Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch Weekly Sports Report

Panthers come back

With the score tied at 8-8 in the bottom of the seventh in last Thursday's softball game between Walter Panas (9-7) and visiting Hendrick Hudson (11-4), Panas sophomore Adrena Daw brought the game to a dramatic close. Daw hit a two-out grand slam that easily cleared the center-field fence and gave the Panthers a thrilling 12-8 triumph, which snapped Hen Hud’s six-game winning streak.

“I just wanted to hit the ball, get on base and drive in runs,” Daw said. “I had no intentions of hitting a home run but it just happened.”

Daw’s grand slam drove in Danielle DeLuca, Jessica Cavaliere and Rachel Cusick. Mary O’Reilly, who started the rally off with a single. Panas' Kayla Abel, who walked, also scored for the Panthers in an inning Panas had entered trailing 8-6.

Daw also hit a two-run homer in the first inning, driving in Cusick, who had singled.

“I have so much respect for Hen Hud,” Daw said. “I play with a bunch of them (outside the high-school season). This win puts us one step closer to first in the league. It really means a lot to us.”

Panas coach John Augusta explained why the win was such a big one for his squad.

“This has been a work in progress from day one, fighting back” Augusta said. “We have been kicking ourselves in the foot all year. Tonight we did that as well. We could’ve either got up or stayed down and they just stood up after they got in that big hole 8-3, they came back. It’s all the credit in the world to those kids, they never quit.”

Hen Hud looked like it had the game won when it exploded for seven runs in fifth inning to go up 8-3. Scoring for the Sailors were Katie Ross, Jesse Pelaccio, Rachel Buckner, Julie Gaspar, Cassidy Boyle, Amanda Bell and Kristen Velez.

Driving in runs for the Sailors in that inning were Ross (with a triple), Buckner and Boyle (doubles) and Megan Jahoda (single).

“This game is all about intensity,” Hen Hud coach Kurt Thomas said. “I just felt something in that inning. I felt like we were going to score runs. I could see it in their eyes. Once somebody gets on with a big hit, everything compounds and everyone starts to hit.”

Despite the loss, Hen Hud has enjoyed an outstanding season and Thomas is confident that it will continue its success.

“In the past, we have always been a slow starting team,” Thomas said. “I just think with the good weather now, we are starting to play consistently, we are starting to see live pitching more. Being able to play on a consistent basis helps out a lot, when it’s cold we don’t get into a rhythm. Now we are in one.”

Hen Hud rebounded from its loss at Panas with a 3-2 home triumph against Beacon on Saturday, May 14. Winning the game on the mound was Gaspar, who improved to 10-2 on the year.

Frink grateful to PHS

Former Peekskill head baseball coach Eric Frink is now an assistant coach at his alma mater John Jay-East Fishkill, after four years of being an assistant at Carmel.

“Tommy O’Hare, the head coach, had an opening and asked me to come over,” Frink said. “It’s on the way home, it’s the district I live in, a good program, the kids have been great all year. It’s a nice place to call home.”

While John Jay-EF may be his baseball home now, he said he will forever be grateful for Peekskill for giving him the opportunity to coach the Red Devils. During his first year at PHS, 1999, the Red Devils won just one game-in its season finale against visiting Poughkeepsie in its last at-bat.

But Frink built the program up and, in 2005, the team recorded its first sectional win in 17 years. The win was a 2-1 triumph at Harrison, led by a complete-game effort on the mound by Joe Brickhouse and two RBI from Andrew Barresi.

Then in 2006, which was Frink’s final year at PHS, Peekskill recorded its first winning season since 1997 with a 13-12 mark.

“It was tough at first but when I left the program it was a winning program,” Frink said. “We developed some really good ballplayers who worked really hard; it was great to see it come through. I wouldn’t be coaching at Carmel and here now (JJ-EF) if it wasn’t for all those opportunities that Peekskill gave me. I am always indebted to them even though I am not there now.”

Tides open season

The Peekskill Tides Collegiate Baseball squad will open its season at Peekskill Stadium at 8 p.m., Thursday, May 19 against the New York Bears in Westchester Rockland Wood Bat League action.