By Five Boro Sports
The Construction softball team will not be trying to repeat as PSAL Class B champion next season. Coach Marco Migliaccio requested a move up to the ‘A’ league before this year even started.
“I want to be in the ‘A’ next year,” he said after the top-seeded Red Hawks defeated No. 2 Telecommunications for the ‘B’ title Saturday at St. John’s University. “Even if I lost this game. We work too hard to stay in the ‘B.’ …. I’d rather lose with better competition.”
There’s little doubt Construction (22-0) will be competitive in Class A next season. The Red Hawks dominated the ‘B’ league all season. They trailed in just two games all season — both times in the playoffs against Telecom. They even beat Bryant in a non-league game during the regular season. The Owls won Queens A-II, the same division Construction figures to play in next year, given its geography.
The Red Hawks also bring every single player back. Remarkably, their school is just three years old and doesn’t have any seniors yet. Next year will be Construction’s first graduating class. The team is only in its second season as a varsity program. There is plenty of room to grow.
“I think it’s a big advantage,” Migliaccio said. “We’re gonna be prepared for the ‘A.’”
The coach played baseball at New Utrecht High School and Brooklyn College. He coached PSAL softball at Harry Van Arsdale in Brooklyn for nine years before getting a job at Construction when it opened up two years ago. None of his players with the Red Hawks ever played softball before and he has taught five of them how to windmill pitch, including Sheila San Andres, arguably the best hurler in the ‘B’ league this year.
“That’s what I love doing,” Migliaccio said of starting the program from scratch. “I love teaching.”
He said when he was at Van Arsdale his team always used to get knocked out of the playoffs by a Queens school. Now, ironically, he coaches at one of those.
Quickly, the Construction softball team has developed an almost cult-like following at the school. There were dozens upon dozens of fans at St. John’s on Saturday with red shirts on, some of which read “Construction Crazies.” The Red Hawks are receiving great support from the students, faculty and administration. Even school principal Quintin Cedeno was there, decked out in red.
Migliaccio has started his own travel ball team — Rich-Haven — where his Construction players can compete outside of school. It’s a key, he said, because all of the city’s top teams are loaded with travel ball players. Red Hawks players said they practice up to seven days a week, three or four hours per day.
“We all push to be the best,” sophomore third baseman Alyssa Burke said. “We want to achieve in softball.”
Next year, they’ll be trying to do that on the highest level.
