Track, tennis, baseball

By Steev Riccardo

Despite uncooperative weather last Wednesday, it was great to check out the track meet at Oxford High School.

Oxford hosted the Shepherd Hill Rams and the Quaboag Cougars and the competition was as fierce as usual.  Among the many talented stars on the track that day where Oxford’s junior sensation Emily Dawidczyk, the ‘Sweet Assassin’ as we like to call her, and Shepherd Hill’s sophomore, long distance whiz kid Stella Worters.

We spoke to Pirates coach, Andrew Martin, afterwards and he was pleased with the Oxford girls’ performance defeating the Cougars for their first win of the season, despite losing to the Rams on Wednesday.

“We are starting to come into our own as team,” said Martin, who praised yet another clutch performance from Dawidczyk, who won the 200, long jump, and triple jump in what is becoming commonplace for the junior.

Martin is excited about the girls squad that is led by Dawidczyk and senior star Jordan Orrell and the great supporting cast, which has been coming on.

Sophomore Shelby Stretton, who has been running solidly in both the two-mile and one-mile run, earned high praise from Martin. “She is awesome: She loves to run, she is a pleasure to coach, and she is a pleasure to have on the team.”

The coach also praised junior Anissa White who he said “works hard and is making great strides” as a javelin thrower. “She is consistently coming in first and second at meets.  She is beating people, which is really good.”

Another familiar face that we saw at the meet is Pirates Central Mass Field Hockey star Michelle Williams, who Martin said is “a great athlete, real fast, and great kid.” Williams was talked into joining the track team for the first time as a senior by the Pirates coach Tim Craig.  Martin said that it was a good move and that she has been a great addition to the team.

Overall, with all this talent Martin feels pretty good about the future, “I’m hoping we get even better. If we keep working we will get better. All we require is getting their best effort. I know we had a slow start, but I think things will pick up.

With regard to competing against bigger schools like Shepherd Hill, Martin had these interesting comments. “Its daunting, sometimes it gets a little tough. It’s something that the kids know; they know how many athletes they have. It’s intimidating. However, I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world. If nothing else, it forces us to step up our own game and from that we can make ourselves better as a team.”

Rams Girls Tennis: On Saturday morning, prior to the school’s match-up with the Bartlett Indians, we caught up with Shepherd Hill Rams, first year girl’s tennis coach, Phil Alston. He had some interesting things to say about his team. Alston had been the coach of the Indians boys team for the previous three years, but as an independent trainer he had worked with the likes of Rams number one singles player, Maddie Billis.

“Maddie has been playing number one singles the past three years,” said Alston. “Number one singles is the toughest spot to play in tennis. You always play each school’s quality number one opponent, and she plays those girls every game—and every match she gets better. She cherishes that position, and she thrives on it.”

Billis, who is a great competitor, has been a three-year starter for the Rams and a superb leader, according to Alston.

Junior Callie Mulcahy, “shows a lot of leadership on the court,” according to Alston, and she is the team’s number two singles player. She is joined by freshman Abbey Packard, the team’s third singles player.  The doubles teams are junior Bri Borus/senior co-captain Sandy Tarasiak and Steph Gallant/Chrissy Chevalier. 

The Rams were 3-3 before taking on the Indians this weekend.

We got the Power(s): As in Kelly Powers, the Bartlett Indians track star won both the two-mile and mile run for the Indians at the team’s track meet in Auburn last week. Powers is making a strong case for a district run for the Indians as she seems to get better at every meet.

Girls Softball leaders: Both the Shepherd Hill and Oxford softball teams have players that are racking up nice numbers this season.

Hitting the cover off the ball are the Rams’ Marissa Colby (.539), Cassidy Colby (.455), Samantha Miller (.400), and Molly Covill (.353).  The Pirates have their share of power as well with Sarah Smith leading the way with a .444 average, followed by Jamie Brodeur (.364) and Evelyn Marquis (.346).

Covill is also one of the top pitchers in Central Mass with and ERA of less than two runs a game. The Pirates ace, Nicole Mangaudis, is hanging in there with an Earned Runs Average of around four per game. Incredibly, she continues to pitch in every inning of every game.

Baseball leaders: When the Bartlett Indians lost Tyler Mandeville to injury for the season, they also lost his impressive .535 batting average.  Luis Caro and Evan Anderson were both hitting around .500 at press time for the Indians as well. 

The Pirates have been killing the ball all season with Nick Lemay (.556), Mike Cicero(.526), Cody Stone (.444), and Nick Cardoni (.440) all having huge seasons so far.  At press time Lemay was yet to give up an earned run.

Chris Daniels has been swinging a good bat and leading the Rams with a .350 batting average.

Game Of The Week: Auburn at Oxford Wednesday.

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