The story
It’s spring!
And?
New season = new seasons! We’ve got seven new sports to follow. We’ve talked with players on almost every team, and created season previews.
Baseball
They basically have an entire new team this year with only four returning starters. They lost 14 seniors, one of them being a Colorado Rockies recruit. You know, not that big of a deal. Their best players are expected to be Avery Mosseau and Zach Fletcher, both pitchers and outfielders, Trevor Anibal, a pitcher and middle infielder, and Mike Pratte, an outfielder. They, like always, will see competition from BG, Pinkerton, and Exeter, but also from Portsmouth, who has dominated DII, and moves up to DI this season. And, they think they should be the football of winter because they’ve made the state championship four straight seasons, and won in 2016, which is actually more than football can say (though they do have one more championship under their belt).
Softball
Softball supposedly has one of the strongest teams they’ve had in years. They have freshman Caity Lemay coming in as catcher, and junior Elise Buchanan coming in as a strong hitter. And, of course, returning seniors Erica Barley, Maddie Fraitzl, Whitney Fitzgerald, and, once again, Maddie Lucontoni. They are expecting their biggest competition to come from Concord, the returning champions. We were the runner up two years ago, in 2017, so hopefully this team will take home the W. Now, we really wanted to know what keeps them entertained in the outfield. Do they sit down during the slow games? Play I Spy? We found out that, weirdly, they’re actually paying attention to the game. It’s a new concept to us.
Boys Lacrosse
They don’t know what to expect, but they’re optimistic.The team lost 9 of their 10 starters, but they aren’t deterred. BG and Pinkerton, who have been very nicely sharing the championship and runner up spots since 2013, are expected to be their biggest competition. Our best players are expected to be Ryan Toscano, Andrew Twite, and Lucas Codair at midfield, Luke Barreto at attack, and Logan Jurnak and Quinn Hutchins on defense. Mr. Guerard stepped down last year to focus on bass fishing, and Mr. Johansmeyer has taken over. They’re pretty confident in him, as he is a former college coach. We’ll see where he takes them. And, they think they should be the football of spring, because lacrosse is more exciting to watch than baseball, which we can’t really argue with. They also get to hit people, just like hockey and football. That’s obviously the main draw of all three sports.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team is expecting a good season with a lot of returning players, many of whom already have plans to play at the next level. They are expecting their biggest competition from Souhegan, Pinkerton, and BG. We’re glad that there’s a new team in the mix; we’re getting tired of Pinkerton and BG being good at everything. That’s our thing. For the past two years, we’ve finished second, behind Souhegan and BG, respectively. The team’s best players are expected to be Hannah McCarthy on attack, Mackenzie MacEachern and Sydney Lynch at midfield, and Zoë Michaud on defense.
Girls Tennis
The team, which was the state champs last year, did not graduate any players. So…we’re confident that they’ll be pretty dang good. They expect to see BG in the finals again, and also have some competition from Derryfield. The team is incredibly deep, having six great players in the starting lineup. The top five last year was Carly Citron, Caroline Herz, Taylor Suozzo, Abby Tjie, and Sophia Dimos. If these five keep their positions, the sixth spot is wide open, since it belonged to a Spanish exchange student last year. Everyone on the team is competing for one of those six spots, since they are the only ones to play. Lower ranked players can challenge a higher ranked player to move up. So, of course we wanted to know if they all secretly loathe each other. It’s the natural conclusion. We learned that, while they do not hate each other at all, it can be hard. But, they still manage to come together and support each other as a team. Isn’t that beautiful?
Boys Tennis
The team is expecting ANOTHER good season－they’ve won the championship for six straight years. If the sport wasn’t so individualized, they’d have the football of spring title locked down. The team will most likely see competition from Pinkerton, last year’s runner up, and Hanover, Exeter, and Concord. We’re just happy that BG isn’t listed. Feels good that they suck at something. They also claimed that there was no drama over the six spots. They manage to maintain a good team atmosphere, where everyone is focused on the team winning.
Outdoor Track
They are hoping for an improvement from the winter season (boys: 8th; girls: 9th), especially with their new athletes. As for the best athletes it will be very similar to the winter season, as they only lose a few athletes to spring sports. The boys team has Zach Verow, who can run very, very fast, and Lucien Mumpini, who can jump very, very far. For the girls team, Hannah Mikol, Veronika Gikas, Brianna CoCo, and Ellie Flynn will dominate the relay, like always. Now, since running kind of sucks, we needed to understand their motivation－how they run faster. Do they imagine someone’s chasing them? It seems like a good technique to us. We were told that some imagine being the hunter, while others imagine being the hunted. Who said BHS doesn’t have extraordinary minds?
The Runaway
You can check back to our spring sports guide throughout the season for updates on each of the sports. We’ll keep it interesting.
What to say…
When Gronk just announced his retirement…
Well, at least he ended on a win. Just like Mr. Stank, who just finished his last week at BHS and is moving to California. Yep. You didn’t misread. He claims it’s to be closer to family, but we aren’t so sure. The past football coach did the Exact. Same. Thing. We’re convinced there’s some sort of secret club. At his new school, he will once again be a head football coach and PE teacher. Because we’re reminiscing, we had to know his favorite BHS football team. It’s a tie between 2016 and 2018. We really can’t figure out why. So, while we’re happy for him, we need to know about us. Because we’re obviously more important. Who’s going to be the new football coach next year? It’s a mystery.
Things to Know
Bye Bye $1.3 million
The school board has released their proposed budget cuts, and will be discussing tonight. We don’t know if anything will change the outcome, but it’s your final chance to make your opinions heard.
Sucks to Suck
Juniors have SATs on Wednesday, and Science testing on Thursday. Have fun with that!
Show out!
Bedford Idol is on Friday! Go see talented people and feel bad about yourself!