Sports Commentary: Midseason report

PETE PAGUAGA — Sports Editor

Now that we are in April, there is about maybe a month or so more of athletics left before the semester and spring season comes to an end.

With that in mind, I will now gives quick reports of how our Owl teams are doing so far.

Yes, the gymnastics team is still competing and they are as successful as ever. They will be sending nine different members to Nationals this weekend in Bridgeport. The nine Owls that are going: Bailey Brumbach, Meghan Cole, Brianna Ecklof, Gabriella Hude, Jessica Kiback, Alanna Laecca, Kirby Pallis, Mallory Miller and frequenter of the Southern News athlete of the week section Becca Brady.

The women’s lacrosse team is currently sitting at 1-10. They earned their first win since April 15, 2009, when they beat Post University 22-11 in the third game of the season. The Owls haven’t been able to duplicate their early season suc­cess. If there is one bright spot, it’s Elania Heiple dominating the opposition. She has 27 goals in 10 games; that’s pretty darn good.

Both men’s and women’s track will be starting shortly, but since I have gone to this school for four years, I will tell you that they will dominate again—as they always do. This year should be especially successful with the NE-10 for both the men and women being held at Southern. The question isn’t will they win, but how much will they win by.

The softball team is off to a scorching start. They are 23-3 and have not only dominated opponents but have won very close games. For those who know sports, winning the close games separates the good teams from the great teams.

Owl pitchers Jayme Larson and Kelsey Cockrill lead the team. Cockrill is 10-1 with a 2.04 ERA and nine complete games. Larson toats an impressive 11-1 record with 10 com­plete games and is sporting a ridiculous 1.45 ERA. The offense isn’t too shabby either with Brittany Bucko, Kristen Whitley and Kate Hoffman all batting over .400. Alyssa Downs has 10 home runs and 41 RBI through 26 games.

The baseball team likewise is off to a great start—not as good as last year, but you can’t expect them to start 22-0 again. With the return of Ryan Yerina this season, along with Chris Zbin and Steve Landell and the addition of Rocco Cundari through transfer, the Owls pitching staff has been very good so far this season.

The Owls offense is led by Kyle Cummings, who is hitting .396 so far this season, Ryan Geffert, who leads the team with six home runs and Michael Cleary, who is batting .313 and leading the team with 18 RBIs.

So far so good for the Owl spring teams. We should be looking forward to multiple NE-10 Championships and pos­sibly a few National tournament appearances.

Not too bad for a small state school in Connecticut.