Kingston primed to build upon success
Tigers return nearly all its players from last year’s sectional championship squad
With almost its entire team back, Kingston High’s softball program is not content to rest on its laurels. The Tigers are looking to build upon their success.
Kingston opens the 2018 season Monday with a non-league game at John Jay. The Tigers are fresh off a ‘17 campaign that had it going 18-4, winning the Section 9, Class AA championship and reaching the state quarterfinals.
The Tigers lost two players to graduation and return nine: seniors Jessica Chilcott, Alyssa Finno, Megan Peace, Kaitlynn Schrowang and Alyssa Villielm and juniors Shannon Bonewit, Sydney Bonewit, Lauren Shambo, plus Kailyn Lukaszewski, who missed last season to injury.
Junior Victoria DeMercurio and sophomore Grace Tremper (brought up from the junior varsity for the postseason) join the varsity full time.
The only newcomer is freshman outfielder Hailee Binney, a good contact hitter.
“It’s the same team. We have the same chemistry. We have a good bond. I think that we should take what we had last season, kind of reevaluate it and make it a new beginning,” said Chilcott, whose team continued the extensive preseason regimen that they started after the 2016 campaign. The Tigers lifted three days a week and did drills twice a week at the YMCA from October through February,
Added Finno, “We put in a lot of work to get here and we’re all really excited for the upcoming season. All of us can’t wait to actually start playing games.
“We’ve learned a lot from last year and especially my sophomore year, when we didn’t have such a good record (10-8),” Finno
said. “We’ve grown off that. We’ve wanted to do so much better every year. This year is going to be really good.”
Said Kingston coach Trishann Hayes, “I definitely think that we’re going to have a good season. “They know the expectations. I even told them my expectations for them have heightened from last year. I expect for them to continue to be the team that they were last year, but better. I tell them that I want them to continue to be the teammates that they were last year, but better.”
That shouldn’t be hard for this tight-knit veteran team.
“I’ve played with every single one of these girls on JV, modified, even on travel when we were 10,” Chilcott said. “We just know each other. We know when to pick each other up. We know when they’re down, what we need to do to help them. We’re best friends.”
Said Finno, “We’re all very connected, on and off the field. If we need help with schoolwork or something on the field, we’re there for everyone. We’re very close.”
Added Hayes, “The leadership and the friendships that they have on this team is unbelievable. Their friendships and their communication is beyond these (foul) lines. “They know each other’s weaknesses. They know each other’s strengths. They’re just that group that, at the end of the day, they’re always going to pick each other up.
“They’re very confident in what they can do and what they can accomplish. They’ve been playing with each other since they were little. They have a big goal in mind and they have to work for it.”
The infield is intact with Schrowang at first base, Finno at second, Shannon Bonewit at short and Peace at third. The battery almost remains the same with Shambo pitching and Chilcott behind the plate.
Sydney Bonewit will again anchor the outfield in center. Villielm and Lukaszewski will be playing left or right. Chilcott could also see some time in the outfield with Tremper, another outfielder, and Villielm catching.
The Tigers’ batting order will remain the same. Lukaszewski could fit in the 6-7-8 spots.
“My entire team can do any job, any task that I give them, whatever it should be: whether it’s getting a bunt down or moving runners over, things like that,” Hayes said.
The Tigers won 14 games in a row before falling to Yorktown in a regional final. During that run, they had become Kingston’s Kardiac Kids, pulling out their victories in the late innings.
“Once somebody starts to hit, then it just keeps going and going,” Finno said. “We feed off of each other. We love those situations like that, though. It gets our heart pumping. We want it so bad. We love being challenged. It’s amazing.”
Said Hayes, “They’re all on the same page. That’s what makes them the strong team that they are. They definitely want to continue to do what they did last year and roll it over to this season.
“One of the things I said to them during the first week of tryouts and even the first week of practice is that, they being Section 9 champions, it’s done and over with. We’re starting with a clean slate,” she added.
“The mentality is we need to continue to stay humble; we need to continue to do what it is we need to do and we need to continue to keep the focus that we’re one game at a time,” Hayes said. “We’re now 2018 and we need to stay in 2018. We can’t go back to 2017. We need to stay in the 2018 mentality. They definitely understand that and they know that they have to work for it, because now they will have a target on their back.”
The Tigers are the team to beat and their aim is to return and go further.
“That’s the plan,” Chilcott said. “That’s the hope.”
Kingston has just six home contests in an 18game regular season. The Tigers play their first six on the road before their home opener April 16 against Pine Bush. SCHEDULE April: 2, at John Jay, 4:30 p.m.; 5, at Warwick, 4:30 p.m.; 9, at Newburgh, 4:30 p.m.; 11, at Bethlehem, 4:15 p.m.; 14, at Shenendehowa Tournament (vs. Shenendehowa, noon; Columbia, 2 p.m.); 16, PINE BUSH, 4:30 p.m.; 18, at Valley Central, 4:30 p.m.; 20, CORNWALL, 4:30 p.m.; 25, at Middletown, 4:30 p.m.; 27, WASHINGTONVILLE, 4:30 p.m.; 30, at Goshen, 4:30 p.m. May: 2, at Monroe-Woodbury, 4:30 p.m.; 4, at Minisink Valley, 7:30 p.m.; 7, NEWBURGH, 4:30 p.m.; 9, at Pine Bush, 4:30 p.m.; 10, at Pine Plains, 4:15 p.m.; 12, at Ichabod Crane, noon; 14, MIDDLETOWN, 4:30 p.m.; 16, MONROE-WOODBURY, 4:30 p.m. Home games in CAPS.