Oceanside banking on more experience

The 2020 spring sports hiatus was like a tire-spike strip strewn in the path of many a team with momentum - a description the Oceanside softball team certainly answered in 2019, when the Sailors made it to the Nassau Class AA finals for the second time in four seasons, their previous trip yielding 2015's county Class AA title.    

Its 2019 junior-led core lost to graduation, Oceanside took a moment to get its bearings returning to the diamond last season – going 3-11 in Conference 1 (4-12 overall) – but managed to coalesce in time to snap a four-game skid and beat Syosset, 8-0, in Class AA quarterfinals, before falling 4-3 to East Meadow in the semis.    

Receipt in hand for last year’s dues-paying, Oceanside looks to leaders like two-time All-County shortstop Samantha Reyer and Honorable Mention All-County outfielder Ashlee Martinez to set the pace for a young but ripened roster, as the Sailors seek to consolidate gains heading back into Conference 1 action.    

“Last year we started four freshmen, who missed their eighth-grade seasons and so didn’t play school ball for two years,” said sixth-year Oceanside coach Carlo Quagliata. “This year the girls are more experienced, more comfortable. They’ve grown into their roles. We did wind up in the final four of the county last season. And this year our seniors bring lots of experience to help the younger girls feel even more confident, even more relaxed at the plate.”  

Reyer, a senior, led the Sailors with a pair of homers and slugged a team-leading .472. Martinez, a junior, led Oceanside with 8 RBIs and was second on the club batting .318. “Samantha can hit and gets to every ball in the field,” Quagliata said of the fourth-year starter named one of Newsday’s Top 100 softball players on Long Island for 2022. “Basically, she can play anywhere in the field, and we like her at the top of the lineup. Ashlee can also play anywhere. She covers a lot of ground in the outfield and gets on base.”  

Middle infielder Samantha Chaisson led the Sailors with five doubles and had a team-second-leading .810 OPS, while fellow sophomore Sophie Nesturrick drew a team-high eight walks and will begin moonlighting as both ends of a battery for Oceanside, starting a second season at catcher and slated to throw third in the Sailors' all-righthanded rotation. All-Conference senior Skylar LoPiccolo (2-2) and first-year-starting sophomore Olivia Ikes are Oceanside’s first and second hurlers, respectively.

“Our pitchers each have four or five different pitches,” Quagliata said. “They all can keep hitters guessing.”  

Logan Denman and Nicole LaRosa become second-year Sailors starters at first and third base, respectively, while sisters Alex (senior) and Christina Vlahakis (freshman) round out Oceanside’s outfield.  

“We’re one of the largest schools, with a ton of talent, and we expect to win,” Quagliata said. “There are some very good programs in our class, and we're right up there with them. We expect to be there in the end, to be in the finals this year."