Bits and Pieces 29 3-22-01 

   Let's take a preseason look at Delaware high school spring sports. Please keep in mind that these observations this season are based on personal observations, old notes and rosters, and just a little inside information. I really haven't had the time to make all of the phone calls that would make this little guide more comprehensive and trustworthy. So if you should see a mistake here and there about someone who decided not to play, someone who transferred out, or some other piece of trivia, just send me a note and I can make the change. But I didn't too so bad in the winter (I picked William Penn originally) so I shouldn't be too far off.

  BASEBALL

  Who will have the best shot at taking the baseball trophy away from Mt. Pleasant this year? It will be the team that they beat in the finals last year, St. Marks. 
  Look no further than the pitching rotation to figure out why. Returning for the Spartans are all of last years pitchers; Mark Romanczuk, Tom Cochran, Mark Rash, and Josh Radulski. Romanczuk and Cochran give head coach Matt Smith two lefties to throw each week. Romanczuk was recently named the best baseball prospect in the state by Baseball America and he is just a junior.
  Cochran and Geoff Ashton provide the power for St. Marks. Bryan Fitzgerald in centerfield and Garry Wright behind the plate help the Spartan defensive middle which will be just a bit weaker without a standout shortstop so far.
  The Green Knights of Mt. Pleasant also return a solid core of players who have tasted victory. Brent Rogers, Adam Pfister, and Daryl Holcomb will lead Mt. Pleasant back into the playoffs once again. The Green Knights relied on their speed last year but lost two of their quicker outfielders, Andy and Jared Savage to graduation. Rogers is one of the top shortstops in the state and is headed to the University of Delaware along with Daryl Holcomb next year who pitches and plays third.
  Salesianum is also returning a large group of pitchers led by senior Jason Bolinski. He finished his season 9-1 last year from the mound. Sean Dodson, and Jesse Magee can also see time on the mound for the Sals who finished last season 18-2 after they were knocked out by Laurel. Chris Fromuth at firstbase is a returning all-state team player from 2000.
   The William Penn Colonials were knocked out of the tournament in the first round last year. They only lost five seniors and return Jason Rogers, and Brett Urban as 1-2 starters. With the exception of second base, the entire Colonial lineup could be filled with seniors this year. Look for them to take home a Flight A crown.
   Besides the ones already mentioned, the following players are returning all-state players from 2000. Bolinski, Romanczuk, Cochran, Brent Rogers, Jason Rogers, Holcomb, Blake Hershelman form Sussex Central, Nick Pegelow from Seaford, Brent Evans from Seaford, Matt Keen from Middletown, Kevin Long from Polytech, Dustin Johnson from Delmar, Clayton Vaughn from Middletown, Caleb Crothers from Caravel, Matt Ryan from Newark, Jeremy Maddox from Woodbridge, Matt McGee from Sussex Central, Andrew Blackston from Howard, Fitzgerald, Keith Collins from Lake Forest, Jeff Marsh from Sussex Tech and Mike Welch from Brandywine. 

With all this in mind, our preseason top ten looks like this:

1- St. Marks
2- Salesianum
3- William Penn
4- Mt. Pleasant
5- Seaford
6- Caravel
7- Sussex Central
8- Caesar Rodney
9- Brandywine
10- St. Elizabeth

