Sports Round-up: Giovinazzo Shines for Springside Softball

On Wednesday, Springside School’s Natalie Bates, a standout athlete on the Lions’ track and field team, will officially extend her track and field career by signing a letter of intent to Lehigh University.

With that sort of talent, it was little surprise that Bates, who currently holds five school records, has been winning event after event this year.

In Tuesday’s Inter-Ac tri meet between the Lions, the Agnes Irwin School and the Baldwin School at Chestnut Hill Academy, the versatile athlete won the 300-meter hurdles in a time of 47.8 seconds, and in the field Bates took first in the long jump (16 feet, five-and-a-half inches) and the high jump (4-10).

Bates also helped Springside’s 4x400 relay, made up of Jamie McGinn, Bates, Sarah-Chen Ogorek and Taylor Ellis-Watson, finish first with a time of 4:21.0. Springside’s 4x100 relay settled for second.

Bates’ contributions helped Springside beat Agnes Irwin, 64-50, and Baldwin, 81-19. Agnes Irwin beat Baldwin, 98-3. The Lions improved to 3-2 in the Inter-Ac.

Ellis-Watson swept the sprints as she placed first in the 100 (12.2 seconds), the 200 (24.6 seconds) and the 400 (56.1) events.

Jamie Costarino beat her competition in the 1,600 race (5:33.2) and the 3,200 (12:26.1). Her teammates, Emily Davis and Alyssa Isaackman, took third and fourth, respectively.

Ogorek placed third in the 800 and Toni Hall took seventh.

In the field, the Lions swept the top three spots in the shot put. Ashlee Hall earned first with a mark of 29-3.75. McGinn followed in second place with a throw of 23-5.75 and Caitlin Sirianni took third with a throw of 21-0.

McGinn also won the triple jump (31-9) and finished second in the long jump (14-11) behind Bates. Natalie Rohner placed fifth overall in the long jump. Natalie Rohner took fifth in the high jump.

Wissahickon Invitational

Springside’s track and field team competed in the Wissahickon Invitational last Saturday. The Lions’ 4x200, long jump and shot put relays took second. Their javelin relay placed third and their discus relay took fourth.

Fast Tigers

The day before competing in the Shippensburg Invitational, the Germantown Friends School boys’ and girls’ track and field teams competed in the Warrior Invitational at West Chester Henderson High School.

David Waterman led all GFS athletes with a first place finish in the 3,200 race with a time of 9:41.50. In the same event, Cameron Mactavish and Lyle Wistar finished sixth and seventh, respectively.

The Tigers shined in the 100 dash. Ibrahim Kamara earned third by clocking in at 11.92. He was followed by Jordan May, who took seventh, and Evan Miller, who finished 12th.

In the 200, May finished fourth while Charlie McClelland placed fifth and Kamara placed seventh.

Elliott Baron finished 15th overall in the 300 hurdles event before taking ninth in the 100 hurdles.

And in the 3,200 race, the Lions absolutely dominated the field. Christian Brady led all Tigers with his ninth place points.

In the boys’ meet, the Tigers’ 4x100 relay took eighth while one of its 4x800 relays placed fifth.

In the girls’ portion of the meet, Emma Greenstreet placed sixth in the 100 hurdles. Tess Doggett took eighth in the 3,200 while Noni Davis (high jump) and Eleanor Thompson (Long jump) each earned ninth place points. Thompson also took 10th in the triple jump.

GFS’ 4x100 relays finished seventh and eighth, respectively, while it’s 4x400 relays placed ninth and 10th overall. However, its 4x800 relay cracked the top five and earned fourth place.

Lion feasting

Five days after the GFS girls’ lacrosse team beat Agnes Irwin, 10-8, Springside’s team lost to Agnes Irwin, 16-13 in Thursday’s Inter-Ac match-up.

Chloe Chou powered Agnes Irwin with a game-high six goals. Bridget Chakey added five goals.

Libbie Maine led the Lions with five goals. Kitty Morrissey chipped in with three. Casey Sullivan added two while Jennie Lukoff, Ellie Stout and Taylor Wrubel finished with one goal apiece.

In the Tigers’ win over Agnes Irwin last Saturday, Annie Morrisey and Iris Williamson each tallied three goals. Lyles Swift-Farley, Isabella Didio, Hannah Drake and Lilly Tyson notched one goal apiece.

GFS’s win came on the heels of a last Friday’s 16-8 win over Academy of New Church, a game in which 11 different Tigers scored. Drake led all Tigers with three goals. GFS goalie Alex Gilliam posted eight saves.

Most recently, GFS smoked Abington Friends, 16-7, on Thursday in a Friends School League showdown. Swift-Farley, Didio and Morrisey each earned hat tricks in the win. Siera Carter-Gordon added two goals.

Giovinazzo the Great

On Tuesday, Alexis Giovinazzo sparked Springside’s offense with three RBI and two runs scored. She went 2-for-3 with a triple and a home run helping the Lions’ softball team beat Shipley, 11-1.

Michelle Boggs went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored while Brenna Coll went 2-for-4, including a triple, with two runs scored.

Michelle Cyburalz picked up the easy win.

On Thursday, the Lions fell to Agnes Irwin, 8-5. Cyburalz was charged with the loss. Coll had two triples in the game, Giovinazzo had one.

While the Lions’ offense has been producing the runs, the Tigers have not. GFS was shut out, 10-0, by Friends Select on Thursday and, 13-0, by Abington Friends last Friday.

But on Wednesday, the Tigers out-slugged the George School, 14-8. Freshman catcher Allison David went 3-for-5, including two doubles, and knocked in six runs. She also scored three times. Rachel Allison hit two doubles too. Pitcher Anita Thatchet picked up the win. She struck out six batters and didn’t surrender a walk in seven innings on the mound.

What the Devil

Chestnut Hill Academy’s baseball team is absolutely tearing it up this spring. On Wednesday, the Blue Devils battled past Lawrenceville to claim a 5-2 victory. Dan Hull went 2-for-2 with a double, a triple and two runs scored to lead the Blue Devils, who are now 14-1 overall.

Mike Hayes earned the win. In five innings, he punched out six batters. He gave two runs on three hits, one walk and three errors.

Nick Barile (1-for-2) knocked in three runs for CHA.

Last Friday, the Blue Devils took town Inter-Ac foe Penn Charter and won, 6-1. CHA ace Dan Rosenbaum lasted all seven innings. He struck out seven in the process and gave up one run on four hits, one walk and two errors. At the plate, Rosenbaum had an RBI triple.

While CHA had another successful week, GFS had mixed results. The Tigers were beat up by Episcopal Academy on Thursday and lost, 14-1, but grinded out a 3-2 win over Westtown in Wednesday’s Friends School League contest and 3-2 win over Academy of New Church in last Friday’s league action.

Against Westtown, Tigers’ hurler Tyler Clauson-Wolf gave up just two runs on six hits, two walks and two errors. He struck out five in the process. While he came up big, it was Nick Rittler’s RBI single that clinched the win for GFS. In the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded, Rittler (3-for-4) singled in the winning run.

In the Tigers’ win over ANC, Steve Bonitabus scored the game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning. He stole second and third before being knocked in on a fielder’s choice. He finished 2-for-3, including a double, and scored two runs in addition to stealing two bases.

Gilman Myran picked up the win. He struck out seven batters and walked three. He allowed just two hits in seven innings of work.