March 25, 2015 The Signal page 19
Sports Baseball
Baseball opens season with annual Florida trip
Photo courtesy of the Sports Information Desk
The Lions finish their trip with five wins and five losses.
By Jessica Ganga Nation & World Editor
It was nothing but sun, clear blue skies and great baseball for the Lions during spring break. The College’s baseball team traveled down to Winter Haven, Fla., for their annual spring trip where they played 10 games and ended their busy week by splitting their games evenly with a record of five wins and five losses. After a number of postponed and cancelled games, the College
finally got a chance to play some ball. The team opened their season against the eighth-ranked University of Southern Maine, ending with a tough 12-5 loss. Southern Maine got on the scoreboard early in the first with a hit on the first pitch of the game. The Lions looked like they would have the chance to rally in the fifth. Sophomore Ben Varone led off the bottom of the inning with a double to left-center field. Junior John Rizzi followed with a base hit, but Varone was thrown out at the plate. Junior Patrick Roberts later
ripped a shot to second that hopped into right field, allowing two runners to score. In the end, however, senior Connor Smith took his first loss of the season for the College. The team split a loss and a huge win with two great pitching performances on the second day of their trip against St. Norbert College. Despite the loss, junior Steven Volpe pitched six-anda-third innings, striking out six with only one earned run. In the second game, before junior Evan Edelman took the mound, his teammates put up five runs in the top of the first inning, putting Edelman at ease as he threw his first pitch of the game. Edelman went six innings with just one unearned run in the sixth. The Lions offense scored seven more runs after the first to take a commanding 12-1 win. The offense continued its highscoring into the third day with a crushing 17-0 win against Centenary College. Senior infielder Anthony Cocuzza had a big game that day, knocking in a career-high six runs in six at-bats on three hits. In his second at-bat in the seventh, he drove in two runs with two outs,
which called for a different approach and mindset before stepping into the batter’s box. “Here, a fly ball or ground out won’t score a run. Instead, I use my same approach as when I’m up at the plate with no runners on,” Cocuzza said. “I trust my hands and swing enough to allow me to hit hard line drives in the gaps for doubles with this simple approach.” Freshman Joe Cirillo notched his first career win that day. Cirillo faced 29 batters and threw for eight scoreless innings, an impressive start for his first collegiate game. The next game would result in a 14-6 loss for the Lions against the College at Brockport, but the team would end up taking a close 5-4 win against Benedictine University the following day. Against Keene State College, the Lions were down six runs until the fifth inning, when the team broke out by scoring four runs to cut the deficit to just two runs. The team then tied with Keene in the top of the sixth, eventually coming back to win a close 9-8 game. The Lions split two games
The history of El Clásico Lacrosse Cheap Seats
By George Tatoris Staff Writer
On Sunday, March 22, Alcalá de Henares, a medium-sized city situated in the community of Madrid, was unusually desolate at 8:50 p.m. The few people on the sidewalks seemed to be in a rush — the kind of rush during which someone looks for shelter after a sudden tornado warning in, checking the windows of every bar they passed, each one fuller than the last. The only people that could be heard were sitting on patios speaking in a hushed, nervous chatter, their eyes glued to a flat screen television that faced outside. It was the night of El Clásico. And this was the calm before the storm. While the game went on, the streets were empty except for crowds of two or three people huddled outside bars, peeping at the game through the window. Only the distant echo of cheers on television sets could be heard on the streets. To understand why a sports rivalry can render a bustling city like Alcalá, a ghost town, one must first look at the history of Spain. Don’t worry, I’ll make this brief. In fact, I won’t even start from the beginning. Barcelona, a part of the culturally distinct Catalonia, and Madrid, where the royal crown resides, have always had a spotty history with each other, and things escalated with the War of Spanish Succession. What happened was, the king of Spain died without an heir, and a fight broke out over which family would get control of the kingdom: the Hapsburgs or the Bourbons. Madrid supported the Bourbons
and Catalonia supported the Hapsburgs. The Hapsburgs lost and the royal family in Madrid decided to punish Barcelona for betraying them by stripping them of almost all of their independence. Thus began the hate-hate relationship between Madrid and Barcelona, and what a relationship it’s become. Even now Catalonians want sovereignty from Spain. Just last year the territory held an illegal referendum (which FC Barcelona supported) on the issue. Gives the common Barça chant “Independencia!” a whole new meaning, no? Now, I’m not saying that Real Madrid fans want to rob Barça fans of their independence or Barça fans want to assassinate Spanish royalty in the name of their respective teams. What I am saying is that El Clásico is just one piece of the complicated puzzle that is Spain — a country so small that things like soccer, politics and history end up fumbling over one another like one massive game of Twister. El Clásico is not just a sports rivalry. It isn’t a Yankees vs. Red Sox type of deal. It’s something that could only have come from Spain.
