Annemarie Brown and her assistant, Melanie Anderson, apportioned East Hampton High’s varsity and junior varsity softball teams over the weekend, keeping 13 on the varsity and 16 on the jayvee, which is coached by Jenna Arnister and Carly Raynor.
“We’re definitely aiming for the playoffs this year,” Brown said by phone Sunday. Her roster will include four seniors, two juniors, three sophomores, and four ninth graders.
While the team won’t have a lights-out pitcher, said the coach, who herself was a lights-out pitcher at the State University at Cortland, “We’ve got three who have good speed and ball movement, all of them have good points. I’ll warm all of them up before games and start the one who seems most ready.”
The pitchers are Caroline DiSunno, a senior, Katie Kuneth, a junior, and Alyssa Brabant, a senior, all returnees. Others on the roster are Emma Terry, the senior shortstop, Ella Eggert, a senior infielder-outfielder, Susie DiSunno, the sophomore catcher, Sienna Salamy, a sophomore infielder-outfielder, Olivia Walsh, a sophomore infielder-outfielder, Brighton Lys, a junior utility player, and four freshmen — Mary Jean Vickers, Brynley Lys, Lydia Rowan, and Colleen McKee. The latter three played for Beth Crowley’s undefeated Springs School softball team last spring.
“Last year, we had a lot of injuries, though the year before that we made the playoffs,” said the fifth-year coach, who has been encouraging her charges to make use of Shelly Schaffer’s Hub 44 building off Tan Bark Trail, which has six batting/pitching tunnels and a HitTrax video display that records various stats.
While softball is one of eight East Hampton teams playing in geographically based leagues as of this school year, “we were told at the Section XI meeting recently that that won’t happen next year,” said Brown, adding that the coaches have not had anyone lately to press their case. This season, she said, the softball team is in a league with Sayville, Westhampton Beach, Miller Place, Rocky Point, Eastport-South Manor, and Comsewogue. East Hampton will play each of those schools twice.
Crossover games, Brown said, are to be played with Mount Sinai, Shoreham-Wading River, Southold-Greenport, Center Moriches, Pierson, Hampton Bays, and Bayport-Blue Point. Nineteen games in all.
The Bonackers are to begin the campaign at Sayville Wednesday. Westhampton Beach is to play here on Friday, March 31.
Thereafter, the schedule has East Hampton at Eastport-South Manor on April 1; Miller Place here on April 3; East Hampton at Rocky Point on April 4; Comsewogue here on April 14; Sayville here on April 15; Mount Sinai here on April 18; East Hampton at Shoreham-Wading River on April 20; Hampton Bays here on April 22; East Hampton at Pierson, in Sag Harbor, on April 24; Center Moriches here on April 26; East Hampton vs. Greenport-Southold-Mattituck at Southold on April 28; East Hampton at Westhampton Beach on May 2; Eastport-South Manor here on May 4; East Hampton at Miller Place on May 6; Bayport-Blue Point here on May 8; Rocky Point here on May 9, and East Hampton at Comsewogue on May 12.