The St. Stephens/St. Agnes Baseball Team is off to an outstanding start in 2008. Coached by Jim Supple (second season), the school weighs-in at 11-2 on the season.

“We like to be aggressive on offense and we like to make every routine play

on defense” said Coach Supple, a recent Georgetown University grad.

On April 14, the Saints drilled Middleburg’s Notre Dame Academy 13-3 at home on a splendid spring afternoon.

The Saints scored early and often and gave winning pitcher Geoff Goff a 12-3lead after he exited following the conclusion of the fifth inning. (High school baseball games are typically seven innings long).

Notre Dame, interestingly enough, was the Virginia Independent State Champion last year.

Goff, a senior right hander, improved his undefeated season record to 3-0.
“Geoff has a very good command of four different pitches: fastball, ‘cutter,’ changeup and curveball,” said veteran pitching coach Steve Grant.

Whereas the Saints have had solid records in recent seasons (under former head coaches Chad Artz and Jerry Howell amongst others), their current 11-2 mark is one of their all-time best starts in school history.

In chronological order, the Red, White and Green have defeated Avalon, Md. (18-1), cross-town rival Ireton (2-1), Forest Park, Va. (7-2), Riverdale Baptist, Md. (4-3/nine innings), Friends Central, Pa. (9-4), Watertown, Wisc. (6-3), Hamden Hall, Conn. (12-7), Raceland, Ky. (19-2) (wins five, six, seven and eight occured in Florida during spring break), cross-town rival Episcopal (13-2), Randolph Macon Academy (29-1) and Notre Dame (13-3).

After a stalwart 9-0 start, the Saints dropped their lone two games of the entire season, both to IAC foe St. Albans, D.C. by the scores of 7-1 in D.C. and 1-0 in Alexandria.

Ten of the Saints 11 wins have been logged by three different pitchers:

Goff (3-0) as well as senior lefthander Connor McGuiness (4-1), and junior righthander Whit Mayberry (3-1).
“Both Connor and Whit have very good fastballs, curveballs and changeups,” said Coach Grant.

Added Coach Supple, “Whit has only given up three earned runs the entire season. His ERA is less than 1.00.”

Offensively, Mayberry leads the team with two home runs and both Mayberry and Goff lead the squad with batting averages of .330.

When not pitching, Goff splits time at first base with senior William Ruberry; when not pitching, Mayberry splits time at shortstop with freshman Josh Smith.

Other infielders include enior third baseman Robby Barnard and the second base platoon situation of either Josh Smith or junior Gerard Taylor.

The very demanding catchers position is manned by senior Alex Miller.

Four different players more often than not man the three outfield positions: junior Chazzo Habliston (rightfield), either Connor McGuiness or senior Isaiah Carpenter (centerfield) and either Carpenter or junior Drake Hudgins (leftfield).

Carpenter, a standout Saints running back last fall for head football coach Dave Holm, is one of the fastest players in Saints baseball history.

 “Isaiah leads us with four stolen bases thus far this spring,” said Coach Supple. “When we get runners on base, we want to run.” Another Saint football player that also plays baseball includes reserve James Williams.

A Saint basketball player that plays baseball includes Michael Holt.

“Unfortunately, Michael broke his wrist during basketball season and hasn’t been able to participate in baseball thus far this spring,” said Coach Supple, a New Jersey native.

Chazzo Habliston, an All-Met placekicker this past fall, is the lone Saint to suit up for the football, basketball and baseball team this school year.

In summing up his thoughts, Coach Supple commented:  “We’ve got very good senior leadership on this team (10 seniors led by senior co-captains Connor McGuiness and Robby Barnard). We’ve got a team that can hit a lot of line drives and keep the opposing team on their heels and we’ve got a team that when we’re in the field we make strong throws and don’t give the opposing team any extra outs.” Saints Softball at 3-2 The Lady Saints weigh-in at 3-2 on the young season. The Red, White and Green, coached by veteran head coach Stephanie Dunn, are seeking their second consecutive berth in the prestigious VIS Tournament and are looking to make some significant strides in the ISL “AA” race. (The ISL “AA” is the more competitive tier of the 16 team league/as opposed to the ISL “A” – the “lower” tier of competition).

“We would really like to qualify for the [VIS] Tournament again this spring and we would really like to go ‘deeper’ in the ISL “AA” [regular season standings/tournament finish],” commented Assistant Head Coach Keith Mills.
The Saints are led by senior right handed pitcher Becca Wilson and junior catcher Katie May.

“Becca is very composed and she doesn’t get rattled on the mound,” said Coach Mills.

Other position players include senior first baseman Katie Taylor; either junior Paula Trahos or sophomore Sarah Allen at second base; sophomore short stop Sarah Mathiesen; junior third baseman Lizzie Palmer; junior rightfielder Vicki Adewale; senior centerfielder Sally Klose and senior leftfielder Keary Garikes.
In their three wins, the Saints have outscored their opponents 26-1, including a 4-1 victory vs. St. Gertrudes (Richmond), a 2-0 hard-fought win vs. cross-town rival Episcopal (eight innings) and a 20-0 thumping of Model School (D.C.).

The Saints dropped an 8-3 decision to Flint Hill and dropped a 6-0 decision to Collegiate (Richmond).

“I don’t have the exact batting averages right in front of me, but I know for sure that Katie May, Sarah Mathiesen and Sally Klose lead us in batting average this spring,” said Coach Mills.

May has the teams lone triple; Mathiesen started the “RBI parade” vs.
Model School and Klose drove in the two runs versus the Episcopal Maroon in extra innings.

All Met honors
With the conclusion of the winter season, 30 student-athletes from Alexandria schools cleaned up in the Washington Post’s annual “All-Met” consideration. 

BOYS BASKETBALL
TC Williams Anthony Winbush: First Team;
TC’s Ivan Thomas: Coach of the Year
TC’s Travis Berry – Honorable Mention
Mount Vernon’s Marquel De Lancey: Honorable Mention
Episcopal’s Given Kalipende: Honorable Mention.

GIRLS BASKETBALL
TC’s Tierra Ruffin-Pratt: “Player of the Year;”
Edison’s Adria Crawford: Third Team
Thomas Edison’s Chasity Clayton:
Honorable Mention.

WRESTLING
All Honorable Mentions:
Hayfield’s Steven Ours (152 pounds)
Hayfield’s Daniel Mills (171)
TC’s Quintas McCorkle (heavyweight)

BOYS SWIM/DIVE
Jefferson’s Jonathan Christensen: First Team
Edison’s David Kiss: First Team
Ireton’s Francis “Briggy” Imbriglia: Second Team
Honorable Mentions:
Mount Vernon’s Bryan Bahr
Jefferson’s Wade Gong
Jefferson’s Ben Tuben
 
BOYS INDOOR TRACK and FIELD
Top 4 x 800 mark in the entire Greater D.C. Region:
Thomas Edison’s Shaeban Hicks
Leoule Degfae
Taylor Miller
Tihut Degfae
All Honorable Mentions:
TC’s Thomas Clark (polevault)
TC’s Jamal Ford (jumps)
Episcopal’s Allante Keels
Jefferson’s Brian Landry
Edison’s Ademola Titcombe
 
GIRLS INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD
Tynita Butts (jumps/sprints): First Team
TC’s Eva Baker: Honorable Mention
West Potomac’s Kat Lee: Honorable Mention.

BOYS ICE HOCKEY
St. Stephens/St. Agnes’s Ian Gordon: First Team
St. Stephens’ Will Newman: Honorable Mention.