Frustration was felt by many of the
Rough Riders who complained – mostly among themselves but a few times to
the umps – about an inconsistent strike zone. Harwich coach Steve
Wilson addressed that issue during his post-game speech, but would not
elaborate when speaking to reporters.
“The kids always want to play well and
when you don’t play as well as you can, that provides a learning
opportunity,” Wilson said. “It’s important for the kids to learn from
adversity, be it an error or other difficult situations.”
Asked what he meant by
adversity, Wilson responded with a Yogi-ism, saying, “I’ve told the kids
that baseball is one-third attitude, one-third effort and one-third
ability, and 90 percent mental.”
Mashpee drew first blood
in the first when Matt Thomas, who has 10 RBIs in his first two games,
singled through the right side, scoring Ken Destremps on a wild play at
the plate.
Destremps appeared to
elude the tag of catcher John Charves as he dove head first into home
plate, but when no ruling was made, the Mashpee leadoff hitter dove back
to the dish and was called safe.
The Falcons added another
run in the following frame without the benefit of hit. An error and two
walks loaded the bases and Tyler Shute scored on a passed ball.
Harwich cut the deficit
in half in the third thanks to Ryan St. Pierre’s RBI single, plating
Charves, who led off the inning with a hit. But the Rough Riders came no
closer.
Once again, an error and
two walks put Harwich in a precarious predicament and the Rough Riders
paid for another passed ball in that situation, as Destremps darted
home, igniting the Falcon’s big inning.
Santos added an ensuing
RBI single and Corey Andrade followed with a game-breaking two-run
double to left-center that made it 6-1. Santos capped the scoring with
an RBI single in the sixth.
Warner allowed seven hits over four
frames, while Ben Bianco and Andy Sadoski (who pitched a perfect
seventh) offered effective relief and were praised by Wilson.
The Rough Riders will try to put that
bad loss, and the one they gave away against Chatham, behind them as
they move forward. “The important thing is that the kids learn from each
other and their experiences,” Wilson said. “That’s how they’ll get
better.”
Harwich
Walks Off With Opening Day Win Over Chatham
by Eric Adler
HARWICH — While her friends and former
basketball teammates were hooping it up in the Harwich High School gym
this past winter, Nell O’Connor spent the season across the street at
the community center trying to perfect her pitches.
It’s a move that, only one game into
the season, has already paid off.
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Harwich shortstop Jessy Gingras makes a tough
catch to help turn away Chatham in the fourth inning during
the Rough Riders’ 4-3 victory over the Blue Devils last
Wednesday. ERIC ADLER PHOTO |
O’Connor, a sophomore, struck out a
career-high 14 batters and Mel Hopkins scored the winning run off a wild
pitch in the seventh, as Harwich walked-off with a come-from-behind 4-3
win over Chatham in the season opener for both clubs at Potter’s Field
last Wednesday.
“It’s been a while since I’ve pitched
to a live batter, so it took me a little while to get into my rhythm,”
said O’Connor, who allowed just two hits and did not issue a walk.
“Chatham always has good hitters, so you can’t rely on thinking you can
just strike them out. You can’t underestimate them.”
O’Connor’s debut win also
marked the first for first-year Harwich coach Stacy Brunell, who had a
tough time preparing her team for its introduction into the ’08 season.
“Our scrimmages got canceled and with
all the rain we’ve been having, we’ve only had a couple of days
outdoors, so this is only the third time we’ve been out on the field,”
Brunell said. “Given that we didn’t have much exposure (to outdoor
play), I’d have to say it was a great game and overall I’m very happy
with the outcome.”
Judging by their post-game smiles, so
too were the rest of the Lady Rough Riders, who provided themselves with
a big confidence boost following last year’s disappointing 3-15 season.
“It’s a good way to start the season
and it left us with a good feeling,” said O’Connor, who struck out 135
batters (an average of 7.5 per game) a year ago. “We only have 12 kids
out for the team, but we pulled together, did what we had to do and did
a great job for our first game.”
Hopkins, Elise Driscoll and Tabitha
Eldredge keyed the offense with two hits each, Dawn Lopes had a flawless
game at first base, and shortstop Jessy Gingras made a spectacular,
outstretched catch in the home half of the fourth inning.
“Everybody did their part today and I
think we’re only going to get better,” Brunell said. “Nell had a great
game, as did the defense behind her and you can’t ask for anything more
than that.”
Trailing 1-0 after one, Harwich evened
things up in the second on Eldredge’s RBI ground out.
The Rough Riders grabbed
the lead on Hopkins’ infield single in the fifth, but surrendered it the
next inning when Shannon Davenport’s double to right scored Rachel
Johnson. After moving over on an error, Davenport came home on Maggie
Cole’s ground out to put Chatham on top, 3-2.
The Rough Riders went quietly in the
sixth, but Brunell wasn’t about to let her team fade away in the final
frame.
“The biggest thing I told
the girls was to be aggressive,” she said. “Sometimes they like to look
at the first pitch, but when I played [at Catawba College], I always
swung at the first one, because that’s usually the best one.”
That message served the Rough Riders
well. Eldredge singled the first pitch she saw to shallow center and
Hopkins followed with an early-in-the-count shot to center. After the
two moved over on Kathryn Gagnon’s wild pitch, Driscoll plated the
go-ahead run with a single to left.
That brought Gingras to the plate, but
before she could get the stick off her shoulder, Gagnon’s toss landed in
the backstop and Hopkins came home for the game-winner.
“It’s always a great feeling to get
that first win,” said Brunell, “especially coming off a season where the
girls’ morale was low. This game gave us a big boost. We have the
mentality now that if we continue to work hard, more wins will come.”
Harwich (1-1) had its record evened by
Mashpee on Monday, dropping a 9-3 decision to the Falcons in the South
Shore League opener for both schools.
4/10/08 |
