By Dylan Butler
Realignment.
For PSAL softball teams in Queens, there is no better sounding word this year.
After years of mercy-rule shortened games, the PSAL, under first-year commissioner Suzanne Poakeart, finally decided to create a B division to separate the elite in the city from the rest of the pack.
In Queens, the shuffling created one super ‘A’ division featuring Bayside, Francis Lewis, Cardozo, Bryant, Townsend Harris, Van Buren, John Adams and three B divisions with the remaining 18 teams in the borough.
While the division is new, the favorite is a familiar one in Bayside, a team that went 26-7 overall, 12-5 in the PSAL, and lost to Port Richmond, 1-0, in extra innings in the semifinals last season. It was the Commodores’ fifth straight trip to the PSAL semifinals.
Leading an awesome junior class is pitcher Sapphire Edwards, who was 3-5 with a 2.25 earned run average and had 41 strikeouts in 37.3 innings and also batted .500.
But to succeed in this brutal division, a team needs more than one windmiller, especially with three to four division games a week.
Commodores head coach Steve Piorkowski believes he has that in juniors Kim Hattan, who was 2-1 with a 3.11 ERA and batted .366 last year, and Justine Kraus, who had 13 strikeouts in 10 innings.
Senior first baseman Theresa Mehlig provides some awesome pop offensively, after batting .615 last year, with five home runs and 23 RBIs.
Also back is one of the top catchers in the city in senior Talia Fromm, who batted .488 last year.
Francis Lewis also has one of the top pitcher/catcher combinations in the city in seniors Alyssa Schneebaum and Lucia Oswald. Schneebaum was 9-1 last year with a 0.51 ERA and struck out 97 in 68 innings, while Oswald batted .421 last year and has 21 RBIs.
Other top returnees for the Patriots, who were 14-3 last year and lost to Port Richmond in the quarterfinals, include junior first baseman Victoria Gardner, senior second baseman Alexandra Anagnostos, senior third baseman Lisa Puccio and junior Tori Meluzin, who played second last year but will likely move to center field.
With very little fanfare, Cardozo was one of the most successful teams in the city last year. The Judges finished 19-3 overall, 14-3 in the PSAL, and lost to Bayside in the quarterfinals.
“Sometimes I think we’re the team that time forgot,” said Cardozo head coach Larry Alberts, whose team has been to the quarterfinals eight times in the last nine years. “Last year all the talk was about Bayside and Van Buren. Then it was about Francis Lewis. Cardozo got very little play last year, but then we won the division title for the second time in three years.”
Very few on the Cardozo roster are playing the same position from last year. Senior Priscilla Juarez will be the catcher after playing second base last year. After playing center field last year, junior Carrie Seidel will play short this year, replacing graduated Jessica Schropfer.
Junior Lindsey Rhodes will take the reins from graduated top pitcher Josephine Georgio. She was 4-0 last year with a 2.66 ERA, striking out 46 in 29 innings.
Just as she provided a spark for the John Adams girls basketball team, Francesca Romano is expected to be one of the top players for the Spartans softball team. The transfer from St. Francis Prep should be one of the top pitchers in Queens and when she’s not windmilling she will start at short.
Back for Adams, who went 16-4 overall, 14-2 in the PSAL and lost in the second round of the playoffs to Madison, is senior centerfielder Natasha Kirkland, senior second baseman Michelle Petrosino as well as a talented junior class led by Daneisha Lloyd, who will play first but can also play third.
Bryant also fell in the second round of the playoffs last year after going 28-5 overall, 15-1 in the PSAL. Returning for Wally Hausdorf’s Owls are seniors Annette Cabrera (shortstop) and Stephanie Cutignola (catcher), while juniors Amanda Acevedo (10-2, 1.89 ERA and .467 batting average) and Ally Stamadiates, who batted .444 and started at third base last season, will share pitching duties this year.
Demetria Brown, a former assistant coach at Columbia, takes over as the new coach at Van Buren after John Felicciardi stepped down.
Also gone from last year are Jasmine Edwards, who not only batted .600, but also was the VeeBees top pitcher, going 3-2 with a 1.75 ERA, striking out 52 in 32 innings pitched, and Cindy Nappi, who batted .450 a year after Van Buren lost in the PSAL championship game in extra innings.
Maria Scalisi, a starting shortstop last year, will be the team’s top pitcher and cleanup hitter. Also back is Katie Christensen, will bat leadoff and take over at short and senior catcher Samantha Torres.
Rounding out the division is Townsend Harris, coached by Larry Ceraulo, who return Patti Pabon, Kristina Casper and Arielle Frost from a team that went 9-4 last year and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Stuyvesant.
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
