Fox Lane softball ready for a big year despite two tough losses

Sofia Rodriguez delivers to the plate for the Foxes. Avery Genovese lays down a bunt for the Foxes against Tappan Zee. Lauren Spolansky makes a running catch in the outfield. JIM MACLEAN PHOTOS

By JIM MACLEAN 

It was a classic pitchers duel, one strike out after another, with two tough hurlers limiting opportunities and making it a stressful game down to the final pitch.

And the difference came on one swing of the bat as Fox Lane ended up suffering a tough 1-0 loss in its first home game of the season to Tappan Zee on April 2.

Fox Lane pitcher Sofia Rodriguez was in great form once again as the junior ace allowed just two hits and piled up 16 strikeouts, but one of those hits was a home run and that would prove to be the difference in the game. Tappan Zee ace Haley Arvidson matched Rodriguez pitch by pitch, taking a no-hitter into the final inning when Val DeLuca came through with a double, but the Foxes couldn’t push across the tying run.

“Pitchers duel, we had one hit they had two, and unfortunately one of those was a home run, but our pitcher Sofia was great,” admitted Fox Lane coach Mike Olivier. “We’re waiting to break out. We have the pitching, a lot of returning veterans, and we’re looking to contend for the title and win the section.”

The way Rodriguez was pitching makes it clear that the Foxes can compete with the best, like Tappan Zee, a perennial contender in softball. Rodriguez struck out the side in the first, had two more strike outs in the second, and struck out the side in the third and fourth innings.

Unfortunately, one pitch was the difference as Ava Handelman connected and drilled a home run over the left field fence to give Tappan Zee a 1-0 lead in the third inning, and Arvidson would make that stand up as she mowed down the Foxes at the plate.

DeLuca led off the seventh inning with a double, the first hit of the game for the Foxes. She moved to third on a sacrifice fly, but that was as close as the Foxes would come to scoring as Tappan Zee closed out the victory.

Rodriguez only allowed one other hit, an infield single in the seventh.

“She’s awesome, she just keeps getting better and better,” Olivier said of Rodriguez. “She’s still only a junior and she’s looking great. She’s one of the best pitchers in the section.”

She is not the only reason for optimism as the Foxes only lost one player to graduation and everyone else returns. DeLuca is back for her third year as the starting catcher behind the plate, senior captain Avery Genovese returns at second base, Jojo Kerwar has been on varsity since eighth grade and returns in center field, and Sofia Valente returns at shortstop. Nora Antonacchio and Sammi Sardutti are also returning starters at first and third, and Helena Hudson returns in the outfield. Add in three talented freshman newcomers and the Foxes are talented and deep to make a run for a title after advancing to the quarterfinals last season.

“A lot of returning veterans and we’re definitely excited, the energy has been incredible, they feel it, even in this 1-0 loss, they’re not happy, but they’re playing great and becoming a family,” Olivier said after the loss. “We want to play teams like Tappan Zee. This year we’ve built a tougher schedule just to see better competition and be ready for sectionals. We have a long season ahead of us.”

The Foxes opened the season with a win on the road at rival Horace Greeley, but then suffered a tough 3-2 setback on the road at Somers prior to the one-run loss to Tappan Zee.

“Tappan Zee is a good team, Somers is a good team and we were winning that game the whole way and made a couple of bad plays the last inning,” explained Olivier. “We feel we can play with anybody. We’re just starting and we’ll keep working hard to get better.”