Two North Fork high schools won’t have varsity baseball or softball teams this season

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Last Updated, Apr 1, 2024, 5:33 PM

Two North Fork high schools won't have varsity baseball or softball teams this season

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Days gone by: Southold’s softball program, which includes players from Mattituck and Greenport, will focus on the JV level this season in hopes of fielding a varsity squad again in 2025. (File photo.)

Greenport and Southold high schools won’t be fielding two varsity sports teams this spring due to low turnout.

Greenport won’t have a baseball team, while Southold, which traditionally has included players from Mattituck and Greenport, won’t field a softball squad.

Both teams struggled last season.

The Porters finished at 2-14 in Suffolk County baseball League VIII.

“We lost some pretty strong senior players. Coming in with a majority of underclassmen, I spoke to the coach about what we want to do going forward, which is to build,” Greenport Athletic Director Brian Touissant said. “We’ve got a big ninth grade group team right now. We had 15 sign up, and five of them are freshmen. So, we felt to keep those kids involved, keep them playing competitively, it was best to go to play JV this year.”

The lone Porters senior is Nathaniel Stevenson, who can pitch and play the outfield. Stevenson has been with the program since the seventh grade.

“We spoke to him about how he would feel about it,” Toussaint said. “He was supportive. He understood. He was pretty enthusiastic about the opportunity of having a leadership role and providing guidance to these younger players at the JV level.”

Vincent Punzone, the head coach of last year’s varsity squad, will direct the JV. Christopher Ryder will be the assistant coach.

The Settlers softball team, which has included players from Greenport and Mattituck for several seasons, finished at 2-17 overall and 2-4 in League VIII in 2023.

Southold Athletic Director Steve Flanagan said not having a team was “disappointing.”

“We are hopeful for the future as we have over 20 students registered for [junior high] softball,” he added.

Madison Tabor will coach the JV softball team. Amanda Graziano, the varsity coach, will work at all levels of the program developing and recruiting players, Flanagan said.

No senior players will be involved with the team.

Both athletic directors were hopeful that baseball and softball would return as varsity programs in 2025.

“Depending on how our ninth graders progress and how we look this year, it’s definitely a possibility to go varsity next year,” Touissant said.

Ten varsity high school sports programs are in action on the North Fork this spring.

Mattituck is fielding baseball, boys tennis and boys and girls track teams. Southold will feature baseball and boys tennis, and will have a combined boys and girls track program with Greenport.

The three schools have joined together again to field boys and girls lacrosse teams. Both squads will defend their respective county Class D championships from last year.

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