By: Alec Eskin

Spring sports have finally begun as we get nicer weather and start to reach the end of this pandemic with more and more people being vaccinated against COVID-19. For the first time this year, a group of sports will have a normal (well semiformal) season wise at all levels. This all comes in light after schools being shut down on March 12th due to the pandemic. As for one field play, it has picked up where it left off from two years ago. Every team is off to a hot start with both the boys and girls lacrosse teams being undefeated at 4-0 and 3-0 respectively. Then, the softball team currently 2-1 behind the great defense and pitching being Morgan Mesaros and Anna Sidlowski. After that, the baseball team has a record of 2-2. Tim Dickinson and Reed Farrell have both start the season hot in the batters box as well as Brian Demcheck pitching well on the mound. You could not have asked for a better start to the spring season in the sunshine

The girls lacrosse team had just pulled off two very big wins away against Archbishop Carroll and at home against York Catholic despite a 45 minute rain delay. Against Carroll, they only allowed six goals after a very impressive defensive performance. They currently have four Division One commits in goalie Sierra McLaughlin, who is committed to Dickinson, and defensemen Mary Rose Berry, who is going to St. Joe’s. After that, you have defensemen Laurn Bendo who is committed to Catholic University. Lastly, defensemen Morgan McClintock is committed to Cabrini. They will have more commits there soon as there are a lot of juniors who play defense. The NCAA rule is that you cannot formally commit until you are a senior. Then, against York Catholic, they were able to have their way on offense as the girls won that game 14-6. That entire offense in Kaitlyn Stankavage, Kaitlyn Henning, Sydney Pyon, Maddie Kalish, and Sophie Kingsborough, and Chloe Mingioni, and Kendall DiCamillo are that seven headed machine on offense that never seems to stop churning. The efficiency of passes and shots they take shows high lacrosse IQ and they are skilled enough to execute on those things. This team is 7-0 and 1st in the Central League. They will play on Tuesday at home against Lower Merion at 3:45 PM.

The boys lacrosse team has also had a great season as they keep rolling against a lot of very good teams as well. They have beaten St. Joe’s Prep in which Bishop Barnes scored the go ahead goal late in the game on a rocket to put Garnet Valley up by one as they won 8-7. They currently ranked 3rd in the Philly lacrosse standings as they continue to rise with each win. They have had some great games from attackers Max Busenkell, who is going to Notre Dame, has had multiple hat tricks as well as many assists. Then, you have Sam Morin on defense who has made a lot of very impressive stops on that end of the field as he will go to play at Towson next year. They will have a very important game coming up on April 22nd against Conestoga, whom beat GV two years ago for the District One title. They have a very deep rotation so this will be a big test for GV as they have been on a roll as of late. The reasons they have been performing so well is having refined skills and execution as well. Their passing and setups with the 1-4-1 offense has been working to protection. Rather than actually shooting the ball, the setups have been what’s given Garnet Valley the huge advantage against other teams. Being able to execute has also been what’s leading Garnet Valley to so many dominant victories. They are currently 6-0 and tied for 1st in the Central League with Penncrest.

The Garnet Valley softball team has been off to a very nice start as well. One highlight this season for them was the no-hitter thrown by Anna Sidlowski who is currently being recruited by many division one schools. Then, you also had Katelyn Dugery hit a grand in a mercy rule win yesterday against Conestoga. Also, they have had great play from shortstop Morgan Mesaros who will playing softball next year at JMU. Also, 3rd basemen Annie Bechtold will be going to East Strasbourg next year for softball as well. The softball team is currently 4-1 and 3rd in the Central League standings. This team is much improved from two years ago as they have a much younger team that are very talented. Their next game will be against Springfield at home next Monday. Then, they also have two matchups with Haverford and one with Ridley, which has been the only team Garnet Valley has lost too. This is a tough stretch of games that will see what this team is made of.

After that, they baseball team had gotten off to a slow starts but are picking things up as of late. Tim Dickinson the 1st game of the season hit a ball over the right field fence, which has never been done in Garnet Valley baseball history. He is currently being scouted by a lot of division one schools and his still uncommitted. Then, Reed Farrell has been great from behind the plate and on offense. His power has been giving Garnet Valley a jump start on offense. They are currently 4-3 and 9th in the Central League. One thing they have to improve upon is their pitching as well as their fielding. They have been giving up runs at a high rate this season. However, the pitchers for this baseball team are very smart and there is a lot of confidence they can righten the ship. This season is still young and early and there is time to make a run.

Lastly, both track teams are off to really good starts as well. Over the winter, there was not an indoor track season as it was mostly practices preparing for spring. However, that practice seems to be paying off. Eric Albright for the boys team has been doing really well on the 800 meter dash. On the girls side, there is Winnie Incorvaia who has been doing really well in the last two years and is committed to Pitt for track and field. Both teams had just won their meets at home and are consistently getting better as they season progresses. Overall, a very good season for both teams after not being able to compete last season.

The great news is that unlike the fall and winter sports seasons, this one is mostly normal in terms of regular season and playoff length. After being able to see all of these teams getting back onto the field, it has made myself and almost everyone realize how much spring sports were missed last year. The regular season for all teams will run through the middle of May and then each team will start playing in Districts shortly after the regular season is over with all of them having a good chance in making a deep run in them. After Districts will be state playoffs which usually start around the beginning of June. This could be shaping up into a fun spring season after waiting so long for it to happen.