Panorama June 1, 2012
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· Wildcats Sports ·
Sophomore Chris Mack demonstrates his winning style at a recent meet as he flies to a first place finish in the 100-meter dash. At the DoDDS-Europe Division II championships, Mack took first in the 100-meter race, winning by .02 seconds. (Photo by Joseph Mack)
Track, baseball, boys soccer play hard, come up short By Cynthia Fuerst
track and field Despite illness and injury, the Wildcats’ track team traveled to Wiesbaden last weekend for the DoDDS-Europe Division II championships and gave some impressive performances. The competition brought out the best in many of the Naples athletes. Sophomore Chris Mack took first place in a close 100-meter race, recording a personal best of 11.20 seconds. Additionally, Junior Maria Beard took first place in shot put with a throw of 33 feet and 3 inches, while sophomore Ashley Forte took first in the 400-meter event, recording a personal best of 60.13 seconds. Senior John Fain took third place in the 1,600-meter run with a personal best of 4 minutes and 35.20 seconds. The boys’ 4x100-meter relay team composed of Mack, junior PJ Baker, junior Tyler Williams and sophomore Austin Bain took fourth with an improved time of 45.41 seconds. Unfortunately, not all of the Wildcats’ were able to demonstrate their abilities. As Naples went into the remaining races of the finals, the team came up short due to a couple of injuries. Coach Mark Tyler noted that these unexpected injuries led to the boys and girls track teams missing the overall first place DoDDS-Europe Division II title by a margin of a few points. The girls took second place among Division II teams, trailing the winner by only 7 points. The boys tied for third with Aviano, but were within striking distance of first place. Moving forward, the Wildcats will lose Fain and other seniors to graduation, as well as lose other athletes due to permanent change of station moves, but will retain a great deal of talent heading into next year.
Baseball The Wildcats' baseball team went into the championship tournament as the reigning Southern Region champion and started strong in the early days of the tournament. The Wildcats defeated Baumholder 14-0 and also rolled over AFNORTH 11-4 in the first day of tournament play. They remained strong in the quarterfinals, beating Rota 7-3. On day three of the tournament, the Wildcats were defeated by Bitburg 12-2. They then seemed like a lock for third place going up against the Vicenza Cougars, who they had played three times in league play and easily beaten 15-10, 9-4 and 16-1. But the Cougars handed a defeat to the Wildcats, outscoring the Naples team 21-0. Ultimately, the Wildcats came in fourth in the tournament.
Boys’ soccer The Naples boys’ soccer team started the DoDDS-Europe Division II tournament strong, defeating Baumholder 1-0 during the first day of play. Then on day two, Naples bested Aviano 4-2 during a single-elimination tournament, knocking the Aviano Saints out of the competition. Yet during day three of the tournament, the Wildcats fell 4-0 to the American Overseas School of Rome, ending Naples’ hopes of a championship title.
The Naples High School softball team won the 2012 Division II DoDDS-Europe championship by defeating AFNORTH May 26. Front row (from left to right): Gee Trigg, Shannon Walsh, Courtney Plante, Izzy Krause. Middle row (from left to right): Autumn Grant, Vicky Krause, Tara Carrico, Lindsey Arce. Back row: coach Jesse Costa, Davina Gutierrez, Mary Beard, coach Terry Caldwell, Nicky Jarvis, coach Tony Davis, Shanice Alexander, Harley Williams, manager Nico Davis, Bayley Caldwell, Amanda Trigg, coach Jose Ramiro.
Softball team takes 4th championship in a row By Cynthia Fuerst
he Naples High School softball team has done it again — for the fourth year in a row, the Lady Wildcats have brought home a championship. The Naples team became the 2012 Division II DoDDS-Europe softball champions May 26 by beating AFNORTH in the tournament finals 15-11. The championship is a sweet ending to an undefeated season for the Lady Wildcats. Since high school softball and baseball began in the Southern Europe conference in 2009, the Lady Wildcats have yet to lose a regular season game. Their sole defeat was during the 2009 championship tournament, which they ultimately won. In this year’s tournament, the Lady Wildcats scored 85 runs and only allowed 12 runs before reaching the finals. The Lady Wildcats beat Vicenza 5-4 during the first day of the tournament, and then rolled over Baumholder 21-3. The second day of play saw more double-digit scoring, with the Wildcats putting up 14 runs against the Hohenfels team (which squeezed out 3 runs) and outscoring Bitburg by 13 runs. Day three saw more of the same. In the semifinal games, the Lady Wildcats scored 17 runs
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against the Ansbach team, which got one run in. However, the finals saw two teams who were well matched. AFNORTH was a strong team in its region, coming in third after powerhouses Ramstein and Kaiserslautern (Division I first- and thirdplace winners, respectively). The AFNORTH Lions led through most of the game, with the sixth inning being particularly difficult for the Lady Wildcats. The potential to tie the score was lost when the umpires determined that the runners had not tagged the bases. The resulting triple play by AFNORTH ended the inning, but the Lady Wildcats mounted a serious offensive attack during their next time at bat. Sophomores Tara Carrico and Vicky Krause started a hitting streak when they both tripled and brought home a run. Then a wave of scoring began and the Lady Wildcats won 15-11. The Lady Wildcats appear to own the Division II league championship, since they have not relinquished it since they started in the league four years ago. Even with departing seniors, there is enough talent and tradition left on the Lady Wildcats roster to indicate they won’t let go of this title anytime soon.
With a full count and two outs, Naples sophomore Vicky Krause slams the ball for a triple, starting a scoring frenzy during the championship game against AFNORTH. Sophomore Tara Carrico continued the scoring streak, which put the Lady Wildcats on top 15-11. (Photos by Bonnie Carrico)