Young Players Will Lead Westhampton Beach Softball; Baseball Squad Will Need Inexperienced Players To Step Up

The Westhampton Beach softball team will be young this year, but with several key returning players and a young pitcher with a bright future, the team should be competitive this spring.

In his fourth season as head coach, Jeff Doroski will rely on a trio of players to provide leadership for the team this year.

Allie Parascandola is a returning senior and fifth-year varsity player who was an All-League shortstop last season, with a .472 batting average, 15 runs, seven RBIs, and five doubles last year. She is committed to Queens College next year.

Another senior, catcher/centerfield Lillie Henthorne, is back for her fourth year on varsity and was an All-League pick last season, with a .333 batting average, 12 runs, 10 RBIs, seven doubles and 13 stolen bases.

In the pitching circle, the Hurricanes bring back Addison Celi, who earned All-League honors as a seventh-grader on the varsity team last year. She batted .400 with nine runs and seven RBIs. In the circle, she pitched 61.2 innings, going 7-5, with 55 strikeouts and a 4.42 ERA.

That experience of that trio will help offset the loss of three seniors to graduation — starters Elana Seltzer (second base), All-County catcher Melanie Meyer and Jane Paulson (first base) — from a team that went 7-5 last year and made the playoffs, suffering a first-round 3-2 loss to Half Hollow Hills West.

Plenty of other players will fill out the rest of the Westhampton Beach lineup and hope to lead the team back to the Class A postseason.

Olivia Tozzi is the only other returning senior who will return as a starter in the outfield this year. Junior Kylah Avery is another returning starter who will play at third base and in the outfield.

Freshman outfielder/catcher Antonella Russo is the only other returning starter. She batted .342 last season with seven runs and seven RBIs.

Freshmen Rylees McGinness (first base/OF), Ellie Jean Burke (second base/outfield/pitcher), and Kali Baumiller (outfield/first base/pitcher) will be in their second year on the varsity, while newcomers Ashley Erbis (sophomore, second base) and Katie Burke (eighth-grader, third base/outfield/first base) will fill out the roster.

Westhampton Beach is still a Class A team but will move up from League V to League IV this season, competing against West Babylon, Deer Park, Hauppauge, Eastport-South Manor, Islip and Comsewogue. Despite that move, the goal remains the same.

“We’re going to be a young team with the potential to start two eighth-graders,” Doroski said. “We will look to be competitive and return to the playoffs this season.

“Allie and Lillie will be in the top of our lineup, and we hope they will be a strong presence and drive in runs for us,” he continued. “Addison has a year of experience under her belt and has done a tremendous amount of work in the offseason. She’ll continue to get better as the years go on. We will have to play our best against everyone on our schedule to get to where we want to be this year.”

That effort was scheduled to start on Tuesday with a visit to Deer Park. The Hurricanes will host East Hampton in a nonleague game on Thursday, March, 31 at 4:30 p.m. and will host East Islip on Monday, April 4, at 4 p.m.

There are plenty of parallels between the softball and baseball programs at Westhampton Beach. Like Doroski, baseball head coach Asa Grunenwald is in his fourth season as head coach, and his squad also suffered a first-round playoff loss to Hills West last season in a one-run game.

The Hurricanes lost a large group of seniors to graduation last year from a team that started off hot, winning seven of its first eight games, but ultimately went 9-9 on the year.

The Hurricanes will need to replace All-County player Jack Halloran, who batted .467 with six home runs and 20 RBIs and is now playing at Emory University, and will also need to see other players step up to offset the loss of starters in third baseman Ryan Sheehan, second baseman Grant Skala, first baseman Ryan Miller, center fielder Andrew Moran and catcher Lucas DeVerna.

It’s the same story on the mound, where players who have now graduated accounted for 111 of 130 innings pitched last season, most notably Brandon Erbis, who had a 2.12 ERA and is now playing at Southern New Hampshire.

One pair of players in particular will be counted on to help lead the team this year: All-League selection Frankie Noto, who is headed to Adelphi next year, is back and will play in the outfield, pitch and hit in the middle of the lineup. Junior Ryan Knierieman is also back, and will bat leadoff, player center field, and pitch. Westhampton Beach will also benefit from the return of Ryan Springer, who will player catcher and first base.

“Frankie and Ryan should lead us in hitting, with Ryan setting the table and Frankie cleaning it up,” Grunenwald said.

He expects newcomer Noah Hebbard, a junior, to be a force in the middle of the lineup as well, and added that Declan Kerns, another junior, “has shown the athleticism to help the team in the infield and on the mound.”

Noto and Knierieman will need to take on a bigger role as pitchers and do well in order for the team to have success. Seniors Anthony Donato, Bobby Hill and Tyler Crispino are also expected to put in time on the mound.

“Our strength as a team is our overall athleticism,” Grunenwald said. “We have good team speed, and a lot of guys that can play a few positions. Our biggest unknown is experience. Which of these players will be able to perform at the varsity level?”

Westhampton Beach plays in a very competitive League V, which includes Rocky Point and East Islip, teams Grunenwald described as “loaded.”

“Either can be considered a top contender for a county title,” he said of those squads. “Half Hollow Hills West, Eastport-South Manor, Kings Park and Comsewogue all have quality programs with talented players. There is no easy week.”

Westhampton Beach was scheduled to kick off the season by hosting ESM in back-to-back games on March 30 and 31 at 4:30 p.m. at the Westhampton Beach Elementary School before visiting the Sharks on April 2 at 11 a.m. for the final game of a three-game set.