On April 23, the Harrison Huskies authored a decisive win against a previously undefeated Somers team, clubbing the Tuskers to improve to 6-2 on the season. But as well as Harrison has played this year, head coach Dean Marino still thinks his squad has room for improvement.
Somers got on the board in the top of the first inning on a two-run homer by Gabby Mazzotta, but Harrison answered back in the bottom half of the inning and rode a complete-game outing by starting pitcher Tamara Day to come away with an 8-2 victory. Day finished with seven strikeouts on the afternoon to pick up her fifth win of the year.
“[Tamara] is a fighter, she scraps out there, and I have very high expectations for her,” said Marino. “She’s been terrific so far, and Mazzotta is a great hitter, so she’s going to hit a lot of home runs.”
Offensively, the Huskies got solid performances from Lindsay McConway, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI and Zoe Sala, who picked up three hits and two RBIs, but Marino feels that his team had the chance to do even more damage.
“We scored eight runs but we could have scored 15,” said the head coach. “If we ever manage to put this whole thing together, we’re going to score a lot of runs.”
Although the Huskies have shown flashes of offensive brilliance, averaging 8.1 runs through their first eight contests, Marino senses that his team has the ability to become an offensive juggernaut once everyone starts hitting at the same time.
“Right now we’re a good team, but we haven’t reached our full potential,” he said. “We have nine or ten girls in the lineup who can hit and a few girls on the bench who can swing the bat as well.”
Harrison will look to maintain its rhythm offensively in the next week, as the team will square off against some tough competition including Class AA powerhouse Clarkstown South and league foes Eastchester and Byram Hills. According to Marino, the Class A landscape is wide open and the Huskies have as good a chance as anyone to make a push for the Section I title.
“Right now there are about eight teams who have a chance on any given day to win it all, which is ridiculous,” he said. “And if we can start to come together and play to our potential, I feel sorry for the teams who are going to have to play us.”