SOFTBALL

  This is my favorite sport to talk about in the spring next to track and girls soccer. This is also easier to choose someone as a preseason number one team.
  That team will be Caravel, the two-time defending state champions. The Bucs return everyone with the exception of Danielle Austin, a back-up pitcher who transferred to Hodgson Vo-Tech. 
  This team is still young and only has three seniors; first-team all-staters Erin McGlynn and Megan Richardson along with Ashley Niggebrugge. Lindsay Long was a first-team selection at shortstop who led the world in on base percentage and Jackie Homiak has been a first-team pitcher since 8th grade. She returns to the hill as just a junior. Nancy Tokar could join the all-state ranks this year as a catcher and at third base Erin Bilbrough shags hot line drives with the best of the best.
  So who will be the main challengers in this game of king of the hill? Perhaps Indian River with Cara Deldeo P/SS, Amanda Wilkinson behind the plate, Natalie Parsons in centerfield and the all-around talented Brittany Croll at firstbase. If Deldeo goes down, there is no telling who will pitch for the Indians, so her health is key.
  St. Marks lost their four-year starter and strikeout queen Dana Travis to St. Joe's University. Slated to take her spot is Ashley Constantini, a sophomore. But she has been very hittable and her defense will need to be solid behind her. And it very well could be. Behind the plate is senior Michelle Maykut, at third is Krissi Dugan, and at first base is all-stater Laura Colosi. The three of them remain from the world series team of two summers ago and provide the leadership that this team will need.
   Brandywine looks to be the class of Flight A this year and there shouldn't be much of a contest for them. Glasgow and William Penn were wiped out by graduation and will struggle for the most part unless the Colonials Stefany Tiberi becomes a first-team caliber pitcher, which she could.
  The Bulldogs return Jenn Joseph the power-hitting firstbaseman who is headed for the U of D next year. She will be counted on to pitch for Sandy Kupchick. In centerfield and leading off is first-team all-stater Katie Stevenson; at thirdbase is Megan Ferguson and perhaps moving from second base to shortstop is Delaware Sports ace reporter Dana Anderson who is now a junior and gives the Bulldogs a formidable 3-4 power hitting combination when set in front of Joseph.
   Caesar Rodney will miss Janice Savage on the mound but they return some talent in the form of Michelle Rigby in the outfield, Carol McRae at third, and Lindsay Jones, a C/OF.
  What will Sussex Central do without the Delaware Sports downstate athlete of the year Betsy Lecates this year? They will rely on Kathy Pettyjohn to pitch and Kaneisha Trott to play short and hit with some power. Holly Kimble returns to play third and Amanda Bowman behind the plate. 
  St. Elizabeth has a feisty little pitcher in Kim Joyce, a world series team member who is now a junior. She is backed up by Ryan Biliski (world series player) and Kelly Nepi at shortstop. Joyce can be one of the best pitchers in the state when she is on her game, and she will need to be on top of it all year to help balance out the fact that they Vikings lost six players to graduation.
  Cape Henlopen will ride the shoulders of Maggie Lingo their senior pitcher. They only lost two players from last year, and there are some other tough athletes on this team; sophomore Amanda Warrington at shortstop, Maren Ford at second, and junior Jenna Pavlik at third. You know Pavlik is tough because she was on the Cape wrestling team. Lingo is the only senior on this team so if sophomore Colby Cooper develops behind Lingo well for next year, this is a team that has a potential title in their sights. 
  Flight B should provide a little excitement when Hodgson and Mt. Pleasant take each other on. New Green Knight head coach Tim Wampler left Hodgson where he was an assistant coach last year. He had been offered the Hodgson job, but decided on the Mount job. No telling how Danielle Austin feels about that since she basically transferred to Hodgson to play for Wampler. Austin will do some pitching for the Silver Eagles so she'll have her chance to make a statement. Katie Gallgher provides some major power for the Silver Eagles when she makes contact. And when she does, there is no field that can contain her.
  The Green Knights will miss Andrea Schlezes at shortstop, but they will have a good chance to repeat as Flight B champs with senior Kristie Franks on the mound and senior Jessica MCClafferty behind the plate. Amanda Savage provides speed on the base paths and in centerfield for Mount, just as her older brothers did for the baseball team. 
  Milford knocked out the fifth seeded Indians of IR last year. And they are back with only one less player from last years roster. Kenya Alexander takes the hill for the Bucs and she takes her pitch calls from Tameka Robinson behind the plate. Diane Green, a junior, is a returning first-team All-Henlopen conference outfielder.
  Beware also of the Delmar Wildcats. Freshman pitcher Ashley Dryden pitched the whole year for the Wildcats as an eighth-grader last year and was a second team all-conference selection. She gets a little help from her friends Crystal Nibblett (soph-CF) and Katie Ditmer (senior-3b). 
  

  So with some of that in mind here are our preseason top-ten picks:

1- Caravel
2- Indian River
3- Padua
4- Brandywine
5- Cape Henlopen
6- St. Marks
7- St. Elizabeth
8- Milford
9- Caesar Rodney
10- Mt. Pleasant 

