LIVINGSTON MANOR, NY — A couple of days before the annual Wildcats softball tourney, the Lady Wildcats varsity softball squad squared off against the Ellenville Lady Blue Devils. It was in preparation for the popular event, scheduled for Saturday, April 27 at Manor.

Hosted by Livingston Manor and Roscoe Athletics, the opening rounds of the Varsity Baseball/Softball Spring Tournament will feature the home town hardballers vs. Sullivan West, while Hancock-Deposit takes on Liberty. On the softball field, the Lady Wildcats will face Liberty and Monticello will take on Sullivan West.

For coverage of these games, see next week’s Talking Sports in the River Reporter.

But now, a few words and pics from Manor’s varsity softball home game on April 25, which is also known as World Penguin Day.

In the softball match-up, the Lady Wildcats (0-5) got pounded 15-0 by the Lady Blue Devils of Ellenville (3-4).

Nick Wyss, third-year helmsman of the Lady Wildcats, said, “Overall, especially on the defensive side, we’re seeing a lot of improvements since the first four games… we have a lot of ninth and 10th graders, so we’re a very, very young varsity team.”

He noted that when comparing their first game of the season to facing Ellenville, “They look like two different teams on defense… Obviously the bats need work.”

In the fifth frame, just before the invocation of the 12-run-ahead “mercy rule,” Manor had a glimmer of hope with the deck stacked, but a pop-up ended that with a double play.

Coach Wyss said he considers senior Zaylee Cox and Alexandra Potosek, an eighth-grade first-year hurler, standouts of the young squad. He noted of Potosek, “She’s developing into a really good pitcher.”

The Lady Wildcats are led on the field by senior captains Jillian Carlsen and Zaylee Cox.

Cox, a 17-year-old upperclassman, has been playing varsity-level softball since the ninth grade.

“I think we’ve come a long way since the first day of practice,” she said. “We still have a lot of little things we need to work on, and as one of the leaders of our very young team, I just help out as much as I can, trying to fix things in practice.”

For more photos, visit www.riverreporter.com/sports.

Since picking up a camera and pen as a freelance photojournalist, Ted Waddell has received 26 awards from the New York Press Association. His most recent recognition was the Phil Pines Award from the Monticello-Goshen Chapter of the United States Harness Writer’s Association in 2022. Waddell is a member of the International Freelancer Photographers Organization