Ronaldo celebrates a win.
AP Photo
between Washington and Jefferson College with a win in their first game and a loss in their later. In the first game, Volpe was able to get his first win of the season and sophomore Eric Teesdale recorded his first career save. In the last game of the week, the Lions were unable to get a win against the University of Wisconsin-Las Crosse, falling 5-2 to their opponent. Even with the loss, however, senior Josh Limon had an exciting game, leading off the seventh inning with the 100th hit of his career in his 95th career game. Now that the team has begun their season, they are taking each game day-by-day to their goal of the season: winning the NJAC. “We focus on one game, one inning and one out at a time, but our first long, term goal is winning the NJAC,” Cocuzza said. “From there we can set our sights on regionals and the World Series, but the first objective is winning the NJAC tournament.” The Lions have their first home game against Ursinus College on Thursday, March 26.
drops in rankings Lacrosse
Alternates wins and losses over break
Photo courtesy of the Sports Information Desk
Borup leads the Lions in goals this season.
By Anthony Caruso Staff Writer
The College’s women’s lacrosse team is .500 in their last four games, having rotated wins and losses during this time. On Tuesday, March 10, they were able to defeat Cabrini College, 16-6, at Lions Stadium. They scored seven goals in the first half and nine in the second. Cabrini was able to score three goals in each half. Senior Kendal Borup led the Lions with six goals while her teammate, junior Courtney Natalicchio, had three. Seniors Ava Fitzgerald and Erin Healy and sophomore Mia Blackman each chipped in two goals each. Cabrini was led by Lacie Doubet and Bree Thompson, who scored two goals each.
Sophomore goaltender Kelly Schlupp made three wins while picking up her second win of the season. Cabrini’s Megan Barlow made five saves in the loss. The Lions lost their first game of the season on Saturday, March 14, against Messiah College. They mounted a huge second half comeback but fell one goal short, losing 12-11 in Grantham, Pa. The College scored four first-half goals and seven in the second half. Messiah had eight in the first and just four in the second. Borup once again led the Lions in goals, this game with four. Natalicchio and Fitzgerald added three each, and sophomore Nina Costantino scored, as well. Messiah goalie Alexa Dipeso had 13 saves and picked up the
win. Schlep had seven saves in the loss. Then, the College rolled past Rutgers-Camden, 17-1, on Tuesday, March 17, at the RUC Community Park in Camden, N.J. The Lions had 11 goals in the first half and six in the second. The Scarlet Raptors were held to just one goal in the first half. Borup had four goals in this game for the Lions. Fitzgerald, Blackman and freshman Amanda Muller scored three goals each. Costantino scored twice, while Healy and sophomore Ana Baranowski added solo goals. Schlupp picked up the win and made one save before being replaced by freshman Christina Fabiano at 44:09. In their most recent game, the Lions lost to Gettysburg College, 13-12, in Gettysburg, Pa., on Thursday, March 19. Gettysburg jumped out to a 9-4 lead at halftime. Then, the Lions outscored them 7-2 in the second half to tie the game at 11-11 to go into the extra session. The game went into overtime as Gettysburg scored two goals in OT while the Lions scored once. Borup recorded five goals for the visitors while Natalicchio added four more. Fitzgerald added two goals, and Muller added one more. Shannon Keeler had six saves and picked up the win. Schlupp dropped her second game while making four saves.