  Since I'm doing this late, and its nearly midnight, the last sport I'll speak of here is girls soccer.
  The final game between St. Marks and A.I. duPont last year had singularly the most emotional scene at the end of the game that I've seen in five years. Don't be surprised to see it relived again this year, but a couple other teams could experience the elation that St. Marks felt after their win over the four-time champs before it's all over.
  The Tatnall school lost a scrimmage to A.I. duPont already this spring, but who really counts those games anyway? Although I think that St. Marks is the favorite to start the year, it's this Tatnall team that I think is the most interesting. 
  Freshman Athena Manolakos scored in the tournament last year against Caesar Rodney as an eighth-grader. She rejoins Christine Hommes on the Hornet front line. Meredith Lambert, the cross country star, is a defender on this team along with Lauren Ziegler who plays some decent defense on the volleyball team as well. But the name that will pop out of the box scores here is Devon Grenda, the transfer from Caesar Rodney. She was a second-team all-stater last year, and her presence gives this team a great shot for a title. Toss in the animated Heather Robb in goal whose fearless headfirst horizontal dives could qualify her for the diving finals, and you have a strong, fun team.
  The Spartans lose player of the year Ashley Dilworth, but they may very well have the next player of the year in Shannon Bradbury. If it weren't for A.I.'s Katie Mazzio, Bradbury would probably be a lock if everything went normally during the year. She is just a junior and one of Tom DeMatteis' brightest stars. She re-joins the fleet-footed forwards Michelle Huynh-Ba and Melssia Samio on the front line and the Falgowski sisters Kerry at half-back and Carly at defense. Goalie Lauren Lewandowski won the state championship as a freshman and is back for a second sampling.
  The Tigers of A.I. duPont might still be in shock from that final game of 2000. Rest assured they will challenge again for the crown that slipped from their hands by mere inches. Katie Mazzio is now a senior (currently sporting pink hair) and is the preseason favorite for player of the year honors. (She may have been robbed for the past two years of that honor.) Jessica Natalie, Shelby Hanna, Erin Tully in goal, Amy Mohr, Tracey Pendleton, and Stephanie Fitzpatrick are all seniors who return with vengeance in mind. 
  The Newark Yellowjackets also like their chances to take home some gold for themselves. Stephanie Baird, Laura Devenney, Melissa Freuler, and Megan McLaughlin are a few of the returning key players from the 16-3 2000 squad. 
   There are two names to be on the look out for that weren't prevalent last year. Wilmington Christian's Danae Chambers is back and healthy after sitting out the 2000 season with her back injury. She was an all-state player in 8th, 9th and 10th grade and enters this season with 70 career goals.
   The Brandywine Bulldogs won't make much news, but there is a player who will do just about everything for them and earn an all-state spot in the process. Senior Megan Clendaniel has never played soccer with the Brandywine girl's team, but that's because she used to play with the boys. In her indoor season this winter, she was averaging six goals a game and scored 10 in a game twice. 

  With some of that in mind, here are our top-ten preseason picks:

1- St. Marks
2- Tatnall
3- A.I. duPont
4- Newark
5- Archmere
6- Caesar Rodney
7- Wilmington Christian
8- Ursuline
9- William Penn
10- Cape Henlopen 

  Over to track and field briefly, because I still have a little left in me.

   The Brandywine girl's track team lost the indoor state championships to Glasgow by a point. Returning to the outdoor track team are three key members who weren't there in the winter; Jenn Kutney who needed to rest some sore legs over the winter, freshman Alison Sanchez who swam and will join the distance teams for the Bulldogs, and Laura Mattey who will high jump and pole vault. This is a solid team all around now and are our favorite for the outdoor season.
   The Ursuline Raiders have won 10 straight Division II track championships. They will need all of their young runners to be in top form when the time comes, because with Aisha Word and Adrienne Ennis, the Hodgson Vo-Tech Silver Eagles are one of the best threats to that string of wins in sometime.
   Mandy Stille will lead McKean to another top ten finish and if some of the past glimmers of success draw out some other talent from their school, they could be a top five DI team. 
   Glasgow, is having some trouble getting girls out to the track team for the outdoor season. They will still score high with Kamilah Salaam and Kim Chase, but they only had 8 girls indoors, and there are currently less than that on the outdoor team. 
   The Dover Senators will get a boost from the return of Camie Baker who missed the indoor championships. Laketta Johns scores high in the high jump, triple jump, and long jump for D-High, and they will make a solid claim to the one-slot when the time comes.
  With Baker back and Kamilah Salaam and Christiana's Danielle Bailey in top shape all year so far, watch for one or two sprint records to fall this year. 

  With some of that in mind, here are our picks for the girls outdoor track season.

1- Brandywine
2- Dover
3- William Penn
4- Christiana
5- McKean
6- Ursuline
7- Hodgson
8- Caesar Rodney
9- Seaford
10- Padua

  Best of luck to all the spring teams. Our other preseason picks are in each top-ten ranking sections.

Marshal Manlove