Spring Break Sports Summary

Two Harrison varsity teams kicked off their spring schedules thousands of miles away, in sunny Florida last week and are now returning home to get the ball rolling on their 2010 seasons.

Harrison baseball coach Marco Diruocco and softball coach Dean Marino both took their teams to Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex for some extra spring training and, for the baseball team, a few league games.

The trips were designed for the athletes to focus on getting their work done on the field, to have a little fun and, most importantly, build team unity.

"We gave the guys some off time so that they could bond with one another," said coach Diruocco of the baseball team. "We wanted to go down there and make sure we came back a real tight and united team."   

Both teams' schedules consisted of nearly the same thing. In the morning the teams would get up and get in a quick practice or workout, then both teams had either two games or scrimmages each day. The teams had all their meals together, and spent the majority of their down time either at theme parks or lounging around by the pool. The boys also saw fit to include video games in their daily regiment.  

Though the baseball team has several short term and long term goals for the week, and the season, the squad went down there with one key goal - beat John Jay.

"John Jay is a good team and they always seem to have our number," Diruocco said. "We went down there knowing we had two opportunities to play them and, to be honest, our goal was to win one of the two."

Harrison went up against two college bound pitchers in the games against John Jay. The Huskies lost the first game 6-3 but were able to battle for a victory in the second matchup, 7-6.

Coach Diruocco said two players really stood out on the trip. Offensively, he was impressed with third basemen Mike DeLacy's hitting ability. DeLacy went 6-for-6 in the two games and added three RBI's.

"He's a masher," Diruocco said of his third baseman. "He just goes to the plate focused and he has been mashing the ball for us."

On the other side of the ball, the team was impressed with senior pitcher Goh Ogura. In the two league games against John Jay Ogura pitched seven innings with an ERA of 1.00.

"Goh pitched really well in both games," Diruocco said. "We are counting on him a lot this year on the mound."

The most important thing the Husky baseball team may have done was naming their captains on the trip. Senior Mike DeLacy and junior Michael Jacobson will be the players that the coaching staff is looking at to lead on and off the field.

While Coach Diruocco and the baseball team may be content with a split in Florida, Coach Dean Marino and the Harrison softball team have their eyes set on a state championship.

The team went down to Florida looking for answers to a few positional battles but everyone played so well, said coach Marino, that the results of those battles are even less clear. 

"Everyone played pretty well, all had our ups and downs," said Harrison pitcher Ashley Marino. "The pitchers had to get used to pitching from the 43 foot mound instead of 40 and it was just good to practice to be in real game situations before our season."

The softball team played 15 scrimmages in the seven days in Florida. Although not one game counted toward their season record, the girls on the team still realized they have a lot of things to work on.

"We still need to work on making less mental mistakes and doing the right things at the right time," Ashley Marino said. "Or as coach would say we need to 'push the envelope'."

"Overall I like the way we played, but we still need to improve," catcher Gigi LoDolce said. "We have to get better with our consistency, especially on offense."

Both teams considered the trip to be a large success. Now that the squads are back they will be looking get out to quick starts as the season gets underway.