Sports Roundup: Boys Lax Dominates, Baseball & Girls Lax Win Season Openers
David Creed •
The first Whaler sports roundup of the 2025 spring season includes a recap on the boys lacrosse team, who began their state title defense over the weekend with a blowout victory, the baseball team who rode the hot hand of junior captain Ronald Del Rosario Gomez to a season opening victory, the girls lacrosse team following a road victory led by senior captain Mayson Lower on offense, and the softball team who lost a close game on the road.
Boys Lax Shuts Out Whitman-Hanson
For the first time since winning the program’s first ever state title on June 15th, 2024, the Whaler boys lacrosse team played a game. It was the beginning of their state title defense as they look to carry the success from last season into this spring, and they got off to a strong starting by winning in impressive fashion over Whitman-Hanson on the road 12-0.
"The guys played well," head coach Sam Aloisi said. "We made some really uncharacteristic mental mistakes. It was first game stuff even though I was a little surprised by some of the stupid things we did, but we didn't have a scrimmage, we didn't have anything. So there were some nerves in there for sure.”
The Whalers were led offensively by senior Miles Beaudette, who scored three goals in the game. Junior Arann Hanlon also scored three goals and added three assists. Junior Tyler Miller scored two goals and had a beautiful assist on one of Beaudette’s goals.
"The offense came out slow but by the middle the second quarter and all through the third they were really clicking," Aloisi said. "Miles is a big, strong kid and he's certainly been around the game long enough. I don't know how much he played at prep school, but he certainly is no stranger to lacrosse so he's going to have a good year I think. Tyler had one beautiful assist where he came across the middle and turned, threw it back to Miles, and Tyler got clocked. He got right up, and it was a really nice play. He's going to be one of our offensive middies we lean on for sure.”
Aloisi said senior David Cirillo was stellar in the faceoff dot, which limited Whitman-Hanson’s offensive opportunities. Even when the Panthers had offensive chances, the Whalers were able to rely on junior captain Jeremy Jenkinson to make the necessary stops in net to prevent the Panthers from gaining any momentum.
"I think David lost one face-off so we had the ball most of the game," Aloisi said. "We were able to make mistakes, and it didn't really cost us. Then the times that they were able to come down and exploit those mistakes we made, Jeremy just was in the net and I wasn't even worried. Some of the shots they took before they even left their stick, I knew Jeremy was going to save them. A few of the looks they had were really good, but he was right on it.”
Aloisi said the defense, which was anchored by Ben and Nick Yates, Paxton Fitch, and Canton Jenkinson was sharp as well.
"Soren was the defensive middie most of the game," Aloisi added. "He's another one. Soren stepped right in there and he's getting it. He's never played lacrosse before. All the little nuances and rules, which he doesn't know I mean, he learned half of them yesterday but with Soren you tell him once and he's got it. It is funny seeing him out there in practice. Canton gave him one of his old pinnies for practice and I see him sometimes and I think he is Canton. They move similar and play in a very similar manner. Getting him is huge since we lost Owen (Sullivan to injury) which was obviously a huge loss for us.”
Nantucket will now have five days off to prepare for Martha’s Vineyard at home on Saturday, April 5th at 11 a.m. Aloisi said since they are trying to incorporate more young players into the lineup with very little varsity experience, this week of practice should be very beneficial.
"It's actually a great beginning to the season," Aloisi said. "The coaches and I were talking about it on the bus home (Saturday) because the way it worked out, (Saturday) was sort of our scrimmage to really open our eyes to what we need to work on because they weren't extremely strong, but they also weren't a gimme game. We didn’t get a scrimmage in the preseason. So it is great we have a whole week and then the Vineyard, who I think will be better than in recent years. Then after that it is game on when Falmouth comes to town.”
Baseball Splits Doubleheader To Begin Their Season
Junior baseball captain Ronald Del Rosario Gomez tossed a complete game gem on the road Friday evening to help the Whalers earn a 3-1 victory in their season opener against Brighton High School.
Gomez pitched all seven innings and he had a shutout until Brighton scored an unearned run in the final inning. He struck out 11 batters, allowed just one hit, and proceeded to pick that runner off at second base.
“It was a special individual performance for Ronald,” head coach Jack Pearson said. “Throws a one hitter and picks the guy off at second base after. He wasn’t happy to allow that hit. It was early in the game. He pitched great. He was locating his fastball by the middle innings. His secondary pitches were really good. He was sharp, throwing them for strikes. His breaking stuff was so good. They were having a very difficult time making any sort of good contact on Ronald.”
It was the first of two regular season games the Whalers played over the weekend. A Saturday morning game against O’Bryant was postponed due to weather. Nantucket lost the second game of the doubleheader 13-0 to Boston Latin Academy and then played three scrimmages at Mashpee High School on Sunday against North Middlesex, Sunapee (New Hampshire), and Nashoba Valley.
