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CHRONICLE
SPORTS
Chatham Girls Tennis Team
Serving Notice Once Again
Eric Adler
CHATHAM — With only 200 students at the
school and therefore a shallow pool of players from which to pick, many
varsity clubs at Chatham are a perennial work in progress. There is, of
course, one exception – the girls tennis team.
With the second half of the season just
underway, the Lady Blue Devils (9-2, 5-1 Mayflower League) are on the
cusp of clinching an MIAA State Tournament berth and their eighth
straight (and possibly longer than that) double-digit win season.
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| Emily Andrews keeps a rally going with a
strong forehand in her 6-1, 6-1 first singles victory over
Harwich’s Carla Gross last Wednesday. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
“We’ve had a good mix of girls the past
few years and this group really enjoys the game,” Chatham coach Tom
Flaherty said. “Overall we’re doing pretty well considering we lost our
number one singles and number one doubles team from last year. Plus,
most of the girls don’t pick up a racket until the spring when tennis
season starts.”
Leading the way is junior ace Emily
Andrews, who was undefeated at second singles last year and is unbeaten
at the top singles spot this season. And it’s not just that no one’s
beaten her, no one’s even come close, as Andrews has won all but one of
her 11 matches in straight sets, including one against Sacred Heart in
which she fell behind 4-1 early.
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| Harwich’s Michelle Hemeon returns a
backhand in her second singles match against Chatham’s Annie
Stewart last Wednesday. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
“There’s a hefty competitiveness in
Emily,” Flaherty said. “She has a very unconventional backhand slice
which devastates her opponents. She likes to play baseline and can hit
with opponents, then she’ll drop in that slice and it confuses the heck
out of them.”
Andrews isn’t the only Blue Devil with
a spotless record. Annie Stewart has also won all of her matches and has
yet to drop a set at the second singles slot.
“Annie is a baseline player and she
just keeps hitting back to her opponents until it wears them down and
they make the mistake,” Flaherty said. “She’s also very agile and can
track down almost anything on the court.”
Playing third singles for the second
straight season, Madison Schultz has also been a formidable force with
eight wins. “She’s a very, very tough competitor, and has a very strong
head game,” Flaherty said.
Chatham’s number one doubles team of
Emily Hamilton and Hope Frazier and second double duo Katherine McMahon
and Aimee Aucoin have also netted a number of key wins.
“Hope has great strokes and Emily, who
has strong strokes as well, provides a calming effect on the court,”
said Flaherty. “Katherine has a strong enthusiasm for the game and Aimee
has improved her hitting and is a smarter player this year.”
While Chatham isn’t
overlooking any of its opponents – the Blue Devil’s 5-0 victory over
Harwich last Wednesday is a testament to that – they have the calendar
circled for next Thursday. That’s when they’ll meet reigning Mayflower
League champ Sacred Heart in a rubber match that may decide the regular
season title. The two schools split their first two matches (Sacred
Heart won 3-2 in Kingston, Chatham won the rematch, 3-2, on the Cape)
and are currently tied for first place in the league.
It’s hard to say if
Chatham, which closes out the year with six straight home games, will
come home with the crown, but bet on the Blue Devils to be in the mix,
this year, next year and beyond.
“The good news is that a
good portion of the team is juniors,” said Flaherty, “so I see us being
just as good next year.”
Meanwhile, it would be
easy for the Harwich girls tennis team to be discouraged following their
2-6 start, but that hasn’t happened. Just the opposite, in fact.
“We played some real
strong teams, like Cohasset and Cape Cod Academy, and afterward, the
girls have walked off the court feeling like they’ve played some of
their best tennis,” Harwich coach Steven Kot said. “It’s helping them
elevate their level of play and the girls have shown a positive
attitude.”
Seniors Carla Gross and
Michelle Hemeon, who have contrasting styles, hold down the first and
second singles positions.
“Carla has a solid stroke
and hits a fast-paced ball along the baseline. She’s hard working and
never gives up on a point,” Kot said. “Michelle thinks through all of
her shots, figures out her opponent’s weakness and places her shots
well. She hasn’t played tennis many years, but has maximized her game
just by playing her opponent rather than herself, which is not something
a lot of high school players do.”
Sophomore Becky Kelley,
who figures to take over as the team’s number one next year, is honing
her skills at the third singles. “She plays a lot in the off-season and
has developed into a very strong player,” said Kot. “She’s solid both in
the backcourt and at the net, and is gaining good experience.”
Jamie Gallerani and
Shawna Haynes have complimented each other nicely as the Rough Rider’s
number one doubles duo. “They work a lot from the baseline, know each
other’s game well and work well as partners,” said Kot, who also praised
the play of second double squad Diane Gibbons and Kayla MacAskill.
