The spring sports season is over and one of the highlights of another excellent year on the athletic fields was the performance of the New Hyde Park High School girls’ softball team.
The Lady Gladiators went 12-3 in Conference A-I play and 13-6 overall, advancing into the second round of the playoffs. For their efforts, head coach Jacqueline Rizzuti was named as the Nassau County Conference A-1 Coach of the Year.
Rizzuti was honored by administrators and board members at Sewanhaka High School on May 24.
The season was a winning one, but it came when Rizzuti was expecting a rebuilding year. New Hyde Park had lost two key All-County pitchers to graduation, but the 2016 squad, after losing their first three games, won an impressive 13 of their next 15 games. Rizzuti said that players had to adjust to new positions and after the slow start, the squad began to jell.
Softball, as in baseball, centers around pitching and defense. That’s how any team wins. And New Hyde Park was led by the pitching performances of Jamie Mooney, Victoria Mooney and Jenny Hickey. Only Victoria Mooney is graduating and so with Hickey and Jamie Mooney, New Hyde Park is well-positioned for another strong run in 2017. On the offensive side, both Ann Grimshaw and Hannah Arkin earned All-County honors. Grimshaw was cited for her work behind the plate, while Arkin starred as a centerfielder and lead-off hitter.
“It was a good team to coach,” Rizzuti told The Illustrated News. “The team unity that they displayed was excellent. The players pick each other up. They are very supportive of each other.”
If some names mentioned here are familiar to Illustrated News readers, it’s because several of these young ladies have already brought great honor to their hometown.
As 7th graders, Arkin, Grimshaw and Hickey, along with Sophia Jacoby and Gabby Morales, starred for the 2012 New Hyde Park team that won the Little League girls’ softball World Series. And so, these players have been together for a long time. They are used to playing together and used to winning together. And that means that New Hyde Park fans can look forward to more excellence on the diamond in the years ahead.
