MAPL Champs in Tennis & Softball
Girls’ Golf is Undefeated

The varsity girls’ golf team finished their undefeated season (11-0) with a close win over Kent Place 182-186. Coming in with the low score of the match was Julia Brackup with a 41, followed by Ann Park with a 43. Adding to the win were Phoebe O’Rourke and Alissa Goullet who shot a 46 and 52, respectively. On May 13, the team will compete in the NJ Prep State tournament at the Peddie School.

Read on to learn about other athletics triumphs posted earlier this week.

The Bucs have much to be proud of, after competing over the weekend of May 7 and winning major victories, including the first MAPL tennis championship for Blair, the MAPL championship in softball and the girls’ lacrosse team’s defeat of Lawrenceville in a close home game. The coaches and athletic department report the highlights of each competition:

The Blair boys’ tennis team captured its first-ever MAPL Championship, fueled by great performances by juniors Noah Joachim at 1st singles and Musyoka Mbithi at 2nd singles, who both won their flights. Freshman Jeremy Joachim at 4th singles and the seniors doubles team of Dong Hyun Kim and Lawrence Liu finished second in their respective flights. Senior captain Cole Agin, who lost in a heart-breaking third set tiebreaker in the semi-finals, came back to earn a 3rd place finish at 3rd singles. All told, it was a thrilling day for the Blair team, as they battled through some very difficult wind and weather at the Lehigh University tennis center to bring to campus the MAPL trophy! On May 10, the team (14-0) recorded their 14th victory of the year with another impressive 5-0 win.

On Saturday the girls’ softball team won the 2010 MAPL Championship outscoring opponents 15-3; the team’s bats were on fire! Senior Alexandra Magistro pitched the crucial opener, handcuffing a powerful Lawrenceville team that has dominated nearly all of its competitors this season, holding them to five hits while striking out five. Junior catcher Ashley Iannone ripped a one out triple in the first inning, and was sacrificed home via Magistro’s fly ball to right center. In the second inning, junior Nicole Lem, batting ninth, blasted a three-run homer, following that effort in the next inning with a double to tack on two more rbis. Winning pitcher Ali, left fielder Nicole, and sophomore Lauren Mezzanotte each finished with multiple hits; the final score was Blair 11, Lawrenceville 3.

In the final game, sophomore Michelle Fox took the mound against a talented Peddie squad which had beaten Hun 1-0 earlier in the day. After threatening in the first, Blair scored in the second: frosh Carolyn Wan reached on a bunt, and the speedster scored from first when Lauren Mezzanotte drilled a double. In the sixth, Alex Zuber provide the insurance run, driving in Heather Britt, and Ashley Iannone immediately followed with her second triple of the day, adding the final two runs to the score. Despite the pressure of having a Peddie baserunner each of the first four innings, and a pair of exceedingly ”difficult-to-comprehend” calls against us on offense, the Blair defense proved superb against the bunt, and the battery kept their poise, continually nabbing the lead runner and shutting Peddie down with a 1-6-3 double play (Michelle, Kelsey, Ali) in the sixth to end the inning, Blair 4, Peddie 0.

Erin and Gracie's bagels, Coach Spring’s wry, wise, and rousing commentary, Coach Kornheiser’s inspiring presence, Kristen, Kelsey, Kathleen and CB’s prayer circle, our circus “victory” socks, Michelle’s jokes... even the bus ride down to Hun set the tone for the day... and it was a great one for the Bucs.

On May 10, the Bucs played for the “City Championship” versus North Warren in the last home game of the season. The Blair bats were hot again as the girls defeated the cross town rival 14-1. Michelle Fox earned her 7th win on the mound for the Bucs, while Alex Zuber had 3 RBIs. Tuesday, May 11, is the semi-final of the State tournament back at Lawrenceville. Hopefully, we shall be honking the horns up the hill on Tuesday as well. Note, too, that the JV softball team beat Peddie 12-2 in Saturday’s game. Our defense played hard, with some great plays at first between Quinn Kennedy and Brittany Liva, and some great catches by left-fielder Morgan Klein and short-stop Maggie Joest. Offensively, Quinn Kennedy, Morgan Klein and Maddie Kling had some big hits, and all of our base runners were aggressive getting around the bases. The JV softball team faced North Warren for its final game of the season on Monday. Blair had a 6-4 lead going into the 5th inning, but North Warren bats came alive, and Blair unfortunately could not overcome NWR’s offensive strike. NWR defeated Blair 13-7 in the end.

In a dramatic game, Blair’s girls’ lacrosse team defeated Lawrenceville 13-12. Lawrenceville came on strong scoring two goals within the opening minutes; however, Blair quickly gained momentum and took a 4-2 lead. In the final seconds of the first half, the team was down 6-8, but Maeve Fahey ’10 was able to score a quick goal to make the half time score 7-8 Lawrenceville. Blair regrouped and came out with a renewed sense of purpose in the second half as Yasmeen Moorman ’12 and Melissa Evans ’12 scored two quick goals. The defensive unit of Meredith Berry-Toon ’12, Sam Beck ’12 and Audrey Snyder ’13 forced multiple key turnovers in the second half. Blair scored its final goal with 6:32 left in the game, which put the team up by a score of 13-11. Blair then looked to win the draw and keep possession of the ball for the final minutes of the game. A turnover allowed Lawrenceville to score with 1:14 remaining. The game came down to a draw control, which was won by Council Dawson ’13. Council protected the ball as the final seconds ran from the clock. Kate Anello’s (’12) performance in goal was outstanding, as she recorded 18 saves for the win. On Monday, the girls’ lacrosse team earned its third straight victory, winning over MKA 14-9.

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Updated 5/12/2010

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