Bishops
Sports Blog
“Rain, Rain Go Away!!”
As the month
of May approaches, one thing we can all agree on as an athletic department is
the fact that Mother Nature can certainly be unfair sometimes. We are almost at
the halfway point of the spring season, and more than half our teams have yet
to play a 1/4th of their schedule. April was bad to us and we have
fought through cancellations and a plethora of postponements. However, early
season success for a majority of our teams has spirits running high here at
Archbishop Williams. 5 out of 6 of our Varsity teams in the spring currently
have records of .500 or better, and if May is good to us “weather-wise”, we can
expect a lot of these teams to still be playing come tournament time. Now let’s
take a look at the breakdown of every team currently playing in the spring:
Tennis
The girl’s
tennis program has found an amazing amount of success early on in their season.
Behind the knowledge and experience of Coach Bois, the girls have already
reached nearly 40% of their win total from last season… in four games this
season! The Lady Bishops are 3-1 to start the season, with wins over St.
Mary’s, O’Bryant, and Arlington Catholic. Their only loss came at the hands of
CCL competitor, Austin Prep. What is even more incredible is the fact that
practices have been limited due to the weather that we endured in the month of
April. The team has used gym time and the new Dignan Center on rainy days, but
still find themselves at 3-1. Daisy Zhang, who is slated as Coach Bois’s 3rd
singles player, remains undefeated in her four matches so far this season. 8th
graders, Brooke and Taylor Alessi, have also impressed in their roles as
1&2 singles players. Every match they have gone up against opposing team’s
best players, who are often upperclassmen. Very impressive! The girl’s will
hope for a month of rain-free weather in May, as they are lined up to play St.
Mary’s, Pope John, Spellman, and Fenwick in their next four matches.
Boys
Lacrosse
“The
strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who don’t
give up when they lose.” This quote couldn’t be any truer for our Boys Lacrosse
program. The Bishops have had a tough start to the season, starting the year
0-6. To make matters worse, the boys only managed to score 39 goals in those
first 6 games, while giving up 106. However, this quote defines our team
because instead of calling it quits on the season, the boys rallied behind
Coach Curley and Coach Hesse (who was not in attendance) to beat CCL
competitor, Bishop Fenwick this past week 11-8. Fenwick, who had previously
beaten the Bishops, 15-7 earlier in the season, struggled to find answers for
the attack of Jake Barry, Cam Dean, and John Vaughan. In net, Cam Gregg made
key saves when the time called.
Coach Curley
had this to say about the win: “The boys played with a different type of
intensity today. You could tell that they had enough of losing. They wanted
this one badly and despite it being tied at half, we felt confident that this
was our game. I’m excited to see what we can do in the second half of the
season, but one thing I do know… If we continue to play with this demeanor, we
will see a lot more of the ‘W’s’ fill in.”
Girls
Lacrosse
Sitting at
6-4 in their first ten games of the season, the girl’s lacrosse team has to be
happy with the start of their year. The Lady Bishops, or the “Road Warriors”,
have seemed to find more success traveling to other team’s venues. They have
posted a 3-1 record on the road, while sitting at 3-3 at home. All four losses
have come at the hands of CCL competitors (two v. Fenwick, once v. St. Mary’s,
and once against Austin Prep), but the girl’s have dominated opponents in their
wins. In their wins, they are averaging a win-margin of 11.8 goals. Seniors
Mollie Manning (#1 in the state of MA) and Sharon Doherty (#3 in the state of
MA), have combined for a total 107 points in ten games. If the Lady Bishops
want to keep winning, they must continue to get added support from their
underclassmen including Mel McClay (31 points), Haley Mullen (21 points), Kim
Dunn (12 points), and Allie Delmonte (11 points), along with strong defensive
play/goaltending.
Senior
captain Mollie Manning had this to say about the team: “We have been
battle-tested early having to play Fenwick twice, St. Mary’s & Austin Prep
both once to start the season. We are a younger team, so getting that tough
competition early on is only going to help us in the last half of the season.
We still have a lot to improve on, but we are confident in what we have going.”
Track
& Field
Spring has
fared well for our Track & Field program! With five meets under their belt,
the girls’ have yet to be beaten with a record of 5-0 and the boys’ find
themselves right behind at 4-1. The work that both sides have done throughout
the season is definitely showing. With 15 athletes displaying perfect
attendance over April vacation and a large majority of the team showing up for
a good portion of break, the dedication and drive is there. The latest meet came
against a very strong St. Mary’s program. The girls’ cruised, dominating their
opponent in all 15 events… winning 106-23. The boys’ managed to win 10 of their
events, and persevered to a 72-62 victory despite two photo-finish loses in
both relays. The Bishops have another CCL showdown against Austin Prep on
Tuesday.
Coach Van
Dorpe had this to say about the latest win: “I don’t know if it was the 60
degree weather at 7 pm or the fact that the meet was held under the lights, but
there was a different vibe tonight. The kids in all events showed great
enthusiasm and support of their fellow teammates. They have been working
extremely hard and it showed against a St. Mary’s team that has given us some
fits in past years.”
Baseball
The Bishops
baseball team have had a tough go at it weather wise to start the season, but
remain a perfect 5-0 to start the season… including wins over powerhouse Austin
Prep to start the season, two wins against Carver, a win over a strong Hingham
team, and CCL opponent Arlington Catholic. Senior, Brett Sullivan, and
freshman, Myles McDermott have been nearly unhittable in four starts (4-0) and
will look to keep it going this weekend. Sullivan is projected to get the start
in Spellman today, while McDermott is projected to get the start tomorrow on
the road against Scituate.
While
pitching has been a strong point to start the season, the Bishops have not
struggled hitting either. In the five wins so far this season, they are
averaging a total of 7.2 runs a game. The infield is experienced and very stout
defensively, led by shortstop Timmy Chase… and with senior Casey Earle behind
the plate, this hot start should continue.
Jack Rega
(Senior LF) had this to say about the team’s hot start: “I am very excited
about this team’s performance to start the season. We are getting timely hits
from everyone and the defense has been superb. We are a resilient team and if
we get down or if the game remains close, we are confident in late innings both
offensively and defensively.” This showed against Carver as they scored 6 runs
in the 6th inning to pull away 10-4 last game… behind Rega’s 3/3
performance at bat.
Softball
Speaking of
resilient, the girl’s softball team had a big bounce back win over St. Mary’s
yesterday (3-0) after losing 14-1 v. Abington earlier in the week. The victory
against St. Mary’s brought the team’s overall record to an impress 4-3 record.
The bats have struggled a bit to start the season (19 runs in 7 games), but the
team has only given up 22 runs on the season, with 14 of them coming in one
game. If you take out the Abington loss, the Lady Bishops and U of Maine
commit, Kyleigh O’Donnell, have only given up 8 runs in 6 games… and average of
1.33 a game.
Coach Bill
O’Brien and company know when the bats do get hot; this team can be a force in
the South. “We haven’t hit the ball all that well to start, but in our wins, we
are getting timely hitting and smart base-running. The hitting will turn around
and once it does, we will be in very good shape overall as a team.”
The Lady
Bishops face three CCL opponents in a row in their next three games (Spellman,
Fenwick, and Matignon) and will look to continue on a winning streak.
