Girls Soccer

Written by: Mason Villanueva '13

Though many sports cancel their games due to poor weather, but the Girls Varsity Soccer does not. Through the rain, wind, and storms the girls have persevered and have enjoyed a decent start to the season.

The Greyhounds’ Girls Varsity Soccer Team currently has a record of 3-4-1. So far not a bad season the girls won against East Lansing (1- 0), Portland (3 - 1), and Corunna (2 – 1). The girls lost to Holt, Mason, and Dewitt twice. They also tied with Jackson Northwest.

Annie Ford feels that, “The season has been going ok, we have gotten a lot better and have been working very hard. Lots of conditioning!” She laughs, she believes that to have an even more successful season that, “We just need to work on being a team and working together now.”

The team has several returning Varsity players are Annie Ford ’13, Leah Fast’13, Jessica Reinecke ’12, Michela Dilernia ’12, Brooke Benton ’12, Hannah Gellis ’12, Brittany Parker ’12, Erica Bartley ’12, Molly Salisbury ’12, Sam Gemalsky ’12, and Stephanie Scott ’11. The Team added two freshman, three juniors, and one senior to their team since last year. Erin Stevins ’12 says that throughout the season, “We have gotten better but we could still use some work as a team.”

If you cannot make it out to the soccer games you can review these games on the internet on MHSA.tv/eatonrapids.

Baseball

Written by: Cameron Warner '11

       The 2011 Varsity Baseball Season started with opening day on April 2^nd at Carelton - Airport High School for back to back to back games against Airport, Southgate Anderson, and Pinconning. The greyhounds started the day against Airport where they played very well for their first game of the season it was tied until an inning where mental mistakes and inconsistent pitching took its toll on the team. The final ended up 14-4 Airport winning. The greyhounds would eventually drop 2 more that day but with a lot of positive things coming out of it.

        The following Thursday a game at Alma was canceled and a week later it was time for the home opener against Lansing Eastern. Eaton Rapids won both games in that doubleheader 6-3 and 5-1, with dominant pitching in game one by Tommy Hollandsworth and game two by Zach Laginess.

       In the nine days following three straight doubleheaders were canceled due to rain and cold. The Greyhounds picked it back up in the Jeff Rochester Tournament where the team showed up at 7:30 in the morning to get the flooded field ready by using water pumps and shop vacs to clear water off the field. 3 teams backed out of the tournament due to the conditions but Eaton Rapids was still able to play against Bay City John Glen and Troy, losing both games to the very talented teams.

       The Greyhounds backed up the losses with a sloppy 10-7 win over Everett but a win none the less. The nightcap game of the doubleheader was called due to darkness after the 4^th inning so therefore it didn’t count, E.R was up 2-1 when it got called.

       The Greyhounds are young but very talented and with a little more consistency from their pitching staff they are sure to make a run in districts at the end of the season. “I told myself at the beginning of the season that this was one of the most un-team teams I’ve ever coached” said Coach Zubal. Meaning that this particular group of guys haven’t played a whole lot together over the years.

       Coach Zubal also stated “It’s my job as a coach to bring the guys together as a team and it’s going well so far, This team will go as far as the five seniors will take it.” The five seniors being, Trent Pell, Mitch Smith, Cameron Warner, Matt Althouse, and Andrew Benkovsky.

        Eaton Rapids next home game is May 5^th against Portland High School

Boys Golf

Written by: Matt Krakowiak '11

            This season the Eaton Rapids Boys Golf team is carrying 15 players. There are 6 Varsity, 6 Junior Varsity, and 3 developmental players. In the Lansing State Journal Prep Preview, the Hounds were projected to take 6^th in the Capital Area Activities Conference Gold Division. The golfers and their coaches feel they are capable of doing much better than that, and could take as high as 2^nd.

The returning Varsity players are Matt Krakowiak ‘11, Conner McCreery ‘12, Shane Zimmer ‘12, and Jacob Malcangi ‘13. The team added two first year Varsity players in Ryan Tomlinson ’12 and Gavin Crawford ‘12. This year is the first year that the Hounds are experiencing a lot of depth throughout the entire varsity squad.

The team has been practicing since March 14^th. However, they did not have their first outdoor practice until March 28^th. This was a factor that hurt the Hounds but did not seem to effect them in their first scrimmage against Portland; which they won by 1 stroke. The teams home course; where they practice and play their home meets is Branson Bay, on

Columbia Road

.

The players are looking forward to a successful season. “I feel that we can have a very good season, we just need to stay strong and play our best,” says Conner McCreery.

The Hounds first league match was played on April 19^th at the Charlotte Country Club. They took 4^th out of 6 teams in the jamboree format of play, and only lost to Charlotte by a single stroke. Impressive scores were shot by both Matt Krakowiak and Ryan Tomlinson, with a pair of 43’s under some tough playing conditions.