“Diane has solid skills
and has developed more confidence, which is helping a awful lot, and
Kayla made a big change in the way she plays in that she’s more
aggressive this year than before. She’s a lot more eager to end the
point quickly.”
All of Harwich’s players,
Kot said, have improved since opening day and he foresees a much
stronger second half of the season than first.
“We started out the
season playing some of the strongest teams in the league and now we’ll
be facing some of the smaller schools, so I think we can do a lot
better,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a number of wins.”
Winners Of
10 Straight, Blue Devils Hone In On Mayflower Banner
by Eric Adler
CHATHAM — To say that the
Chatham baseball team was psyched before Monday’s Mayflower League
showdown with Holbrook would be an understatement.
Jeff Eldredge, Ryan
Catalano and Dallas Heller all got their jerseys dirty with an extra
session of infield practice, as did shortstop Pat Reynolds, who led the
chorus of cheers long before the first pitch. But the quietest Blue
Devil of the bunch was the one who made the most noise.
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| Chatham’s Pat Reynolds slides back
to first before Holbrook’s Rob Stankus can apply the tag in
the Blue Devil’s 5-1 victory over the Bulldogs Monday.
Chatham is now 12-1 overall, 10-0 in the Mayflower Small
League. ERIC ADLER PHOTO. |
Chatham ace Dylan Flynn
(7-0) tossed a one-hit, one-walk gem and matched a career-high of 15
strikeouts, as the Blue Devils turned in an efficient 5-1 victory over
the Bulldogs that went a long way toward securing a second straight
Mayflower Small League banner.
“This was a big step,
because Holbrook now has at least two league losses and Avon has three,
so if we take care of business, we should win the league,” said Chatham
coach Scott Thomas, whose team has won 10 straight games, is a perfect
10-0 in league play and 12-1 overall.
Flynn, who’s hitting
around .575 and has 82 strikeouts in 48 innings, has been the linchpin
in most of those victories, thanks to not only his blistering bat and
robust right arm, but the occasional chip on his shoulder.
“Holbrook thought they
suffered a cheap loss when we beat them the first time, because we were
down for most of the game and they got a couple of calls that didn’t go
their way,” said Flynn, referencing Chatham’s 5-4 mid-April victory when
Reynolds drove in two in the final frame. “We wanted to prove we could
beat them fair and square and we did the job today.”
For Flynn, that meant
taking a more muted approach than his demonstrative teammates. “I tried
not to get too pumped up, because when I do, I overthrow and wind up
walking people, but today I only walked one, so it shows that if you
relax, you can do fine,” he said.
Flynn was just as calm and
composed at the plate, connecting on an RBI infield single to get
Chatham on the board in the first. The Blue Devils upped their lead to
3-0 courtesy of Heller’s sacrifice fly and Catalano’s sacrifice bunt.
“We had a real nice first
inning,” said Thomas, whose team has not typically started strong. “We
manufactured some runs and that was key, because their guy on the mound
settled down.”
Not before Chatham added
two more in the third, however. Bryan Connell (2-for-4) led off with a
single to left, Flynn followed with a warning-track double, and Heller
smacked a first-pitch swinging single to center for the 5-0 lead.
“Dallas has been our big
clutch RBI guy all year long,” Thomas said.
Chatham, which has
averaged 11 runs over the last eight games, failed to threaten from that
point on. But they didn’t have to, as Flynn, in total control, retired
the side in order in the fourth and sixth and struck out the side in the
seventh.
“I was able to establish
my fastball, paint the corners, and I also mixed in my curve and
change,” said Flynn, who fanned 15 in the previous match with Holbrook.
“Dylan was razor sharp
today, he had his A game,” said Thomas. “Let’s face facts, he’s having a
monster year, but other guys around him have elevated their play.
“Ryan is hitting around
.285 and has been extremely solid at second, Bryan, Mike [Asselin] and
Mitch [Wagenbach] are three guys in the outfield who can go and get the
ball. Pat has had a great season at short and Jeremey has been a real
workhorse behind the plate. He’s a blue-collar guy who gives a lot to
the team. It’s a nice blend and that’s why the team is playing well.”
But did anyone expect them
to do this well? After all, Chatham, which still has nine games on the
schedule, has already secured a spot in the post-season and is on pace
to lock up the number one seed in the state tournament.
“I don’t think about
records, but my big thing was to see if the kids were going to dedicate
themselves to the season and they have,” said Thomas. “They have some
confidence now.”
They earned that, first
and foremost, with an 11-0 win over archrival Harwich. Sweeping the
season series with Holbrook (last year’s co-Mayflower League champ) also
boosted the Blue Devils, who were boisterous but ultimately all business
against the Bulldogs.
“We knew we had to beat
Holbrook, because they were the number two team in the league,” Flynn
summarized.
They’re still number two,
but now, a very distant second.
5/8/08 |