Pearson liked what he saw from his team in the game against Brighton. It was a strong defensive effort meshed with the stellar pitching from Gomez. The offense also gave Gomez two quick runs in the first inning that he was able to work with.
“Justin (Torres) led off with a single in the first inning of the game against Brighton, steals second and third base before scoring the first run,” Pearson said. “Eli (MacIver) put the ball in play and Justin scored. Eli eventually scored after Henry Tejada hit a single to left field. I felt like we could have maybe scored a couple more runs in that first inning. This was good for us early because we have been telling them small ball is just as important and just as good as hitting a double. Every run counts in this league. We are going to do different things and have the opportunity to run some plays.”
Pearson said Torres, a freshman utility man, has been a surprise and has made a strong impression on the coaching staff.
“We saw some pretty outstanding defense from Justin Torres all around," Pearson said. "Between the two games he played second base, third base, and right field and made an above average, borderline outstanding play at each position throughout. The kid is a natural and such a nice surprise. I never coached him. Last year he was with JV and he got hurt right away so I never really saw him but get him on the base paths. He's got natural instinct. He's like a little wolverine out there. He just sort of like attacks the baseball defensively in a fearless way. It is going to be exciting watch.”
In the second game against Boston Latin Academy, Pearson attributed the loss to his team being a little tight early. He said Boston Latin Academy returned most of their starters from last year and have an excellent lineup.
"That team can hit," Pearson said. "We did fine defensively. We played a little bit tight in the first couple innings and made a couple of dumb errors that were not necessarily straight up errors but just throwing to the wrong bag and stuff like that. They were lacking confidence a little bit early but once that sort of wore off, we started playing good defense. They were just a good hitting team.”
The Whalers will have over a week to prepare for their home opener on Wednesday, April 9th against St. John Paul II after playing a lot of baseball this weekend, but Pearson said his group is eager to get back on the field and continue putting in the work.
"I gave the kids the option after the scrimmage today to take (Monday) off considering we played on Sunday, traveled half the day Saturday, played a doubleheader on Friday, and emphatically it was, ‘Absolutely not. Let's practice. We want to practice,’" Pearson said. "That is a good sign right there.”
Girls Lacrosse Opens Season With Road Victory
The girls lacrosse team had eight different players score goals on Friday while on their way to a 15-9 victory over the St. John Paul II Lions on the road. Head coach Jami Lower was happy with the performance, which she called a total team effort.
“I was psyched, and I was very happy with the game overall," she said. "It really was a total team effort. The defense worked their butts off. They intercepted a lot of shots that were on net. They worked really, really hard to make sure that we got the ball. Then straight up the field, like on the clears, people were great in transition. Then some people stepped up, which we were really happy about. SJP scored I think three goals in the last 60 seconds. So I think there's definitely some things to clean up as there always is after the first game. We came away with the win which is great and there were a lot of first career varsity goals.”
Offensively, Nantucket was led by seniors Mayson Lower and Suz Peraner. They each scored four goals and Lower added five assists. Louisa Beni scored two goals. Dylan Damian, Mia Beaudette, Maddie Lombardi, and Claire Genthner each scored one goal.
Jami Lower was very complimentary of her defense afterwards including Lombardi, Myah Johnson, and Sophia Sullivan.
"Ella Douglas had some saves in net and Maddie intercepted three or four shots,” Lower said. “Myah was just all over the place. They're really working their butts off. They're almost like a second goalie back there, which is really huge. Sophia Sullivan was great too.”
Nantucket will stay on the road for three more games before their home opener, which isn’t until April 10th. They will play Bridgewater-Raynham on Thursday, April 3rd at 3:30 p.m., Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, April 5th at 12:30 p.m., and Falmouth on Tuesday, April 8th at 3:15 p.m.
Softball Drops Close Matchup To Barnstable
The softball team came up just short in their season opener against the Barnstable Red Hawks on Saturday – losing 14-12 on the road.
Nantucket scored four quick runs in the first inning and drew six walks. But the Red Hawks were able to answer with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the first.
Senior pitcher Seren Cristler struck out the side in the second inning, and the Whalers built a 7-4 lead after scoring one run in the second and two runs in the top of the third.
But the Red Hawks were able to score six runs in the third inning to make it a 10-7 game. The Whalers kept battling and made it 10-8 after the fourth inning, but Barnstable scored three more runs in the fifth inning to make it 13-8. The Whalers made it 13-11 after a three run sixth inning, but Barnstable held on for the victory.
The Whalers will try to earn their first win on Wednesday, April 2nd on the road against the Monomoy Sharks at 3:30 p.m. They will play their first home game on Friday, April 4th at 4 p.m. against the Nauset Warriors.
SCHEDULE AHEAD:
Monday, March 31st:
The sailing team will host Cape Cod Academy and partake in a regatta at 4 p.m.
Tuesday, April 1st:
The outdoor track and field team will be on the road playing Dennis-Yarmouth at 3:30 p.m.