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Port Chester Duo Have Summer Softball Fun

HARRISON, N.Y. -- Margaret Scarcella faced a situation many coaches would love to have.

Going into the Westchester-Putnam Baseball Association softball season, Scarcella learned she would have 18 players, or enough to field two Harrison Pink Explosion teams. Scarcella was accustomed to handling large numbers, having coached a Harrison team for 12 years. 

“I’ve always had had at least 14-15 every year and I would take girls, unseen,” said Scarcella, the Rye Country Day School varsity softball coach. “I had 15 players returning this summer and then I was told we had three new players. That was the most I’ve ever had and it was kind of overwhelming, at first, because my philosophy is that everyone plays and everyone has fun.”

The team was comprised of Harrison’s Sara and Jessica Rozycki, Nereida Mendez, Jessica Grasso, Hiromi Terai, Jenna Vaccaro, Amanda Nardozzi, Kelly McKeirnan and Michele DeLeo, Rye Neck’s Kirstin Tamucci, Nicole Keane and Taylor Vavasour of Rye, Cassie Lagana and Caira Murray from Port Chester, Mount Vernon’s Grace Brennan, New Rochelle’s Deirdre Haney and Caitlin Grealy and Kaitlin Boyer of Bronxville.

The players understood and, Scarcella said, the parents were all in agreement with her plan.

“It was great because there was no angst going into games whether we had 12 players or 18 players,” Scarcella said. “Going into games, the girls all knew that everyone was going to get playing time.”

Scarcella received some ribbing from parents concerning her ability to coordinate 18 players.

“The parents said it was like a calculus equation the way I was able to get everyone into a game,” said Scarcella, laughing.

Even with the influx of players and shared playing time, the team finished 5-5, improving on last year’s record.

“We had so much fun this year and we made it fun,” Scarcella said. “The happy faces is what it is all about, not wins and losses.”

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