The Sports Watch for March 28 - April 2

It's Sunday, and you know what that means. It's time for the Sports Watch, the fastest three minutes in Weston Sports coming your way right now:

Well, it’s a whole new ballgame this spring for the Weston High softball team, which graduated four seniors last June, including their three captains, after advancing to the Division 3 North semifinals and bowing out to eventual state title winner St. Mary’s of Lynn. The Wildcats, of the Dual County League Small Division, finished the campaign with a 10-12 record, including a stunning 3-1 in postseason play.

Last year’s captains, starting pitcher Maria Posa, who was out for the season due to injury, shortstop Steph Meyer, and second baseman Julia Bernstein all graduated last spring, which  means some pieces to this year’s puzzle are still in limbo, including the middle infield and a little of the outfield, which will miss graduated senior Crystal Tzau.

“We will have a mix of experienced and inexperienced players this year,” Weston head coach Kelly Harrington said, adding “our infield is still to be announced.” The coach, though, said infielders most likely will include senior co-captain Sarah Ober, Katherine Anderson, Marissa Messina, Danielle Silverstein, Sarah Goldman, and a few newcomers.

Silverstein, Goldman, and Ariana Vasquez, all sophomores, will also return as the main pitchers for the Wildcats. Silverstein and Goldman were mostly relied upon last spring, after Vasquez, like Posa, suffered a season-ending injury.

The Weston outfield will return juniors Sami Gosman and Tanner Skenderian, who will play center and right field, respectively. Fellow juniors Kristen Welby and Aashan Saini will also be in the mix.

The Wildcats are stable at catcher, where senior co-captain and returning starter Jessilee Gross is a good fit to work with Weston’s young pitching trio. Gross is also one of the Wildcats’ top sluggers at the plate, along with Ober, Goldman, Vasquez, Skendarian, and senior designated hitter Julia Bruce. Silverstein and Gosman, meanwhile, “provide speed and agility,” Harrington said.

Weston will open the season at home against non-league foe Mount St. Joseph Academy on April 11.

To the courts we go, where Weston girls tennis head coach Bill Steinroeder will only call it “challenging” for his team to get back to where it was last spring. Then again, it’s always tough to win a championship, which is what the Wildcats did in taking the Division 3 North title last season. The Wildcats defeated Hopedale, 4-1, to win the crown, after edging Dover-Sherborn, 3-2, in the state semifinals. And they did it in Steinroeder’s first year at the helm, no less.

But what Steinroeder means is that it will be an even tougher task to win it all when you consider Weston lost some of its top talent to graduation and also plays in the highly competitive Dual County League.

Weston made the postseason last year with 9-7 record, which put them on the low end of the state tourney’s rankings. But considering the strong competition in their league, the Wildcats made a very good showing in the regular season. If Weston wasn’t playing in such a skilled circuit, it mostly likely would have had a better record and therefore a better seeding. Since the Wildcats, at times, play less talented teams in the tourney than they do in the regular season, it puts them in good position to make a strong tourney run. In last year's case, Weston went 6-0 in the postseason, finishing 15-7 overall. Including the tourney, the Wildcats win streak reached eight at the end of the campaign.

But the difficult part for Weston is to qualify in the first place. Many of the DCL teams play in  Division 2, while Weston competes in Division 3. The mix of higher and lower division teams in the same league allows the lower Division teams to qualify for the state tourney if they play at a .500 or better mark in their leagues or finish atop their own division. Last year, Weston didn’t win out in the DCL Small circuit, but it had a better than .500 ledger in the league.

“Our goal is to make the postseason. We need at least a .500 record in the Dual County League or be the best team in in the [DCL] Small Division,” Steinroeder said, noting strong divisional opponents include Concord-Carlisle and Westford Academy. “The competition in the Dual County League is very strong.”

As of this writing, Weston was still looking forward to challenge matches to figure what alignment will work best, but the Wildcats will make their bid for the postseason this spring with strong veteran and new talent.

While Weston lost its No. 1 singles star, Abby Clark, to graduation last spring, the Wildcats return a solid potential No. 1 player in senior tri-captain Allison Hupalo, who played in the No. 2 slot last year, and finished with a stunning 19-1 record.

Both Hupalo and Clark , who went 18-1 last season, are members of the renowned United States Tennis Association (USTA).  Praising both players, Steinroeder said, “We were very solid at No. 1 and 2 last year.”

Hupalo’s fellow captains, senior Nicole Brenner and junior Olivia Stranberg, figure to play doubles, after impressing last season.

Senior Naomi Garlick, meanwhile, will likely join the singles circuit, after playing on the top doubles team last year with graduated senior Brooke Elman. Garlick went 10-3 in doubles play, and won eight straight matches with Elman at the end of the season.

Sophomore Deniz Cataltepe joins Hupalo and Garlick as the only returning starters from last spring. She is likely to remain playing singles, after shining in the third slot last year with a 5-5 ledger.

Brenner could form a starting doubles team with senior Dale Ziobro, as both played some varsity matches last year, and finished 1-1 as a pair.

Junior Ashley Burke and sophomores Julia Braginsky and Perri Keehn also join the varsity squad after playing junior varsity last spring. Burke and Braginski will compete in the doubles circuit, while Keene could play either singles or doubles.

Sophomores Brianna Ryan and Hillary Greenberg, and freshmen Laura Greenberg, Kristen Sands, and Caitlyn Shea will also be competing for spots.

In addition to Clark and Elman, the Wildcats will miss the services of fellow graduated standouts Nicola Braginsky and Jenn Sieber, who played second doubles.

 Weston will open the season at Waltham on April 13.