Local Sports Roundup

Winter weather is not cooperating with preparations for the spring sports season. With a lot of teams relegated to gymnasiums while they would like to be on grass, some teams haven’t taken shape just yet. But others have an idea what their rosters will look like, and are looking forward to the new season with anticipation.

Dighton Rehoboth Falcons Baseball

Senior captains Nate Swartz and Keith DeBlois will lead an otherwise young and inexperienced group for skipper Bill Cuthbertson this season. DeBlois is the only pitcher who returns to the staff with significant experience at the varsity level. Junior Justin Walsh, sophomore Joey Rogers, senior Isaiah Brewster, freshman Bubba Correira and junior Chris Trudeau will make up the rest of the pitching staff.

Last year’s starter behind the plate, Ryan Murphy, will return as the team’s catcher. Sophomores Cory Farrelly and Jake Salera, juniors Keith Rose and Jay Bingham, and the aforementioned Trudeau will make up the infield. Swartz, Rogers, Brewster, DeBlois, and sophomore Brody Rubenstein will make up the team’s outfield. Exact positions in these areas have not been decided, and will obviously hinge heavily on the needs of the pitching staff and the matchups in particular games.

Overall, this historically successful program finds itself in the middle of the pack in a very strong and balanced South Coast Conference. They will have a difficult task if they want to win the league, because as one SCC coach put it, “OR [Old Rochester Regional] is stacked this year.” This league is tough, and Dighton Rehoboth plays a difficult slate outside of the league as well. But when April rolls around, the Falcons are more likely to be a playoff team than not.

Seekonk Warrior Baseball

Seekonk is dealing with some significant departures from last year’s team. If all of their younger players had returned to the school, Josh Silva would likely have started at shortstop and Tyler Poland was likely to start at catcher. Both of those student athletes have transferred to other schools, leaving voids at those two key defensive positions and in the front half of the Warrior lineup.

As it stands, senior Chris Pereira will be the likely catcher instead. Andrew Rhilinger is the most likely candidate to replace Silva at shortstop. Jarrett and Jesse Archambault will be fixtures at third and first base respectively. Jesse Archambault will be one of the team’s primary pitchers along with Victor Paiva and Rhilinger. When Jesse Archambault pitches, first base duties will fall to either Coady Fiero or Nick Foley. Jack Foisy figures to start at second base for the team. Across the outfield, Angelo Sabatini, Matt Medeiros and Jake Robitaille seem to be the starters at this point. Pat Holden will be a jack-of-all-trades for the Warriors, potentially seeing action at as many as six defensive positions.

Pitching depth will be an area of concern for this year’s team. Beyond Archambault, Paiva and Rhilinger, this team has a lot of good baseball players but not many pitchers. They will likely rely on their starters to go deep in games, because their bullpen may be suspect. (It is worth noting in this area that this program and coaching staff has found relief pitching in recent years where they did not appear to have any. Stay tuned for an unknown reliever to emerge, like a Jake Roy or Matt Foley in previous years.).

This team, like their rivals at Dighton Rehoboth, is fairly inexperienced. Although they will play more seniors than the Falcons, it remains to be seen how ready this group is for varsity. Their expectations are to compete and to reach the tournament, but winning the South Coast Conference may be far fetched given the quality of Old Rochester’s team. If this team makes some noise, it will be because they played smart and found their game offensively.

Seekonk Lady Warrior Softball

Seven seniors will anchor a team that is looking for big success in 2014. Caitlin Corry’s bunch will play a shorter schedule than normal this season, and the coach says this will require greater focus if her squad is to make the playoffs. The main challenge will be health, as Seekonk figures to have one of the more experienced and more talented rosters in the conference.

“It’s a team effort,” says Corry. “In order for us to succeed we need everyone to do their jobs, if that happens we can be successful. Each individual on the team is just as important as the next.”