Friday, May 10, 2019: St. Anthony's girls rally past Manhasset in lacrosse

   Leading off today: St. Anthony's overcame a one-goal halftime deficit by scoring the first five goals of the second half on the way to an 11-9 girls lacrosse victory over Manhasset in a matchup of two of the state's top teams.

   St. Anthony's is ranked No. 2 in Class A by the New York State Sportswriters Association. Manhasset is No. 1 in Class A.

   Junior Katie DeSimone led the way with four goals. Erin O'Grady made four of her six saves in the second half.

   Emma LoPinto gave Manhasset a 6-5 lead with 5:54 left in the first half. The Friars' Kira Accettella assisted Natalie Smith 58 seconds into the second half to tie, then DeSimone converted a free position less than a minute later for a 7-6 lead. Charlotte Verhulst followed with consecutive goals, then Accettella converted a rebound for a 10-6 advantage with 7:31 remaining.

   "We knew we couldn't let up," DeSimone said. "They're a good team, and we didn't want to give them any wiggle room to come back."

   Radar did 'em in: Doing 85 mph on the New York State Thruway will attract the interest of the State Trooper manning the radar gun on the medium.

   And putting a radar gun behind home plate should have attracted the interest of a Long Island baseball umpire late last month. It didn't, however, so Miller Place and Shoreham-Wading River will have to replay their April 26 contest beginning with the bottom of the first inning after Miller Place successfully protested a 5-4 loss.

   Miller Place coach Rick Caputo told Newsday he lodged the protest with Section 11 after S-WR players gathered behind the backstop and began using a radar gun on pitcher Gavin McAlonie during first-inning warmups.

ADVERTISEMENT

   "Under the bench and field conduct rules, it says that no coach or player can enter the area behind the catcher while the opposing pitcher and catcher are in their positions," Combs said. :Coaches and players cannot be outside the designated dugout (bench). Shoreham had players directly behind the backstop during the warmup and the umpire did not ask them to move."

   "I asked the umpire to have the Shoreham players move and he said he's not moving them, that there's nothing in the rules that says they need to move," Caputo said. "I thought it was an intimidation move having guys back there in uniform when they're not allowed."

   Stepping down: Kevin Carriero is in his final month as the track and field coach at Lancaster, where he has worked for close to half a century.

   Carriero, 71, took the varsity job at the age of 22 after one season in charge of the JV program. He told AD Brian Wild, who had Carriero as a physical education teacher, two years ago that he expected 2019 to be his finale.

   "He's going to be a huge hole to fill not just in track and field but as one of our main coaches," Wild said. "I'm just trying out of respect to enjoy the last season. I just want to make it a memorable last season for him."

   Carriero, who retired from teaching in 1999 while battling pancreatic cancer, and his assistants have coached 38 state indoor or outdoor champions.

   "We are losing the godfather of Section 6 track," said University at Buffalo assistant and former Sweet Home and Canisius High coach Brian Lombardo. "When he told me last year, I said 'Why not hold on for 50 (years)?' That may have been selfish of me wanting to see him hang on. He really has been a role model for every section chairman and coach. You hate to see him go, but I don't think anyone else deserves a break more than him."

   Said Carriero: "I just decided two years ago that's when I'm going. You can't do this forever. Head coaching takes on mentally a great deal of responsibility and a lot of work. I'm kind of a 19th-century guy. I don't do things off a computer or internet. I hand print everything. ... At some point, you reach that point where it's time for a change. I certainly haven't felt any pressure from administration."

   Following up: Thursday's blog mentioned the softball perfect game in which Mahopac sophomore Shannon Becker. It's believed to be the first seven-inning perfect game in NYSPHSA history in which a pitcher fanned all 21 batters.

   It turns out that there was very nearly a similar performance recently. Hayley Papp of LeRoy struck out 21 batters on her way to a one-hitter against York.

   All-state update: Barring major breaking news, I'm going to spend the weekend finishing off the first draft of the all-state team in girls basketball. Depending upon how quickly I'm able to incorporate adjustments and resolve questions, we should be announcing the team here May 17 or 21.