This season is a big one for the Glen Cove High School softball program. Not only is it the program’s 50th anniversary, but it also marks the 40th anniversary of the team’s 1985 county championship victory.
The 1985 victory is the last title the team has won in its half-century-long history.
“Hopefully, we’re able to bring our own home this year,” said Kimberly Kessel, the team’s coach. Kessel, a physical education teacher in the district, has coached the team for the last 10 seasons.
Kessel, who graduated from Glen Cove High School in 2008, is a lifelong softball player who competed in the program as a student. She said coaching the same team she played for is the “icing on the cake.”
“Being a player, and then a coach… you can learn from your own mistakes,” Kessel said. She said coaching for her old team motivates her to earn wins for the team.
In her own time on the softball team, Kessel said the team made it to the county championship, but was defeated both times. Now, coming up on the 40th anniversary of the 1985 victory, the team is about to enter the playoffs.
So far this season, Kessel said a stand-out moment is when the team beat MacArthur High School, a team a conference ahead of Glen Cove’s. In addition to the game against the Levittown school, she said there were two walk-off wins and a no-hitter victory this season.
“Things like that are adding into what could be a great playoff run,” Kessel said.
The team took time out of its practice schedule on Saturday, April 26, to celebrate the program’s anniversary and invited alumni to join the fun. Kessel, who was in charge of the event, said there were about 20 attendees, including current players and former players and coaches.
“We just talked about all of the wins and the losses,” she said. The alumni even participated in a softball game with some of the current players and reminisced on their time playing.
Nassau County Minority Leader Delia DeRiggi-Whitton, who played on the high school’s 1985 title-winning softball team, attended the anniversary celebration.
“Playing softball in high school was an amazing experience, and I will always cherish the friendships I made and the life lessons I learned from competing,” she said.
DeRiggi-Whitton was a two-time All-County fastball pitcher who won the 1985 championship with a no-hitter, her office said.
“It was wonderful to reminisce with the alumni and see the current generation of outstanding young athletes who are leading the softball program into an exciting future under the leadership of coach Kimberly Kessel and her team,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “Thank you for all of the memories – and here’s to another 50 years!”
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